Why Windows Matter

As budgets start to contract throughout the entire retail hierarchy (most especially in support divisions), the usage of window space becomes a critical component of driving your business. 

Let's face it, spending, on advertising in particular,  is dramatically down in the past four months. Retailers, design houses and boutiques are being stretched to a limit not seen in modern retail history. Therefore every function of the company must be lock step in an all-out quest to promote your brand. Every dollar spent on anything beyond inventory must be expected to produce a significant return on investment. 

Display windows, in any store, should be a driving force in that quest. A poor visual display in your window gains little to no interest and thus was not worth the time spent doing them. Good visuals in store windows show the public what you are selling and even drive a specific item in the display to sell much better. Great visual displays are something else entirely. 

Great windows not only drive business, but additionally, they enhance or reinforce your brand and demand contemplation from a public notorious for possessing a short attention span.

Poor Windows are usually done by "a person" working at the store. Good windows are usually done by very competent visual teams that work within the stores, guided by the bureaucratic corporate idea of uniformity. However, great windows can only be achieved through the direction of ARTISTS, whether they are part of a team of visual artists within the stores ,or are contracted out by the retailer. In either case, they are given pretty much complete autonomy, for the retailer hired them for their ability to creatively express themselves.

I saw more than a few examples of each this week.

Here are a few from my most recent walk.