Mother's Day retail display review

People celebrate Mother’s Day in a variety of ways – a meal out, a picnic, a football game or a movie. Mother’s Day celebrations come in all shapes and sizes, but as a retail marketing lover, I was keen to see what retailers and brand manufacturers would be doing differently this year, post-pandemic lockdowns.

Report by Zita Watkin, Shop! ANZ

Over the last few weeks, I hit the shops to try and get a feel for what themes were coming through this Mother’s Day. No prior research or preconceived thoughts, just an open mind and hopeful for some interesting products, retail displays and inspiring windows.

From what I saw, it was clear that when it comes to attracting consumers on this special occasion, ‘emotion’ is the driver for enticing shoppers. Therefore, visual merchandising and experiential marketing tools play significant roles in driving consumer behaviour when shopping for a Mother’s Day gift.

Insight

Last week, we shared some insights from a new study from the Qualtrics Experience Management (XM) Institute, "2021 Australian Consumer Trends". This report discusses how the post-pandemic consumer will continue to expect great experiences regardless of the shopping channel they choose.

It’s important that retail marketers embrace the fundamental metrics for customer experience to attract consumers as we move into the post-pandemic retail space.

What are the Customer Experience metrics?

Satisfaction: how consumers feel about their experience

Trust: how consumers view a brand

Advocacy: how consumers spread the word

So how can you tie ‘emotion’ into the customer experience for shoppers at Mother’s Day using visual merchandising and experiential marketing to create fantastic shopping experiences?

Check out some inspiring Mother’s Day visual merchandising and retail displays that blend emotion with beautiful, memorable and ‘share worthy’ experiences.

I have highlighted the following activations as I feel they are brands to watch - ‘go to’ business’s that align customer experience with product and occasion in an impressive way. Simply put, they get it!

Seafolly

You don’t get this online! Seafolly created a reason to come instore and make a purchase. A high impact and disruptive pop-up set up outside their Chadstone store created a real point of conversation that extended beyond the store experience.

Make a purchase over $75 and receive a bouquet of flowers. From a shopper point of view, I was initially struck by the fresh flowers ('emotion' tie-in). Then learning about the incentive, I made a purchase and felt totally satisfied by the experience.

Then I witnessed what my purchase was doing for the brand. Every store I walked into was asking me about my beautiful bouquet ('advocacy'). I had received the flowers and in turn, I was instantly a brand advocate spreading the Seafolly vibes.

Peter Alexander

I’m going to give Peter Alexander top marks for a window with impact and incentive. Basic concept executed so well. Showstopping BIG “Thanks MUM” 3-dimensional propping, combined with a 20% off storewide incentive.

Another notable when it comes to a destination store that we trust for Mother’s Day is Pandora. Pandora is brilliant at creating reasons to come to store for occasion-based gifting. In this case they use stylised emotive floral cues on window decals that lead shoppers’ sight to the incentive of “free limited-edition bangle – gift for mum or treat for yourself”.

Ferrero Rocher

Retail display masters Ferrero Rocher did not disappoint, combining their iconic gold mirror displays with a Mother’s Day feel. The displays were positioned at the front of Coles Supermarkets next to bouquets of flowers - Perfect pairing.

Chanel

Chanel Beauty stepped away from their traditional black and white colour pallet and into soft feminine colours in their windows and propping. Disruptive angles and inspiring call to action elements speaking to the emotive senses.

Cards, Gift Cards, Sweet Gifts, Vino!

There were an abondance of FSDU’s in supermarkets and discount ddepartment stores designed to shop for the obligatory Mother’s Day elements – personal cards, gift cards, and sweet gifts, and / or wine! Off-location displays are perfect for occasion-based marketing, giving stores flexibility to position the displays where the traffic flows. They make the shopping experience easy. Easy shopping takes away customer pain points and is an important element in creating great a customer experience.

Pink and flowers are evidently the ‘Mum CTA’ on these practical displays with some pushing the emotion vibe using bold patterns and 3-dimensional stand-offs.