The Visual Merchandising. The Hangers for the Clothes Presentation.

Galun D., Ph.D.

         

          Hangers are used for effective presentation of products in the practice of visual merchandising. The hangers can be divided into the waist and shoulder as well as all the clothes, similar to the names of the bearing surfaces of the human body. The waist hangers imitate lower bearing surface of the human body bounded above by waistline. The shoulder ones simulate an upper seat delimited above by junction lines of torso with neck and upper limbs. Suit hanger is a symbiosis of the shoulder and waist hangers and it is intended for simultaneous posting the shoulder and waist products on the same hanger.

The variety of the hangers is determined by their design and the materials used. Hanger design is an integral part of branded identity style. In terms of branding, clothes hangers can be divided into branded or not. A company does not miss an opportunity to advertise themselves once again on the sales site when using branded hangers. An approximate filling by 2000 units sited on hangers per 100 square meters is characteristic at the average for the store of massmarket. Thus, an attentive consumer can see the trademark logo for at least 400 times (in the case of five sizes in the range) while regarding each model that is in the trading hall. In such a way it is about 400 totally free advertising visual repetitions and its effectiveness can be compared with one of the techniques of trance induction - perseverance, as well as Internet banners and TV advertising. Even if there is no logo on the hanger, they can be an integral part of the interior or may be done in the company colors brand.

           Plastic is widely used for massmarks as the basic material for hangers due to economic reasons, wood is used rarely. Shoulder flocked hangers or hangers with hooks or slots for attaching a textile or silicone loops are used for knitwear, dresses and blouses with a deep neckline. Wooden hangers are most prevalent among the clothing shops of premium class. The color and texture of the wood can be quite diverse and it may draw attention to the product or dissolve it in the interior. Today the world around is technologic and complex, overloaded with information, packed by glass and plastic office furniture. Thereby wood is a material, which creates an atmosphere of psychological relaxation by its heat «alive» in the interior. Neither synthetic material can fill the store with such a great natural power as wood. In addition, it is very durable material that allows you to exploit the hangers for a long time. However, the problem of keeping merchantability of articles made from lightweight fabric and knitwear arise when using heavy wooden hangers. In a case of falling, the hanger can deform the product of fine fabric with the impact against the floor.

If plastic hangers are used for the product presentation, they are covered with flock in some cases, and feel like velour or velvet. Velvet is a luxurious and noble material, no wonder it is used for decoration, curtains, furniture, etc. Plastic hangers with a woven cover dressed on top can also be used. These are two of a few ways to make plastic noble. The construction of hangers remains unchanged in spite of its design and materials it was produced from. In most cases it is necessary to use the hangers of different width for male and female clothes presentation inasmuch as the width of the shoulders among women and men are different. Thus, the women's item of sizes from S to M, which are typical for the trading hall, will be expanded in the shoulders and distorted as a result on a men's hanger. For this reason, standard width for women's hanger is 35 - 37 cm. In contrast, shoulders of men's items will sag on the standard women's hanger. Talking about the size of hangers, we should mention first its thickness. In practice, most luxury and premium brands use the same thickness of the shoulder hangers. The thickness of 3 to 5 cm is the most widespread. This thickness provides such a demonstration of products, which is closest to fitting of shoulder articles on a figure. As we have noted, the construction of hanger is a constant, only methods of product presentation can be changed. Let's consider how to apply these technologies at the example of waste items.

          Placement of unfolded product on a standard waist hanger is the most common for waist products. This method allows the customer assess the model of the product in full. The shoulder hanger is used to demonstrate the waste items in stores of more expensive product category. A product is fixed for the internal loop in this case. Such a product presentation adds more "value" in the eyes of the future owner. A method of trousers presentation «by the crease» is used to make the waist products "respectable" even with the low price. This method has some flaws apart from its main advantages considered above and in comparison with the standard one, such as: difficult access to the price tag for the buyer when it placed in a textile label on the inside of the back half of trousers; the difficulty to determine the size of trousers for the buyer if the inner size tab is also on a textile label on the inside. These problems are eliminated simply by placing a hangtag with indicated size and price on one of the outside belt loops on the front half of trousers. Besides the aesthetic one, the main evaluation criteria of a product presentation is statistics of sales.

          An experiment was conducted for this assessment, according to which, 8 models of trousers with creases in two stores with comparable turnover and customer flow were placed by different methods (in the store B - by the crease, in the shop E - on the open) for six weeks. The price of trousers remained unchanged within three weeks in both stores and was reduced by 30% for other three weeks. The results of the experiment are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Statistics on sales of the trousers presented on hangers by various methods.

 

Sales by weeks, units

The store

12.03.2012 - 18.03.2012

19.03.2012 - 25.03.2012

26.03.2012 - 01.04.2012

02.04.2012 - 08.04.2012

 09.04.2012 - 15.04.2012

16.04.2012 - 22.04.2012

In total

B

10

12

12

6

7

24

71

E

9

9

9

10

5

17

59

         

 

 

                                                                                      

          As it evident from the results of the table, the method of trousers presentation "by the crease" not only does not obstruct its realization but also makes it more efficient.

 

                                                        About the author:

• Last name, first name in full. Galun Dmitry
• Degree (if any). Ph.D.
• Name of educational institution. Moscow State University for Design and Technology
• E-mail address. galund@mail.ru
• Mailing address (be sure to index). 107 113, Moscow, Russia, 3d Rybinskaya 1/40-41

The category of the article. Engineering
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