Friday, March 29, 2024

Advertisement
Creativity in VM: A mix of simplicity, efficiency & sustainability

By Retail4Growth Bureau | February 08, 2023

Creativity in VM is a continuing discussion that throws up multiple perspectives. Durgha Niranjankumar - Design Consultant & Visual Merchandiser, Imagine That, Chennai, tells Retail4Growth what creativity in VM means to her, throwing the focus on self-expression, resource optimisation and sustainability.     

 

Creativity is an ocean that one can dive into and discover multiple perspectives, depending on one’s context and need. In Visual Merchandising (VM) - the crucial, customer-facing aspect of retail - a sharp definition of creativity can mean many things. At a time when our whole physical reality is competing with a Metaverse defined reality, creative VM is one that can resonate with customers across the virtual and physical social spaces and can also meet a brand’s business targets.

Retail4Growth has embarked on this series of conversations with Visual Merchandisers on what creativity means to them, and they all offer multiple insights and perspectives. For Durgha Niranjankumar - DesignConsultant & Visual Merchandiser, ‘ Imagine That’, Chennai, creativity in VM is “about bringing in freedom in design and creating interesting and exciting spaces for retail clients”.

A bridge between the retailer & the customer 

“Ideally, we work as a bridge between the retailer and the customers. Architects create fascinating retail designs, while we as VMs create visual storytelling to create the right brand image for the customers,” explains Durgha, throwing the spotlight on the crucial role that VM plays for a brand, and hence the need to define creativity in this context.  

You can create from anything and everything 

Durgha also makes another important point while defining creativity in VM. “According to me, creativity in VM is also about working with what you have. For example, we often work with props that are already existing in the market and follow the principle of recycle, upcycle and reuse. Essentially, we can take inspiration from anything and everything around us. Even a simple flower can give us interesting ideas and we can do visual storytelling through paper arts like Origami.” 

Indeed, as Durgha points out, stunning displays can be created using plastic plates, bottle caps, paper cups and even unused bottle caps. Essentially, as she points out, anything that is considered waste can be used creatively to create stunning displays.

Cost-saving and efficient 

Creativity also means delivering practical and tangible benefits with meaningful impact. A creative VM can add more value when it involves efficiency in terms of cost and resource optimisation and also meets the sustainability goals, as stated above. As Durgha points out, “Creativity is also about creating efficient displays without using high-end props and doing effective story telling by following a strategic mix and match approach to convey the brand essence.”

Well, no one can dispute that the most creative works of VM are the ones that can sell, save and conserve! 

Tell us what you think! Mail to editor@vjmediaworks.com

Images courtesy: Imagine That, Chennai 

Advertisement

Comments

Related Viewpoints

Siddhant and Shivani Anand

Co-founders, Bay Window

‘Companies that balance consumer behavior & technology are the ones that succeed’

“Don’t profile the shoppers, profile the reason they are shopping!”

Avishek Bambi Das

CEO, Mumbai Duty Free

“Travel retail is the new growth frontier”

Advertisement
Advertisement
Have You Say
Advertisement
Resource
Follow Us On
Advertisement