North Face, Vans, and Specialized: Pushing the line of Visual Merchandising Software for Optimal Strategies

Am I teaching you something when I say that visual merchandising plays a pivotal role in the success of retail brands by creating engaging in-store experiences and driving customer engagement?
In this article, let's explore how three prominent outdoor brands – The North Face, Vans, and Specialized – have optimized their visual merchandising strategies using innovative software solutions. 

THE North Face: Harnessing Technology to Inspire Adventure

The outdoor apparel and equipment brand, The North Face, has embraced visual merchandising software to maximize the impact of its in-store displays. By leveraging technology, the brand has streamlined its processes and created captivating environments that inspire adventure for its customers.

Tents, shoes, technical luggages, The North Face optimizes the arrangement of their products within their retail spaces through the use of visual merchandising software. By digitally mapping out the ideal placement and organization of merchandise, the brand ensures a visually appealing and cohesive layout. 
Additionally, teams use a communication app to share surveys and photos with the in-store teams. Communication between the office and retail locations is therefore fluid and leaves little for misinterpretation. 
Such tools enable The North Face retail teams to focus their efforts on creating immersive displays that effectively convey the brand's spirit of exploration and outdoor enthusiasm.

Specialized: Empowering Cyclists with Visual Merchandising Software

"Innovate or Die" This has been Specialized's motto for over 30 years. The leading cycling brand prioritizes innovation and disruption in its retail approach. To achieve this, it onboarded a visual merchandising software that offers comprehensive planning and execution capabilities.

The software enables them to plan and execute interactive displays. Teams around the world now have the ability to repurpose content produced by the Global HQ, tailoring it to their specific local requirements. They surpassed initial expectations of the software by saving a big amount of time and cater to specific locations' needs.
This approach allows Specialized to create immersive environments all over the world that empower customers with and inspire them to embrace the cycling lifestyle.

Vans: Enhancing Efficiency with Planogram Solutions

To overcome challenges related to display consistency and product availability, Vans turned to visual merchandising software for help.

Adopting a planogramming software allowed Vans to centralize its assets and optimize floor-set creation. “We’ve eliminated two to three days of workload, resulting in an average 25% workload reduction during our floor-set process” says Paul Rupert, visual merchandising manager at Vans.  

The technology allowed the brand to create consistent store experiences across multiple locations on a nation-wide scale while ensuring the right products and correct quantities were planned for each store based on its size and market. Overall, Vans noticed improved operational efficiency, enhanced customer experiences, and increased sales. 

CONCLUSION

The examples of these outdoor brands demonstrate the significant role that visual merchandising software plays in optimizing brand strategies.

They pioneered processes by leveraging such technologies and gained a competitive edge, enabling them to create compelling in-store experiences that resonate with customers and drive business growth.

Cover photos source: Sunset

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