How to be a great DO Part 9

Eye level is where the buying happens

A customer reads your frame display before you’ve even said a word. The grouping, the spacing, what sits next to what; it all tells them something, whether you mean it to or not. So, it’s worth deciding what you want it to say.

Here’s where to start…

Start with the ‘hotspots’

Before you move a single frame, draw a bird’s eye view of your retail space. Observe what your customers do for a few days; mark where people come in, which direction they turn first, where they slow or stop and where they sit. These are your hotspots and prime retail space for the frames you really want to bring into the conversation and ultimately sell. You might make a plan to rotate these based on seasonal factors or events.

Within the hotspots (and beyond in other areas) think about the detail. Eye level is where the buying happens, so that band of display is prime space. Pay attention to sizing; a big statement frame next to a delicate one means they fight each other, and both lose.

Also think about how you’re using colour; blocked together it helps a customer browsing alone navigate by tone. But when you’re guiding someone along the display, a run of all the same colour can blur the very differences you’re trying to point out, so a bit of contrast can help here.

Leave space

A packed-out space can give ‘clearance’ vibes, where giving space for the frames to breathe can add to perceived value. Fewer frames are better seen, and even those who have shelving display and drawers need a reminder of that occasionally. When you have beautiful frames, you want to display them all but resist the urge and instead rotate your stock so that every time customers come in, the space looks different.

Giving space for the frames to breathe can add to perceived value

For those working with frame racks this might be harder to implement, a frame rack with gaps doesn’t look good. In this instance, to reduce the numbers on display, it might be an idea to purchase point-of-sale (POS) card holders to cover some of the frame spaces and use them for striking imagery, fun descriptions of who the frames are for or testimonials from previous customers.

Group by story

Sometimes the brand is the story, and a name people know carries its own meaning. An unknown brand has no story yet, so you must build one for it; a shape, material, a use, a mood. Price grouping only suits a practice that competes on price, since that’s the story it’s telling customers.

For a premium independent, it does the opposite, it turns the frame display into a comparison chart that reads ‘cheap to expensive’, so customers start choosing based on cost when otherwise they would have chosen based on fit and face.

Gender grouping is much the same. So many frames are unisex in shape and size now that a his/hers split only serves to hide frames that would suit them if they felt able to move between groupings.

Mind the neighbours

A frame is compared to what sits beside it. If you line up sameness, then the whole lot will blur into one for the customer. That means their eyes slide over the frames rather than being drawn to anything in particular. We can see the differences between those three black frames, they can’t.

The same frame model in various colours works well, and odd groupings hold attention better than tidy pairs, which is why groups of three or five tend to work well on a shelf.

Give permission to touch

A beautiful premium display that looks too perfect to disturb tells people to keep their hands off. Frames only get chosen by trying, so parts of the display need to invite it.

Whether you openly indicate that trying on is welcomed or whether you subtly place a mirror or try-box near the frames, the most useful thing a customer can do in your practice is put a pair of glasses on and turn to face the lit mirror.

Change window displays every four to six weeks

Give the window a story

The window is one of your first points of contact for customers. A striking frame, image or clear theme gives the passer-by a reason to look and think it’s worth coming in again. To do this well it takes planning, with a change in window advised every four to six weeks. Your practice then appears alive and curated, rather slightly stale for having the same six frames fading in the sun since spring.

It doesn’t always have to have a large budget either, you can invest in one set-up that changes colour, position and message but is re-usable.

In my own store, I used the same plinths but changed the coloured vinyl on them according to story and theme. I also had the large images printed double-sided, so they appeared in the window and the store. Those window images had a special frame inside the store that could hold 10 stacked together. This way I could re-use as artwork and rotate through the year.

A word on POS

Brands would happily have their name on every surface you own. Their POS earns its place where it tells a story about your or your customers. Where it doesn’t, that’s just clutter. And clutter gives off its own message.

I’ve watched practices spend thousands on the frames and then 10 minutes on where they’ll go. This is odd, when the second decision is the one the customer notices, and buys based on.

All of it, the frames, the spacing, the POS, adds up to one message. We need to decide what that message is – and then spend time on bringing it to life.

Rebecca Thompson FBDO is a dispensing optician, eyewear strategist, founder of Eyestyle Studio and writer of Eye Style, a weekly journal exploring the business, design and the future of optics.