St Andrews Links Blog

A trip to the VM & Display Show

Visual merchandising (VM) is used to attract and engage customers through enticing window displays and product placement. Being the VM team at St Andrews Links requires great attention to detail, creativity and organisation.

On a daily basis, the VM team analyse sales and trends, develop window themes and shop displays, assist with stock deliveries and keep track of consumer behaviour.

“We are the guys backstage, who are stage-managing and producing the whole effect, whereas the buyers are writing the story and providing the content. We are the ones that have to bring it to life.” Alannah Weston, Deputy Chairman, Selfridges.

We have done various windows to showcase our product so far this year with our two largest being The Masters and Aloha themed. These are just a couple from a range of exciting ideas lined up for the year so look out for them!

Aloha display

Masters display

As a team, we’re always looking to improve and develop which is why we recently attended the VM and Display Show. For the past 29 years, visual merchandisers, buyers and suppliers have come together in the Business Design Centre in London to network and share ideas. It’s the only UK exhibition dedicated to this creative industry. This was our first time attending and we went to be inspired by other companies and see what suppliers could offer us.

With a wide variety of props, mannequins, fixtures and fittings it was hard not to be captivated. We also collated great ideas from the show and built up contacts with potential suppliers that could be useful for the Links.

We took a lot away in particular from a talk we attended by Simon Hampton, the Head of Visual Merchandising at Harrods. It was very beneficial to find out about the planning and preparation that goes into each one of their windows. This provided us with invaluable knowledge from a store which is world renowned for its window displays.

The show had a real creative energy and buzz and we look forward to returning again to gain even more experience!

Words by Paula Aird, Catherine Kelly and Georgia Willison (VM Team)