MKTG 1020 - Visual Merchandising and Store Planning

This course emphasizes merchandise presentation, visual merchandising display, and store design as tools to attract customers and clients and sell products and services. The course will explore building brands in conventional retail settings as well as non-traditional venues such as pop-up shops, special events, and trade shows. The course stresses using creativity and innovation to build a harmonious brand image to delight customers. Course assignments and activities provide opportunities to apply the principles and elements of design to create appealing storefronts, floor plans, wall elevations, visual merchandising displays, fixture layouts, and lighting plans. The course will also guide students in planning special events that communicate brand images and create displays and spaces that appeal to consumers and clients.
MnTC Goals
N/A

Prerequisite(s): None
Corequisite(s): None
Recommendation: MKTG 2050  and GRDP 1013 , or ART 1020 , or ART 1041  

Major Content
 

1. The function of visual creativity relative to retail brand identity and other business activities
2. Ambiance and other atmospheric elements
3. Core design strategies - design elements and principles - to support selling efforts
4. Functions of a variety of store selling fixtures - conventional and custom
5. Mannequins and mannequin alternatives
6. Merchandising selling floors, walls, and fixtures using a planogram format
7. Planograms for a variety of selling-floor situations
8. Presenting and accessorizing featured merchandise to create multiple sales
9. Signage
10. Store windows and editorial displays
11. Visual aspects of a storefront or business
12. Visual strategies for apparel, home furnishings, and other areas of application
13. Visual merchandising strategies for non-traditional venues - grocery stores, food service and hospitality, special event sites, trade shows, etc.

1. describe economic, societal, and cultural developments influencing trends in retail.
2. apply design elements and principles.
3. apply design strategies - design elements and art principles - to communicate brand and support sales.
4. describe the characteristics of the primary target audience.
5. select featured merchandise and appropriate accessories to create multiple sales.
6. demonstrate how interior and exterior signage and store lighting impact store image.
7. evaluate the effectiveness of visual aspects of a storefront or business.
8. evauate the effectiveness of ambiance and other atmospheric elements in a store.
9. select furnishings, fixtures, mannequins, and mannequin alternatives compatible with brand image and decor.
10. plan store windows and editorial displays.
11. evaluate store windows and editorial displays.
12. apply visual merchandising strategies to traditional or non-traditional venues - grocery stores, food service, hospitality, special event sites, trade shows, etc.
13. design an in-store special event that supports the brand and appeals to the primary target market.
14. design a project store or service business by applying visual merchandising tools, strategies, and techniques for floor plans, elevations, logo design, signage, and material specifications.

Courses and Registration