BackLearning the art of window dressing
Visual merchandising is one of the hot vocational jobs of the season
PremiumWalk into any mall, and the beautifully designed store windows will catch your eye. Maybe there is a theme running or maybe the new launches are on display—there is always well thought through planning on what will be showcased. And the people who plan it are visual merchandisers.
Visual merchandising is one of the hot vocational jobs of the season. According to a recent study by HR service provider TeamLease, these “hot vocational jobs also make for better long term careers, compared with long-tail institution-based engineering and MBA."
Visual merchandising is not a new thing. In fact, it is everywhere. “If you see the roadside fruit seller, he would have decorated the fruits on his cart in a particular way to attract more buyers. The modern day concept of visual merchandising has many elements, from in-store display, layouts, colour schemes," explains Vineet Kapur.
The 28-year-old is heading the visual merchandising for Reliance’s luxury brands, Brooks Brothers and Salvatore Ferragamo, across India. He moved to Mumbai from Delhi last year for his job.
Frequent travelling is one of the perks of the job Kapur does not mind. As a matter of fact, Kapur quit a career in fashion after graduating from Delhi’s JD Institute of Fashion Technology because he wanted a profile that was a mix of travel, fashion styling and graphic design, his three passions.
The starting point
In 2014, Kapur joined Genesis Luxury as a visual merchandiser in Delhi. A fresher in the industry, he was lucky enough to be mentored by seniors who taught him the key aspects of his new role. Soon, he was handling store displays on popular international luxury brands, including Tumi, Hugo Boss, Armani and Canali.
“I learnt the basics of visual merchandising here and loved it. It’s not necessary to have a degree in it to do well at the job, most of the learning happens while you work. You get a hang of it in a couple of weeks, or months at max," he adds.
Working with international brands is a great deal when you are starting off. The set guidelines can make it easier for someone learning the ropes. But it can also pose a challenge. Often, as Kapur explains, all the products would not be available in Indian stores as the brand guidelines called for.
“Sometimes, Giorgio Armani would launch 1,000 styles in a season. But India would only get 100 of them. Now, to display with the limited set of products while sticking to the brand guidelines would be tricky, but we would have to take creative liberties without straying too much," explains Kapur.
His next job as head of visual merchandising at lifestyle brand Chumbak Designs had a different set of challenges. It wasn’t just the switch from a luxury to a mass brand, but also the product line itself. “If Armani had 10-12 product categories to showcase, at Chumbak we would have at least 150. My focus was to figure out where can I display each product without making it jarring —can I place a bag next to the key chain?" he says.
Armed with the experiences of working with these brands, Kapur decided to pursue a business management course from University of Economics, Prague, to understand how brands work. Those two years (2017-2019) helped him get a global perspective. For example, Kapur says, Copenhagen-based variety store chain Flying Tiger uses in-store architecture to play up each of their products on display. “The store layout is so smooth, that customers can see every product in a flow," he says, adding that India is still growing in terms of visual merchandising. Earlier, in 2014, most store owners would respond to him saying, “Just help us make the sale". But now he has noticed more retailers being serious about product placements.
Post-sale season can be especially taxing for Kapur, when he visits all the retail shops and arrange products so that everything looks fresh. These have to be done often after closing hours or through the night, so as to not disturb the shoppers.
But it is an industry which is vibrant, and growth is possible. While a fresher can earn ₹35-40,000 a month, someone with 10 years of experience can earn ₹20-25 lakh per annum. Due to the niche nature of the job, demand is high. “When I joined, I could always tell my manager about ideas I had, and those would be implemented. I do the same now: give the freshers a chance to show their skills and ideas. If these are good, they are appreciated and their ideas implemented," says Kapur.
Cool Jobs looks at vocations that are becoming popular among millennials.
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