How to show the price: nine important rules

Marina Polkovnikova is the owner of VM-consulting, a visual merchandising agency specializing in fashion, a merchandising and store design consultant with 12 years of experience, and a jury member of the annual ProFashion Awards. She is a lecturer at the Art&Image Institute and a trainer at business schools in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Bryansk, and Perm. She regularly participates in trainings and seminars on merchandising, lighting design, and staff training. She has appeared on television programs and was a guest expert at the 2013 Fitness Summit.

VM Consulting is a visual merchandising agency for fashion stores. It provides a wide range of services, from window dressing and merchandising audits to store redesigns and staff training. Over 1000 clients use the agency's products, have created and launched over 350 unique window displays, trained over 500 people, and opened over 60 stores.

 www.vm-consulting.ru

 Retailers and customers are often concerned about whether the expected price matches the actual cost of an item. I often hear phrases like, "It's too expensive!" or "It's so cheap... It's even suspicious!" from customers visiting fashion stores. These thoughts arise when the store's design and display don't correspond to the actual price of the item being sold. To prevent this, it's important not only to align the store's appearance with the segment it serves but also to manage price tags, price holders, and POS materials wisely. In this article, I'll outline the basic rules to follow when working with these elements of visual merchandising.

Rule #1: The price tag should always be visible. No matter what price range your store operates in, customers should be able to find out the price of an item without the help of a salesperson. A price tag hidden deep inside a boot, with everything from the sole material to the batch number, except for the most important information, makes the customer feel awkward and mistrustful of the store. "Is the price really so high that they don't want to scare me off with it?" or "What's wrong with this product if the store is hiding its price?"—these are the kinds of thoughts that might pop into a customer's head, and neither of them adds to the store's prestige.

Rule #2: The price should take up 20% to 40% of the price tag. This is the optimal amount of space to ensure the price is visible and legible against other additional information, such as the product's ingredients or manufacturer. However, don't devote more space to the price, otherwise the additional information will be difficult to read. Anything that can't be easily seen irritates the buyer and causes them to transfer that irritant to the product itself or even the store itself.

Rule #3: The higher the price segment, the smaller the price tag should be. Large, boldly written prices are typical of low-end stores. Shoppers are accustomed to this and subconsciously perceive a large price tag as a bargain, low, and a bargain. However, low prices aren't the primary motivation for mid-priced shoe buyers. Therefore, don't confuse shoppers with large, boldly written prices. Keep the price tags to no more than 30%.

Rule #4: The price of the product must be displayed in the window. Customers should be able to tell from the moment they walk in whether a store is interesting to them, and price indicators placed in the display window help them do this. However, there is an exception to this rule: premium brands may not display prices. It's assumed that prices are irrelevant to their customers.

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Rule #5: The size of the price tag in the display case matters. Price tags display pricing information for a group of products, such as those displayed on mannequins. The same rule of perception applies here: bigger means cheaper, smaller means more expensive. Therefore, the lower the price segment of the product, the larger the price tag should be. For mid-price stores, A5 is considered the optimal size.

Rule #6: During sales, it's important to indicate the price difference on the price tag. To do this, cross out the previous price and write the new price in larger print next to it. Don't neglect this rule, as it really works thanks to its clarity.

Rule # 7: POS-Materials should be as simple as possible. Ideally designed POS materials contain minimal text, written in a bright, high-contrast font, and convey a single idea concisely, such as "1 + 1 = 3." Visitors don't read informational materials that contain too much information, so the simpler and clearer the message on the POS material, the greater its chance of being read.

Rule #8: In a small store, it's acceptable to use no more than three types of informational media. These are informational media that communicates the store's offerings, such as new collections, promotions, discounts, and sales. If your store is no more than 100 square meters, don't overload it with multiple types of informational media, otherwise customers will become confused and, frustrated, leave without making a purchase.

Rule #9: Don't display discount information in the checkout area. Even though the checkout area is one of the most heavily trafficked areas of the store, promoting discounts there is not only pointless but also harmful. Firstly, the customer has already paid for the item, so the promotional information is irrelevant. Secondly, after seeing the discount information, the customer may back out of an almost-completed purchase, even if it's from a new collection. Don't tempt the customer!