Career in Visual Merchandising

Students who are good in imagining, conceptualizing and designing great store displays, and who dream to work in fashion chains or retail stores can have a good future in Visual Merchandising. The task of a visual merchandiser is to conceptualize, develop, design and execute in-store visuals including lighting, music and other store displays so as to attract customers to explore and purchase the store’s goods. The main task of visual merchandiser is to hold the attention of customer when they are in store and persuade them to purchase goods.

Courses and Eligibility

For admission in graduate and diploma courses of Visual Merchandising one should pass 10+2 in any stream. For a career in visual merchandising apart from the educational qualification one should have an aptitude towards designing and a sheer sense of aesthetics. A candidate can appear for a Bachelors degree program in fashion design or technology where visual merchandising is one of the majors.

Bachelor’s Degree Programs in Visual Merchandising, Graphic Design, Fashion Design, Fashion Sales, Fashion Management, Fashion Merchandising, Retail Management, Marketing and Business can lead to a profitable career as a visual merchandiser, manager or director.

There are Associate Degree Programs in visual merchandising also. Associate Visual Merchandising Degree courses offer fundamental knowledge of creating eye-catching in-store displays and setting-up competent store layouts.

The main areas where visual merchandising programs focus are:

• Aligning and planning fixtures and display
• Designing interactive installations
• Exploring new avenues in the field of electronic retail experience
• Making the perfect blend of music with installations for enhancing interaction with the customers
• Innovative use of Colors
• Innovative and novel use of communication tools that would attract customers
• Insight into attention grabbing ploys that are applied in visual merchandising and retail design
• Installing dynamic and flexible fixtures in the retail stores
• Looking out for convergence of fashion design, architecture, interior design, music
• Proper use of space for displays
• Retail Store Layout design
• Store Decoration
• Window Displays

Career Prospects

The concept of visual merchandising is new to India and it is taking baby steps but as the retail sector is growing in India there are plenty of job opportunities available for youngsters in the field.  As much as the number of shopping malls, five star hotels, retail outlets, discotheques and boutiques will increase, Visual Merchandising jobs will too increase.

At presently, good job opportunities are offered by reputed companies like Westside, Shopper’s Stop, Pantaloon, Titan, Ebony, Mango, Lifestyle, Wills Sports etc. And as the government is going to allow foreign direct investment in retail sector the jobs will only increase.

Visual Merchandisers are offered job opportunities in five star hotels, boutiques, exhibitions, shopping malls, theme party organizing companies, online fashion stores, window designing of stores, hotel lounge, mortar and brick retail stores, elite boutiques etc.

Top institutes of Visual Merchandise in India

• Arch Academy of Fashion Art Design,
  Plot No. 9, Govind Marg,
  Opp. Police Station, Malviya Nagar,
  Institutional Area, Jaipur,
  Rajasthan
•  J D Institute of Fashion Technology
  JD, Lokayata,
  Hauz Khas Village,
  New Delhi
• Mudra Institute of Communication
  Shcla, Ahmedabad 380058,
  Gujarat
• National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD)
  SCO. 32 – 35. Madhya Marg,
  Sector 8 C, Chandigarh – 160009
• National Institute of Fashion Technology
  CA. Site No. 21, Sector 1,
  27th Main Road, HSR Layout,
  Bangalore – 560034, Karnataka
• NIFT Campus
  Haux Khas, Enclave Zone F-3
  (Adjacent to Laxman Public School),
  New Delhi – 110016
• NIFT Campus
  Old Mahabalipuram Road, (Near Tkiel Park),
  Taramani, Chennai – 600113,
  Tamil Nadu
• NIFT Campus
  Opposite Hi – tech City, Madhapur,
  Hyderabad – 500081,
  Andhra Pradesh.
• NUT Campus
  GH Circle Gandhinagar 382007,
  Gujarat
• Wigan & Leigh College
  86 – A, Central Avenue, Sainik Farms,
  New Delhi.