News

'Retail is theater'

April 26, 2012

Retail is a form of theater, visual merchandising guru Martin M. Pegler said recently during his session at the 2012 International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago, reported on by gourmetretailer.com.

"The retailer is the host who must consider the shopper as his guest and entertain him or her ... that means make the shopper welcome and comfortable," Pegler said. "The merchant must be more than a good businessman with knowledge of his product and his customer. He must be a showman."

Pegler said that the storefront is the overture that tells shoppers about the store's style. Posters, billboards and other illustrated pieces of information should make up that overture.

The cast and the plot are made up by visual merchandising, which should be customer orientated by lifestyle, fashion attitude, shoppers' desires and shoppers' needs. It should be done with style and flair and will tell a consistent story.

If the cast and plot are visual merchandising, the finale must be the sale, where the shopper and product meet salesperson at the cash/wrap counter for a "happily-ever-after ending."

The customers, of course, are the critics, the people who make or break a show.

"We hope that the shoppers will give our production five stars," Pegler said in his presentation.