Interview: IWD has allowed us to provide and elevate the visual direction and support to stores

Ashley Stewart, beloved for its bold styles and trendy fashion for women, has built a fiercely loyal customer base that keeps coming back for more. With a keen eye for visual storytelling and a passion for keeping stores fresh, Merchandising Consultant, Maggie Fafrowicz, shares how IWD, an all-in-one visual merchandising software, has transformed the way Ashley Stewart brings new collections to life. "Being able to rely on just an image and style data and have one person fully own the process," Maggie says, highlights just how dramatically IWD has streamlined what was once a resource-heavy, multi-step operation.

Read full interview with Maggie below  👇 

Q: DO YOU MIND INTRODUCING YOURSELF AND TELLING US A BIT ABOUT YOUR ROLE AND YOUR TEAM?  

Maggie: I’m Maggie, Merchandising Consultant for Ashley Stewart. My role is to integrate IWD as a visual merchandising tool and simplify the guideline creation process for stores. The customer here loves to shop, and often! She’s always looking for the next great trend and staple in her wardrobe and knows Ashley will deliver. The product moves quickly with a consistent 50+ new styles being delivered to stores on a weekly basis. I create monthly and biweekly merchandising updates to support the newness flowing in and conceptualize the product into story telling themes to breathe new life into the store on a consistent basis. 

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SUM UP THE BENEFITS OF DIGITIZING MERCHANDISING PROCESSES IN THREE WORDS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE? 

Maggie:

• - VISUALIZATION - Helps to conceptualize products into impactful, story telling collections/themes

  - EFFICIENCY - A highlight is the flexibility of extracting visual direction down to a granular fixture & product level which helps provide clarity for the store teams without the workload of collecting/double checking data 

  - VERSATILITY - The tool can be used to not only conceptualize merchandising guidelines, but test fixture capacities and layouts virtually for new store openings, renovations, displays, and pop-up initiatives

Q: How WERE YOU WORKING BEFORE USING IWD

Maggie: 40% of the collection would be sent to a store 2 weeks ahead of the rest of the market, which would need to be processed by a team, then merchandised by the previous VM Director on-site, photographed, and compiled into a guideline using the Adobe Creative Cloud.

Q: HOW HAS IWD HELPED YOU OVERCOME THOSE CHALLENGES - IN TERMS OF SPEED, COMMUNICATION, AND OVERALL EFFICIENCY?

Maggie: Being able to rely on just an Image + Style data and have one person fully own the process of creating a full merchandising guideline, instead of other external factors has allowed us to provide and elevate the visual direction and support to stores on a consistent basis with the same attention to detail each time. 

Q: HAVE YOU SEEN ANY MEASURABLE IMPACT OR IMPROVEMENTS SINCE USING IWD (IN TERMS OF TIME, EXECUTION, OR PERFORMANCE)?

Maggie: Consistency in being able to provide the same level of support, detail, and standard of visual direction to stores on a consistent basis. The accuracy in the automated imports helps to organize the product library and provide a clear view of delivery times, POS changes, and Sell Through helping ensure every visual move is also a realistic & commercially conscious one. 

Thank you, Maggie!

Follow IWD on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram or subscribe to our newsletter.