This month it was great to be carrying out some in house face-to-face Visual Merchandising training with the staff at St. Albans Museums in Hertfordshire.

Working with the teams at St Albans Museums has been a project particularly close to my heart due to visiting the Verulamium Museum as a child and now living very close to St Albans.

St Albans have two museums which both have links to the amazing local history. I worked with both teams to introduce them to the key Visual Merchandising principles and how these can be applied within the merchandising and presentation of both museum shops. The training was part theory , part practical. Spending most of the time within each shop implementing the practical Visual Merchandising principles I was teaching the teams. 

The training helped to boast the team’s confidence with Visual Merchandising which will assist them with their product presentation, link selling and store layouts which they are now working on as a team ready for their re-opening later in the Spring.

I have included photographs of the mosaic floors which are on show at the Verulamium Museum, these were all excavated within the St Albans area and are said to be ” the finest mosaics outside of the Mediterranean.” The museum is built on the site of one of the largest Roman cities in Britain, well worth a visit ! 

During the month of February I have been sharing some of my recommended Visual Merchandising tips and techniques to assist you when working with E-Commerce.

Tip 1 – Three of the key VM principles Symmetrical, Repetition and Alternation are great techniques to consider when creating a layout of an E-Commerce site. 

Tip 2 – Creating a symmetrical layout with your banners, text and product images on your website is more pleasing on the eye of our customers. A symmetrical layout allows customers to look at and see the entire page content with more ease and view the information quickly, with more impact.

All images copyright of VMC

After working with the HTA ( The Horticultural Trade Association ) for over 5 years running their Visual Merchandising training for their Garden Centre members. I am very excited to be running their VM yearly development program which is new for 2021. Please find further details below on the program which is available to all HTA members ;

The most effective training you’ll find on how to develop your instore and website visual merchandising, specifically targeted towards garden retailers.

The Program will include ;

Monthly one-to-one online meetings with me, where I will be giving each attendee individual feed back and the opportunity for me to answer any of your specific questions.
Monthly Visual Merchandising practical challenges, where members can practice their newly learnt skills within their store.
Access to the HTA VM development programme forum on Facebook Workplace, where you can share and upload inspiring content and best practice.
Opportunity to book bespoke in house Visual Merchandising training course for your entire team with me at a reduced HTA member rate.

For further details and for booking please find the link to the HTA website page ;

HTA | Visual Merchandising Development Programme

Thank you for supporting my business this year, your custom is very much appreciated.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my customers a Very Happy & Healthy 2021 !

This month I was really excited to be partnering with Workshop X and their students, teaching my new online Visual Merchandising Course, VM for E-Commerce Businesses and Retailers.

Workshop X, based in Jeddah, SA is a youthful concept that will empower creative excellence for an awesome new generation. We facilitate creative enrichment and skill enhancement through workshops. 

This week I’m relaunching my free online Visual Merchandising support via Zoom for businesses and students.

The Visual Merchandising Surgery will run every Friday up to Christmas from 10am until 11am UK time.

Email me; sarah@visualmerchandisingconsultant.co.uk to book your appointment…..

Here is another great example from Heather Elliott, who has created a themed homepage banner and linked to her featured products below this. A brilliant example of treating your homepage banner as your shop window !

This Girl Is Mighty -Mood-shifting stationery and homeware, ethically made in the UK by Heather Elliott

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ThisGirlisMighty?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=645682283

I suggested to the retailers to treat their homepage banner as their store window which they should consider changing on a regular 2-4 week basis to maintain their customers interest in the brand. Link the banner theme directly to merchandise below on the homepage and create consistent product messages on their social media channels too. Heather has created a great focus of her fabulous range of Dolly Parton gifts !

This month I was teaching my new online course for E – Commerce retailers for NWES London as part of their Enterprising High Streets program. 
NWES offers free advice, training and masterclasses for high street businesses in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham.

It was a pleasure to work again with these independent retailers and teach them how to apply the effective VM techniques to their websites and E-Commerce shops. I have screen shot below three of these great brands ;

AMPellegrini Art & Design – Printed Textiles, Nature Illustrations Created by Anna-Maria Pellegrini    https://www.ampellegrini.com/

Anna-Maria has reported that since she has made the changes on her website from tips suggested on the course, she has seen “a spike in overall visitors on the website, since I changed my homepage and about me page.” A key selling point about Anna-Maria’s product is her own nature illustrations, therefore I suggested telling her brand story and process to her customers on the About Us Page and link this to illustration images posted on her Instagram site too.