More than two years after the pandemic began, retail businesses have been forced to adapt and make changes. From complete shutdowns to reopening's, these phases have come with new challenges to thrive. As a result, many stores have put shopper’s health first and adapted social distancing in their store.

The direct result of the global pandemic is social distancing in shops. During such times, visual merchandising strategies helped many retailers to redraw the business in unforeseen ways to adapt with the new changes happening. So, how can retailers implement visual merchandising in their store to encourage social distancing. The following are some examples of visual merchandising strategies to encourage social distancing in retail stores:

• Use window displays to entice shopper’s: Retailers can place certain items like masks, sanitizers, or safety products on window displays. For example, if you own an apparel store, you can display matching masks along with clothes to entice customers. This makes customers enter the store and make purchases.
• Reorganize store layout design to keep shopper’s six feet apart:Before the pandemic, retailers would have designed their store layout to fill the items maximum. But, due to the outbreak of Covid-19, many retailers have been forced to remodel their store layout by considering the safety of their customers. That is why many stores provide enough space between each aisle, where shoppers can easily pass through, without breaking the social distancing norms.

• Create hierarchy: With the change in the store layout design, stores can contrast heights and depths to grab shopper’s attention. When there is enough space for shoppers to walk through each aisle, placing items in a store fixture with varying heights in the middle of the walkway will cascade the line of vision.
• Promote discount & offers: Placing discount labels like ‘10% off, flat’ 50% off on store shelves with the help of planograms can prompt shoppers to visit the store more often even while the pandemic is still going on. This helps to increase retail sales and overall revenue.
• Place safety items at checkout counters to increase impulse purchase: Retailers can make customers feel safe at checkout counters, where the interaction happens most. Installing plexiglass around the checkout counters or displaying or selling hand wash, sanitizers, or masks to encourage customers to purchase or use them to minimize unnecessary contact. This will make customers revisit the store and make purchases.

Overview of Nexgen POG 

Nexgen POG is a powerful cloud-based visual merchandising tool. It is designed for quick and easy retail store planogramming. With Nexgen POG, planograms can be created for maximizing in-store sales with the right store layout plan, report analysis, compliance management and shelf signage features. It is a multi-device compatible software that helps retailers to create, share and edit planograms easily. It is designed for proper retail shelf planning and placement of products.

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