The presentation discusses the importance of creating visual merchandising (VM) guidelines for retail stores to ensure consistency across locations. It recommends communicating VM standards through merchandising playbooks containing photorealistic renders that inspire store associates. Guidelines standardize the customer experience, boost sales by highlighting strategic products, and make seasonal initiatives easy to implement uniformly. The presentation provides tips on developing guidelines, using renders to visualize concepts, and working with stakeholders.

1. R E TA I L D E S I G N :
C R E AT I N G V M G U I D E L I N E S
G E T A H E A D I N R E TA I L

2. T H I S P R E S E N TAT I O N
The purpose of this presentation is to show the
value of creating VM standards and
communicating them through merchandising
guidelines or playbooks and how photorealistic
visualizations/renders can help you to be
successful in a fast paced, global environment
with many stakeholders and challenges.

3. We all agree that good Visual Merchandising is paramount to being successful
in retail. Visual Merchandising involves the use and manipulation of attractive
sales displays and retail floor plans to engage customers and boost sales
activity.
Visual Merchandising is the study of consumer behavior and creating an
exceptional customer experience through merchandise presentation. As a
visual merchandiser it is your job to be the voice of the customer; ensuring
logic, organization and creativity is integrated in all visual merchandising set-
ups.

4. S O , A S A V I S U A L M E R C H A N D I S E R ,
H O W D O Y O U S U C C E E D ?
By communicating your vision, your idea and concepts in the
most effective way…

5. V I S U A L LY

6. ç
Today, the most successful retail brands understand the advantage and
value of having a consistent visual merchandising standard for their
stores.
Some of the advantages of VM standards include:
1) A consistent branded experience. When shopping your brand, consumers feel great
and inspired, no matter which store location they are in.
2) All merchandise is presented in a planned, well thought out and in a positive manner
across stores.
3) Makes it easier for customers to shop and engages and motivates them to purchase.
4) Showcases products in attractive ways that targets specific consumers. Tell
seasonal, product and brand stories, visually.
5) Drives sales of merchandise that are strategic to the brand or that need to be moved.

7. Whether your brand has several stores, or several
thousand, it is important to have consistent VM
standards so that you can tell your product, brand
and seasonal stories to your shoppers.

8. ç
• Messy
• Inconsistent and unpredictable sales
• Not focusing the right product to the right
consumer
• A marginal shopping experience
• Sales are unpredictable and merchandise
is difficult to shop and find
• Browsing, not buying
S T O R E S W I T H O U T V M G U I D E L I N E S

9. • Clean, well planned and consistent
• A great shopping experience
• Corporate HQ is able to focus consumers to specific merchandise
and highlight specific products
• Seasonal and campaign driven initiatives are easily implemented
• All the stores implement the plans and guidelines exactly how they
should, driving consistency so that the consumer gets the same
great experience wherever they shop. Making the store feel
inspirational and forward focused
• Better sales results!
S T O R E S W I T H V M G U I D E L I N E S

10. Creating standards for stores is the best way
to provide product presentation direction
There are several methods to create these
standards and I’ve included some examples
and best known methods (BKMs) of how to
create and roll out VM standards.
C R E AT I N G V I S U A L M E R C H A N D I S I N G A N D P R O D U C T
P R E S E N TAT I O N S TA N D A R D S F O R R E TA I L E R S

11. G U I D E L I N E S
• Guidelines are also called Presentation
Guides or Retail Playbooks.
• As seen in these examples, they have
large visual examples with
merchandising direction for each
setup.
• They provide very specific guidance
for each type of fixture and direction
on how to fold, how to stack, what
colors to use, even where each
specific SKUs should go.

12. The content of Presentation Guides and
Playbooks is up to you. They all provide
standards and direction, but they can vary
widely. Typically, you’ll see:
• Folding and hanging standards
• Do’s and don’ts
• Key stories
• Fixture overviews
• How to style mannequins
• Windows
• References for different sizes of shops
• Store Flow

13. V I S U A L I Z E E A C H S T E P
Create a set of guidelines with rich visual
examples. You will have a choice when creating
each shot. You can setup each scene and take
pictures, or you can create computer generated
visuals. The most flexible method is to create
computer generated renders.
This example is a render from PixelPool

14. Store associates that are merchandising the
floors prefer to see clean, photorealistic visuals
of exactly how each section of the store should
look.
Inspire them by creating rich, colorful,
photorealistic visualizations. The following are
real examples from PixelPool
I N S P I R E Y O U R S T O R E
W I T H G R E AT V I S U A L S

15. W I N D O W S
Here is an example of a design
visualization of a window. This is not a
photo. This was created before the
window was constructed as a way to
visualize the design.

16. TA B L E S
Here is an example of a PixelPool render of
a table with apparel that is used for visual
merchandising and presentation guidelines.
This goes out to the stores and is exactly
how a table should be setup.

17. M A N N E Q U I N S
Mannequins are a great way to show off the
latest styles and this PixelPool render for a
jeans brand is used as a guide for their
stores.

18. WA L L S
Here is an example of a design visualization
of an apparel wall. This render is used to
show stores how to merchandise this
specific wall setup.

19. P R O D U C T F I X T U R E S
This is a PixelPool render of a cosmetics
fixture. Use this in a product
presentation guide to show your stores
how to display the merchandise in the
most effective way.

20. Remember that the goal of a visual
merchandiser is to display the products in a
manner that compels the consumer to buy
more.
Many retail renders show apparel or
products that are cardboard looking and
fake. Make sure that the products are
photorealistic. This is a render of a leather
jacket and sequined dress that PixelPool
recently created for a large apparel brand.
T H E P R O D U C T I S T H E H E R O

21. P L A N O G R A M S
Many VM Guidelines include store layouts
and floorpans which act as maps or
instructions for where to specifically place
merchandise.

22. Some tips for creating product presentation or visual merchandising guidelines or retail playbooks:
1. Be prepared to work with many stakeholders in your company, including seasonal buyers,
visual merchandisers, store designers, brand designers and retail planners.
2. Include brand and VM guidelines in the document. This would include the rules on how your
company displays its brand and products. This might include pictures of “do’s” and “don’ts”.
3. Authoring and creating the actual booklet will require a graphic designer or agency that has
skills to layout an easy to read document.
4. BE VISUAL! Use accurate and updated imagery for all examples. The most successful visual
merchandisers in the world use photorealistic renders from PixelPool.
C R E AT I N G G U I D E L I N E S F O R S T O R E S A N D S H O P I N
S H O P S

23. R E A L P H O T O V S P I X E L P O O L R E N D E R
Look at the next slide. Which images are renders and which are photos of
the store?

25. More and more Visual Merchandise
professionals are using photorealistic
renders for the imagery in their VM
guidelines for several reasons:
• Renders offer flexibility - things can be
changed quickly without a photoshoot
• Renders look clean and perfect (this
image to the right is a render)
• Good renders cannot be distinguished
from photos
P H O T O G R A P H Y V S R E N D E R S

26. We know you need it to be perfect. We’re
committed to capturing the most minute
design detail through the latest in 3D and
visual technology, honing in with remarkably
true-to-life renderings that show product
exactly as intended: tucked in, wrapped, face
out or face in, six to a stack or seven.
Precisely detailed renderings, right down to
the last product stack, make it easy for retail
staff to understand and implement your
vision. Making your product – and your brand
– look its best.
P H O T O G R A P H Y V S
R E N D E R S

27. G E T S TA RT E D !
Whether you are starting from scratch or
just want to improve your existing visual
playbook, feel free to reach out to us and
we’ll give you advice to be successful!

28. We Produce Success
“Just wanted to send you guys a note a say thank you for cranking through
this beast under a crazy timeline. Everything looks great and really helps
tell our story for the project. Thanks again.”
-T. Perks / Sr Director Retail Design
“The visualizations looked amazing! I had high expectations from the onset but
you and your team still managed to blow me away. The team here was all very
impressed. Thanks to everyone for the fast work… ”
- Steve M / VP Store Design at Express
“Many many thanks, the renders look fantastic! The hard work was well worth it.
The presentation went really well - everything is a go exactly as designed…”
- Sean Pearson / Retail Design Director RUF Project

29. PixelPool is a Design Visualization Agency.
We help creatives, designers and retailers by making their ideas,
concepts, dreams and projects come to life visually.
We make you and your retail brand experience look incredible.

30. CONTACT US:
WEB
WWW.PIXEL-POOL.COM
JOSH HANSEN
RETAIL BRAND DIRECTOR
JOSH@PIXEL-POOL.COM