Unit B8:       Creating a Visual Display

Level: 1

Unit type: Sector (Business)

Guided learning hours: 40

Unit in brief

Learners will develop the skills needed to create a visual display for specific customers to promote products and increase sales.

Unit introduction

Each time you go shopping you will see visual displays, both in the windows and inside stores, which are designed to attract customers. You will have seen mannequins wearing the latest fashions and visual displays of handbags and jewellery, kitchen goods, perfume, sporting goods, computer games, the latest mobile phone handsets – the list is endless. A customer’s first impression is said to be made in the first five seconds of shopping and so creating attractive, well-arranged visual displays really helps to make that first impression – not just good but great. There is an art to setting out visual displays in ways that customers will find interesting and that will increase sales.

In this unit, you will create a visual display. You will consider health and safety and creative factors. You will create an attractive visual display that is appropriate for the space available using colour, light, space, product information and perhaps even smell, touch and sound.

This unit will give you the opportunity to demonstrate some of the practical skills used to tempt customers into stores. The transferable and sector skills you develop in this unit can enable you to progress to further learning. They will also support you in completing the core skills units in Group A of the qualification.

Learning aims

In this unit you will:

A  Plan a visual display for a product to attract target customers

B  Create a visual display for a product to attract target customers.

Unit summary

There are opportunities to develop functional skills in this unit:

Unit content

Knowledge and sector skills

What is a visual display?

• A visual display is how you display products for sale. Products are displayed in such a way that they draw attention by the design of the visual display and where it is placed in the store.

Factors to consider when creating a suitable visual display

• Type of product, e.g. cereals, perfumes and what their unique selling points are.
• Target customers include housewives, children, teenagers, gender specific depending on the product being displayed.
• Location of the visual display, e.g. department stores, discount stores, not-for-profit businesses, seasonal stores.
• Placement of the visual display, e.g. in a window, on an aisle end, near stairs, at store entrance, near escalators/lifts, in high-traffic aisles.
• Planning for the visual display, e.g. size and type of products, measuring space available, checking height and weight restrictions, creating a floor plan, planograms, calculating volume of products needed, props needed.
• Preparing for the visual display, e.g. preparing the visual display area, gathering stock, equipment and props together, following health and safety procedures, solving potential problems.

Visual display tools and techniques

• Presentation of the visual display uses a number of tools and techniques:
• themes, stories, complementary colours, contrasting colours, branding, shapes o props, e.g. mannequins, busts, jewellery forms, mirrors, flowers, plants, easels o fixtures, e.g. gondolas, end caps, garment rails, slat walls, counters, shelves, platforms, showcases
• free-standing visual displays, e.g. stacks, islands
• signage, e.g. price, sizes of signs.
• Presenting visual display using presentation software and speaker notes.
• Organising the slides for the presentation in a logical order to illustrate what has been considered in its development.

Transferable skills

• Planning: finding out about similar visual displays for a target audience, considering the tools and techniques used to inform the design and creation of a display in order to plan for own visual display.
• Managing information: using information about a product and target customers to inform the design and creation of a display.

Assessment criteria