Creative displays sell books and can win $500 Booksellers Tokens
Quite simply, great book displays sell merchandise because they grabs people’s attention, make them want to stop and look and then encourage them to purchase.
That's the advice of Karen Guy, Visual Merchandiser for Kirkcaldies & Stains, New Zealand's premier department store.
Karen says the essential components are lots of product, a theme, height and clear signage and ticketing information. And what makes a display go from average to amazing is props that emphasise what you're trying to sell. For example, for a display of books of cars, Karen would add car tyres or a pair of overalls to capture the imagination of passing shoppers.
"The return in sales makes it worth the effort. Seeing people stop and notice something you have done because of the way you have displayed it and it's caught their eye is fantastic," Karen says.
A competition for bookshops
Take inspiration from Karen and the stores below, because this week - until Sunday 19 December - bookstores that are members of Booksellers New Zealand can win $500 Book Tokens by sending in a photo of your winning book display. Whether you spend your prize on yourself or resell it in store is up to you...
Enter by emailing your entry to Emma, who will add it to our online photo gallery.
Otago University Bookshop
REDGroup Retail
Time Out Bookshop
Unity Books
IMAGE: Time Out Bookstore's window display for the launch of Angela Lassig's New Zealand Fashion Design
Stunning window displays are a major drawcard at Time Out Bookstore in Mt Eden Village, Auckland. The store has long been known for its displays which are a key marketing tool to bring customers in.
IMAGE: Time Out's Guardian display
“We need to grab people’s attention,” says store manager Sarah Webster. “We don’t have a big shopfront with all the lights and we’re on a busy street so we really need something special to draw people in. Our store is tiny and many of our books are spine out, so the windows enable us to show what we have.”
IMAGE: Time Out's book display for Penguin's birthday.
The award-winning window displays change every fortnight and are themed – often around events or dates, but other themes are dreamed up by the Time Out team.
“We’ve got a special window display coming up in March to mark International Women’s Day and the idea behind it came from a customer who gave me his copy of the book Half The Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn about women around the world.”
Other special displays have included an erotic theme for Valentine’s Day, a display featuring Penguin books and of course, displays around Christmas, Easter, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day.
IMAGE: Time Out's New Zealand's Post Book Award's display
Time Out staff member Jenna Todd is a Fine Arts graduate and does the window displays, but Sarah says lots of staff contribute. “Whether that's actually installing the window, offering ideas or cutting out individualised paper snowflakes.”
The store also uses the window to promote special giveaways, prizepacks and news including the arrival of new books.
University Book Shop (Otago) also maximises window space for display, as well as having in-store and counter displays.
“We often theme our window around events happening and we do have a bit of fun,” says Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb.
“For our fashion week window we borrowed some glamorous shoes to add interest alongside our fashion books, and we’ve done cookbook displays adding in products from the local deli.”
Bronwyn says the window is used to attract attention “and being a university book store we do use it to show the wide range of books we have in stock.”
She adds that the windows do have an impact on sales – we often have people come in and ask to buy specific books they see in the windows.
Bronwyn recommends using creativity when putting together displays, and incorporating non-book items to attract attention and create interest.
Wellington’s Unity Books makes the most of a variety of display space in the window and in store with New Zealand publishing featuring strongly.
Co-owner and manager Tilly Lloyd (pictured, right) says the displays are driven by the books utilising lead titles and books being launched and those featured in the newsletters.Themes often lead from a particular book. “We recently did an ocean theme due to large range of good titles.
And we featured Slaughter Falls by Alix Bosco interspersed between old OP hardback editions of Ngaio Marsh novels donated by our own, Marion Castree's mother, Dulcie Castree .”
Theming is used in many of the displays – “We have a 'women and hens' display – at the moment it has The Dress Circle NZ Fashion Design Since 1940 by Lucy Hammonds, Douglas Lloyd Jenkins & Claire Regnault; next to go there is A Home Companion by Wendyl Nissen and also Wait for Me: The Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister by Deborah Devonshire, amongst other books with cover art sporting Plymouth Barred Rocks cradled in filmy-sleeved arms.
IMAGE: Unity Books Wellington's Mini City display
Tobias Buck heads the stores 'art department' and works with buyers to develop displays ad window displays tend to be arranged tiers of individual titles with 30 or so titles for the main window and a single promotion for the corner .
Tilly says the store uses extra lighting and props to create interest , currently an easel with a painting highlights a display promoting Euan Macleod: The Painter in the Painting by Gregory O'Brien.
Favourite displays include the current corner window featuring Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones with his international reviews (shown above and below). “We had a Faber & Faber display that won a prize from the suppliers and included origami birds made from book posters.
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Last year’s Writers & Readers Festival display was a favourite (pictured below)– all in white with ladders and boxes to match Saatchi & Saatchi's design for the NZ International Arts Festival.”
Tilly says there’s no doubt the displays have an impact on sales. “The effect is often immediate. We often sell a book as it's being put in the window!”
And when creating a display, Tobias recommends that you know the book well so you can convey something of the actual content. “If you can convey the simple reason of why you like it, then that will sell it.”
RED Group Retail merchandise manager Jacquie Dabrowski says a strong well-presented display is one of the most critical factors for a successful book retailer whether the display is on a shelf or part on an overall floor display. “A great display will significantly assist in driving a retailer’s key financial measures of ROI, stock turn and profitability.”
Jacquie says that creating a good display means paying attention to stock weight, titles that tell a ‘story’ or support a theme and drive impact and relevance. “Combining new releases with associated backlist to drive author awareness and reinvigorate backlist sales opportunities is a good idea.”
Location of displays is also critical – “don’t hide the offer behind a pillar facing the back of the store.”
As every store has different layouts there is no ‘cookie cutter’ approach to displays. “We encourage our teams to bring their own personalities into the display with regards to props, creating warmth and a relevant community feel to displays, particularly on topics relevant to their customer base.”
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