Product Description

A master class in visual merchandising, this book will help anyone or any staff apply aesthetic principles to displays, resulting in higher sales. The author discusses predictable customer responses to various stimuli, and how to maximize that appeal. The best signature merchandise images can be created on a low budget using humor, wit and charm. This book first teaches how to view merchandise as art, and how to present it to maximize attention and sales. From feature presentations and focal points to color and lighting, the numerous examples from around the world will show any retailer how to display their merchandise in the best possible way. Organized as a textbook, this is a great teaching tool for retailers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #344532 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 268 pages

Review
The author, in his own words, has been studying the principles of art and aesthetics for 40 years and communicating them to retailers. This means that he has developed a clear understanding of ideas of color, lighting, texture,rhythm, movement and depth as they are used in art and theater and how they are valid for retail. There are some basic principles such as the use of visual stimuli and artistic balance which can be learnt and applied. He develops a visual vocabulary which becomes part of the tool kit of visual merchandising. Visual merchants may not be able to make people buy, he says, but they can make the sight, approach and attitude towards a purchase more positive. And this is the role of all those responsible for presentation from store managers through sales staff to the back room. In the current identity crisis faced by retailers, the creating of a space that maintains a visual signature and allure is a key differentiating factor. This book is an attempt to communicate the importance of this idea as well as to demonstrate how to put it into practice. Perhaps the true generosity of the book and its author lies in its powerful pedagogic imperative. Since the book is based on the author's own work and presentations, there is a constant concern with training and communicating his experience and knowledge. Not only are the principles laid out clearly but the illustrations and explanations all stress implementation. Weishar is sharing his experience of working with countless retailers around the world and truly demonstrating the power of his message whether it is used in hypermarkets, discount retailers, luxury boutiques or department stores. This is a book which is both fascinating to a general reader and immensely useful to anyone in retail. The message of the power of aesthetic principles comes across most strongly perhaps when they are illustrated by a juxtaposition of two very different retailers on the same pace. Thus a Continent hypermarket shares a page with Bally in New York, and later in the book Victoria's Secrete and Kmart lingerie display are both used as examples of good visual presentation, albeit at different ends of the market. --Christopher Knee

About the Author
Joseph Weishar is the president of New Vision Studios Inc., a retail design and consultancy firm located in New York City. For the past 40 years he has been a store designer, visual merchandiser, and commentator for stores of all sizes, economic levels, designer boutiques, food markets and shopping centers. His first book, Design for Effective Selling Space, was well received by the retail design community. Mr. Weishar has written numerous articles and spoken at many conventions on these subjects, and his slide presentations are legendary in the retail industry. He is currently teaching at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

Customer Reviews

Excellent textbook for merchandising students of any age
The author makes an art of visual merchandising and product display, based on aesthetic principles and retail practices throughout the world. This book will show you how to make the most of your store's merchandise, and to create displays that will maximize sales. The examples draw upon New York shops, Turkish bazaars, South American malls, and Asian markets. Customers everywhere behave pretty much the same way, and the author shows you how to tap into the archetypal patterns and images people are drawn to. Plus, the anecdotes, from re-merchandising an Italian department store to trying to re-invent Kmart, are wonderful.

Still Waiting
If you order this book, be prepared for a loooooong wait. I ordered on June 7th and am still waiting for the book to be shipped (as of 8/19).

I gave a neutral rating (3 stars) to avoid impacting the rating average. I have NOT read the book (yet).