YSL Taiwan Counter Renovation Project 2017
'The importance of visual merchandising on retail businesses the single and most important reason is to engage and inspire shoppers, to encourage them to buy more of the products you want them to, increasing your sales, margin and return on space'
-Clare Rayner, Kelly Molson
Taiwan's NO.1 performance counter
This YSL counter is in Xinyi District, which includes Taipei 101, Taipei International Convention Centre, Taipei World Trade Centre, National Sun Yat sen Memorial Hall and various shopping malls and entertainment venues, making it the most cosmopolitan district of Taipei. It is also considered the financial district of Taipei.With the rise of online shopping, the focus of visual merchandising should be more focused on the eye-catching elements and the completeness of the service, so that it can make a difference with the convenience of the Internet. YSL's turnover has grown significantly in 2016. The counter in Xinyi District is the first Taiwan-wide performance counter. The importance can be imagined.
The role as a visual merchandiser
To renovate counters in Taiwan must be approved by tripartite, department stores, headquarters and local companies. The role of visual merchandiser is to communicate in three areas in order to develop their professionalism. In addition, the concept of the brand should be the same worldwide, and still maintained local needs.
The most important part of counter renovation
In terms of this counter, the department store is positioned as a relatively young customer base, who are more trendy and stylish. In addition, this counter is very urgent because of the timeliness of department store renovation. All communication and confirmation must also be completed in a timely manner.
Moreover, the most important part of renovation is the position of each bars, which are makeup bar, service station, fragrance bar and skincare bar. Visual merchandisermust have a good understanding of the flow of people in the department store to learn how to place the bars and arrange the position of the counter. Before refitting this counter, I went to the counter servral times and communicated with the beauty advicer, to understand the flow and the customers. In addition, I stayed in the department store for hours and observed the age of the customers, and how they shopping in the department store. YSL's strength lies in cosmetics. We must put makeup on the most crowded walkways. The location of the makeup area needs to be closer to the make-up bar to make it easier for the guests to try on makeup, but it cannot be placed in a crowded position (blocking the movements of the guests). In addition, The status of the perfume bar is the most special. In terms of the habits of Taiwanese customers, buying perfumes is less likely to be purchased at counters. However, it is really suitable for building brand image.
The pursuit of perfection
During the four and a half years as a visual merchandiser, I was more focused on the pursuit of details. It is important for me to fully understand the brand’s concenpt and the conmunication between head office and local company, but I believe that besides being good-looking, it is also very important for a counter to be used smoothly. The way to open a drawer, the better way to take and use a grid, make it more easier for the beauty adviser to serve the customers, even the design of the service box are things I cared about. Due to the large number of people in this counter, I think these details are the key to making the counter more practical.
Successful outcome
After the renovation, our general manager suggested that the impact of the make up bar was not enough, and hope we could find a way to change it within a month. We decided to exaggerate the part of visual merchandising display, and the display could change monthly. After the renovation, it does make the counter more impactful.
