Assia Benmedjdoub met up with WGSN (Asia Pacific) editorial director Angelia Teo at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week to discuss global visual merchandising trends. Here, they pool together their findings on shoe displays in a post-GFC environment.
At the recent National Association of Display Industries (NADI) show in New York, retailers were asking for interesting accessory fixtures, as this was where sales were building in the latter part of 2009.
Leading international market research firm NPD recently confirmed this trend with its report into the 2009 fashion footwear market. While total volume sales in the US declined by 3.5 per cent to $US32.3 billion, the overall decline was less than other key fashion categories. More importantly, in the last quarter of 2009, shoe sales posted growth of 1.8 per cent. Chief analyst Marshal Cohen believes this resurgence will continue into 2010.
“While still not in the growth mode, the momentum is shifting,” he says. “In 2008 women withdrew from their footwear purchases, but in 2009 evidence of “frugal fatigue” [the idea that consumers are tiring of monitoring their budgets] has shown up as women began to re-enter the market.”
Boot sales helped kick things off. In addition to outdoor/all-weather boots, casual styles also contributed to the growth of the fourth quarter boot business, driven by low- to mid- heeled, high-shaft styles that complemented key apparel trends such as leggings and skinny jeans. The other major boost for the women’s fashion footwear market came from the walking category. Driven by the toning/shaping segment, walking grew 33 per cent annually and over 100 per cent in fourth quarter.
Even the luxury accessory market is starting to show signs of recovery. Earlier this month, Hermes announced that first-quarter sales had jumped by 19 per cent to $651.3 million. The Asian market in particular saw Hermes’ range of high-end accessories, such as the classic Birkin bag and signature silk scarves, record stronger sales than the previous financial period. Industry leader LVMH, the maker of Louis Vuitton handbags and Gucci heels, also showed an 11 per cent surge in first-quarter sales, again prompted by demand from the recession-fighting Asia Pacific region.
Essentially, high-impact displays for these items has never been more important. True, shoes and other small accessories can often prove tricky to incorporate into store merchandising due to their size and stock quantity. However, as retailers look to increase stock and designs during 2010, there are key strategies for coping with category build, particularly for footwear players.
High volume retailers
Stores selling high volumes of well-priced shoes often do not have the luxury of space or time to dedicate to display and complex merchandising. But large numbers of shoes can be used to visual advantage, creating a dynamic impact that implies variety and excitement. Here are some examples:
Colour block: Volume retailers carrying large quantities of stock can create high impact on fixtures by using colour blocking. Keep merchandise close and regular, organising shoes by shades of red, yellow, blue, green and so on. This simple strategy is employed at the Havaianas concept store in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Designed by Isay Weinfeld, the store features a number of cutting-edge design features, starting from its front entrance, which has no doors or window displays but opens out directly onto the footpath. From a visual merchandising perspective, there are several costly installations such as a “street market” section which displays shoes on stands, wicker baskets and wooden containers; a cargo container featuring “export” styles not yet marketed in the Brazilian market; and a clear cylinder unit showcasing products such as bags, socks, towels and other knick-knacks.
However, it is a simple wall display that helps the sparsely shaded interior explode with colour. Havaianas’ thongs are lined up against a white wall on the bottom floor of the complex, with vertical rows of graduating shades giving the illusion of a brilliant rainbow.
Controlled chaos: Offering a huge selection of exciting products in one giant, high-impact display looks exciting and offers a newer look for volume retailers. It’s also a way to show a complete range of designs and maximise potential sales on the shop floor. Department store Lane Crawford recently used this strategy to great effect at its Hong Kong flagship site.
The retailer installed a large, white ‘skaters’ ramp against a wall in its dedicated footwear section. The sloped fitting featured horizontal shelves which showcased over 70 individual womenswear styles such as citrus ballet flats, hot pink gladiator heels and classic, pointed toe stilettos. The ramp, which swooped from shop floor to ceiling, also featured a row of six small television screens that played footwear footage from runway shows and marketing campaigns.
Cult New York footwear retailer Flight Club, which has long crammed its walls with streetwear SKUs, introduced a cost-effective method to give its tried-and-tested visual merchandising strategy a fresh twist. Instead of showcasing shoes in the traditional side-by-side or toe forward format, it simply adapted its shelving to show the back of trainers, creating small and sharp bolts of colour across its shop floor.
Fixture variation: Banks of similar fixtures can be dull to view from the consumer’s point of view, so varying the style and level of these can increase the interest and encourage dwell time. Think of a landscape painting – you have a foreground, a middle ground and a background to create a sense of depth and richness in the scenery.
Department store JC Penney took this approach for its Manhattan store in New York, presenting its high volume shoe area using different levels and layers of furniture. There’s a “background” of floor-to-ceiling shelves, a “middle ground” of low to medium height tables and vertical display units, and a foreground of circular tables layered with various shoe displays.
Volume shoe merchandisers can take this to the next level by investing in bespoke fixtures, rather than buying straight off the peg. This will give shop floors an even greater sense of variation and depth. High street retailer New Look recently invested in a dedicated footwear floor for its London flagship site.
The company anticipates it will sell 15 million pairs of shoes this year and can accommodate up to 12,000 pairs in level three of its 26,000 sq ft Oxford Circus store. Along with various shelving solutions, the retailer created a striking ‘accessory tree’ at the centre of this floor. Some 10 to 12 drooping metal branches sprout out from a circular base on the floor; at the end of each branch, a glass ‘fishbowl’ displays a pair of current season boots, heels or flats.
High-end players
The current trend for statement footwear – think ‘It’ platforms from YSL, Givenchy and Balmain – moves shoes from functional to fantasy, and encourages consumers to look at each design as an art piece. Merchandising techniques have developed to accommodate this by using carefully curated displays focused on individual items in store.
Pedestal display: This is literally putting a shoe on a pedestal or riser, either as a single display on its own or cross-merchandised with other product. Footwear brand Kurt Geiger took this idea to the public last year with an installation at the Dover Street Air Gallery in London. Put together by visual display guru John Field, the installation saw Kurt Geiger shoes individually placed, like jewels, on cleverly lit stands.
It was so successful, Kurt Geiger brought the theme to its South Molton store for a striking Christmas display campaign which featured shoes in a rich palette of red, black, crystal-embellished pink, tan, green and gilded gold placed on individual metal stands.
Eco brand Terra Plana took a similar approach when, in late 2009, artist and designer Dominic Wilcox created a ‘field’ of 400 shoes during the London Design Festival. The installation went on to win the ‘Best in Show’ category at the festival and was recreated in shop windows across four Terra Plana London stores.
Shoe art: Take just one shoe and place it as if it is a sculptural art piece on a focus wall or fixture. This was executed at Christian Louboutin’s London store recently (and literally), with a wall mural depicting a single court shoe, positioned face forward to highlight the trademark Louboutin red sole. To accentuate the red even more vividly, the painting was surrounded by layers of pink, red, blue and green paint. Bold on bold – very effective.
Meanwhile, cult streetwear brand DDCLAB took this trend to new heights with an enormous shoe installation at its New York concept store. A single oversized sneaker was placed on two giant metal springs against a background of raw woods and metallics – an ode to its reputation for street-smart designs. In a similar vein, chic Parisian fashion destination Galeries Lafayette marketed its new season offer in an understated manner, with sculpted metallic wall fixtures showcasing the latest footwear styles. Again, just a single shoe was placed on each metallic stand, with white walls drawing further attention to the product on offer.
Focus wall: For a more high-volume way of presenting this idea of ‘shoes as art’, try a focus wall of individual platforms. This means breaking up a wall of long benches and cabinets into singular units with just one shoe on display. Fixtures should be very simple to ensure focus remains on the shoes, although there is room for decoration, as seen with the Vein footwear store in the Brisbane Arcade, Queensland.
Built by Verve Construction, the design of the 40sqm store is a collaborative venture between local artist Chris Worfold and Vein founder Chris McCallum. Women’s shoes sit on single blocks arranged on the left hand side of the store, while men’s shoes sit on wooden shoe moulds against a western red cedar wall to the right. The moulds mirror the design of the shoes sitting atop, with the wooden textures keeping the theme raw and simple.
Curated lighting: Simple grab tables with lines of shoes can be made to look special with focused lighting from above. Australian footwear label Gary Castles uses this to great effect at its concept store in the Strand Arcade, Sydney. The store is dimly lit to accentuate the brand’s shoe offer, with seasonal items thrown under a spotlight from above.