Vignettes That Work

In 2000, Carmen Natschke and her husband, Steven, started an online interior decoration business. One year later they opened a 900-square-foot shop in Indian Harbour Beach, on Florida's Atlantic coast near Melbourne. The original plan was to use the store as a showroom for Carmen's decorating services. But in the three years since, the shop, called Room in a Kit Vignettes, shifted its focus to emphasize retail sales while still functioning as a showcase for Carmen's designing talents.

The shop is located in a strip mall that is also occupied by a wall covering store, an embroidery and upholstery shop, restaurants, a hair salon, women's clothing stores, and a frame shop. From the beginning, there was a lot of foot traffic — mostly female — passing by Room in a Kit Vignettes.

However, too many of those potential customers were walking right past Room in a Kit. To find out how to change that, Carmen Natschke took a scientific approach, using techniques spelled out in retail researcher Paco Underhill's book, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. Underhill and his staff observed more than 900 aspects of interaction between shoppers and stores, and learned such data as how men are beginning to shop like women, and how women have changed the way supermarkets are laid out.

She began by compiling information on how many people passed by her store, how many came in, how long they stayed, and whether they asked questions. If they purchased something, Carmen made records on what they bought, how much they spent, and how they had learned about Room in a Kit Vignettes in the first place.

Her statistics showed that one in five passersby came into the store. Of those who did enter, most looked around quickly and did not ask questions, but remarked what a beautiful store it was and that they would keep it in mind for the future. Those who made a purchase spent an average of $73.

As a result of her findings, Carmen set herself three challenges: to increase walk-in traffic, to increase the amount of time and money customers spent in the store, and to create an ambience that would entice them to ask about her interior design services and workshops.

Carmen began by creating colorful window displays using products from almost every department in the store. Each is built around a theme that can be design related (neo-classical, for example), style related (French Country or Key West), fantasy related (a "garden" of floral-patterned pillows), or color related.

One display embraced the color red, using luxurious fabrics in a neo-classical romanticism setting. According to Carmen, the bold use of color and design tripled the amount of customers that came into the store. Some 75 percent of passersby who viewed the window came in, and others who'd seen the display after hours made a point of coming back when the store was open. To maintain interest, Carmen creates new window vignettes every four to six weeks.

Inside the store, displays have been made more alluring with the creation of mini-vignettes, each designed as a feast for the senses. Sumptuous textures on pillows and other decor items beg to be touched, and fragrances from candles and personal care products waft through the air. Vignettes range from a garden with butterfly furniture to an elegant display of high-end china and toile pillows. An island of merchandise at the rear of the store includes lamps, decorative boxes, florals, and bamboo purses that act as magnets, drawing customers through the shop.

Carmen Natschke's reworking of her visual merchandising strategy has redrawn Room in a Kit Vignette's bottom line as well. For instance, customers might respond to the cross merchandised displays by adding matching candles and purses to the sage green toile pillows they purchase. "Instead of a $60 sale, we now have a $100 sale," Natschke explains. The average store purchase has gone from $73 to $95 per customer.

Carmen's interior design business has also improved. She offers consulting in a do-it-yourself package at $50 an hour, or full decorator services for $85. Her Decorating Divas workshops cover topics from "faux painting" to "luxury for less." The impact of her vignettes has helped Room in a Kit convert retail customers to clients that will also purchase $375 worth of decorating services and $85 worth of decorating workshops.

Proving that great displays are one reason why we buy.