Retail Design & Visual Merchandising Workshop

A 2-Day Design, Branding & Visual Merchandising Training
Results That Pay Off Instantly – Informative, Practical, Exciting, Actionable

September 9-10, 2025 – Marriott Falls View, Niagara Falls, ON, CA

Retail sales are a function of making an emotional connection with the customer on a level that makes them want to take a piece of your store – your brand – home with them. 

Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company, or the Shop Around the Corner, your customers need to know and understand you. 

They want to engage with you and experience your brand through the shopping experience. 

What do your stores say about you?  Do they engage the customer?  Do they excite the customer? 

Do they assist the customer in finding what they’re looking for quickly and easily?  Is your store environment your best salesperson?  It should be. 

In this workshop you’ll discover:

• How to define your Brand, and design a store environment that becomes a Brand Experience;
• How to space plan a store that is efficient, engaging, and easy to shop;
• How to create Merchandising stories that encourages up-selling and interest in groups of products;
• How to find and select display fixtures that validate the quality and value of the merchandise and assist in a graceful customer/salesperson interaction;
• How to create a Signage and Graphics program that supports your brand, communicates offerings and policies, and assists the customer in the shopping process;
• How to create Window Displays that are dramatic, powerful, and engaging;
• How to design an efficient lighting program that makes product pop;
• How to make Color and Materials selections that support your brand image, are durable and maintainable, and support the presentation of your products; 
• How to design a logo, mark, and tagline that are memorable, concise, and that reinforce the brand.

PROGRAM OUTLINE

Introduction

• DMSRetail’s perspective on Visual Merchandising
• Are you a retail expert? You are when you shop… Everyone is subconsciously evaluating a store design as they shop and measuring it against a predetermined list of values, needs, and wants.
• What is Retail really all about, and how does that affect your design? A personal connection between retailer and customer. 
• An emotional response that leads to sales – customers buy on emotion, justify by logic

Branding

• What is a brand, and why should I define that before designing anything? A brand is to a company as a personality is to a person
• Brands vs. Commodities: Brands create loyalty, commodities compete on price and product
• Describing your brand: Core Brand Characteristics – Brand DNA is largely the same – it’s the few rungs of the DNA ladder that are different from your competitors that define you within the marketplace
• The Value Equation / Brand Benefit
• Customer Demographics & Psychographics
• Emotional Connections / Desired Emotional Response
• What are you really selling?  (Hint:  It’s not the “stuff”)

Corporate Identity

Naming – Types of Names – How to choose / evaluate a name
(1)  Is it memorable?
(2)  Is it easy to say and spell?
(3)  Does it speak to what you do, or at least conjure up a feeling?
(4)  Do you, or can you own it?

Logos – Evaluating by the same criteria as the store design – Updating old logos – when and why to update (or not) – Do’s and Don’ts in application

Marks – When to use one and why – Composition with the Logo

Taglines – When to use one and why – How long/short they should be – Composition with the Logo

The importance of consistency – Confusing the customer by sending mixed messages

Design Basics

Intro/Overview of Space Planning, Merchandising, Fixtures and Casework, Signs and Graphics, Lighting, Colors and Materials, and Corporate Identity

Programming

• Objectives
• List of Stories to be Told
• Message Hierarchy
• Product/Service Mix
• Form: This Space Should Feel…
• Screens/Design Criteria
• Image Boards

BREAK OUT EXERCISE:  CREATING IMAGE BOARDS

Break into groups of 5 to 6 people each; provide stacks of photos for groups to combine into a collage image board for a store design

Space Planning

• Plotting the Story
• Defining the “Givens”
• Bubble Diagrams
• Sight Lines
• Access/Traffic Flow
• Placing walls, changes in levels, fixtures, signage, and POS

Visual Merchandising

• Telling a Story  — creating a “stage set” of props wherein a story is told about the products and their place in your life
• Display vs. Stock – levels of presentation and their effective use
• Negative Space – creating a sense of separation and relief between merchandising stories
• Cross-Merchandising – upselling customers to groups of products as opposed to individual products

Casework & Fixtures

• Purchasing vs. Custom
• Flexibility
• Style
• Custom options to your brand image
• Unique circumstances
• Balancing consistency with not being the “brand x fixture store”
• The quality of the fixtures needs to match the quality of the merchandise

Signs and Graphics

Creating a Comprehensive Sign Program

• The 200’-20’-2’ Rule
• Way Finding
• Lifestyle Graphics
• Informational Signage

Types of Sign Media

• Print
• 3d
• Internally Illuminated
• Digital

BREAK OUT EXERCISE:  CREATING A VISUAL MERCHANDISING DISPLAY      

Break into groups of 5 to 6 people each; provide each group with a product to be featured (Apple iPod), and a list of details about that product that need to be communicated to the customer. 

Have each group sketch up a planogram for a visual merchandising display that achieves everything on the list in some way. 

Have each group present their solution to the class.

Window Displays

• When to do them, how, and how deep
• When graphics are better than product display

Lighting

Creating a Lighting Program

• Ambient / General Illumination
• Feature lighting
• Thematic / Theatrical Lighting

Types of Fixtures and Lamps – Overview:

• Line Voltage
• Low Voltage
• Fluorescent
• Halogen
• Ceramic Metal Halide
• HID
• LED
• Fiber Optic

Colors and Materials Selections

• Basics: color, texture (visual or physical), quality, durability, customer touch-points, affect on customer pace
• Using complementary colors to make things pop
• Where to put your money

Questions?

Conclusion

Whether you plan to design your stores yourself, or you just want to better understand how to evaluate the effectiveness of your shopping environment and experience, this workshop will give you the foundation you need to achieve the fundamental goal of any store design or visual merchandising effort – to increase sales.

Who Should Attend:

Store Design and Construction Managers, Visual merchandisers, Store Owners, Merchandising Managers and Anyone who has interest and/or responsibility in design, branding and visual merchandising.

Why You Should Attend:

Practical, applicable and actionable content delivered by top experts in Retail Design & Visual Merchandising to drive your sales, customer experience and profitability. Proven to increase those metrics by double digits. Check out the testimonials.

Value: Apart from acquiring complete knowledge, participants will enjoy a 30-Day unlimited Q&A through email after the workshop (A $1,000 value by itself)

ROI: Return on investment can be as high as 1,000 times the registration fee based on your company revenues and how many techniques, ideas and methods from the workshop you implemented.

Positions you as an expert .

Creates a “larger picture” mentality.

Improves your standing as a Retail Management Leader

Two days that will produce a lifetime of results.

Guarantee: If you feel that for whatever reason this workshop is not suitable to your needs by the end of the first morning, we will refund your registration fee right on the spot.

Full Year Membership in Retail Business Academy. (Value: $1,164)

Duration: 2-Days (typically, 9am-5pm)

Registration Fees:
Individual Rate: US$4,995.00, Group: US$4,495 – Min 3 participants from the same company ($5,995 if you pay at the door – subject to availability)
Groups of 6 or more, please inquire at (johill@dmsretail.com ) or call +1 (813) 556-6437

What is Included:

• 4-5 Star Hotel accommodations for 2 days.
• Continental breakfast
• Full lunch
• All-day refreshments (5 Star Quality)
• Presentations, practical exercises and case studies
• All workshop materials and all take away materials including Retail Success Strategies (DVD)(Retail Value: $197), Store Management Process (DVD)(Retail Value: $197) and
• Full Year of Retail Business Academy Membership (Retail Value: $1,164)

Claim Your Spot! Click the “Register Now” Button!

The Retail Design & Visual Merchandising Workshop

Current Dates & Locations:

Dates & Location	Individual: Only $4,995	Group*: Only $4,495
September 9-10, 2025  Niagara Falls, ON, CA Venue: Marriott FallsView

*Min 3 participants from the same company

Dates & Location	Individual: Only $4,995	Group*: Only $4,495
October 6-7, 2024  London, UK Venue: Marriott Kensington

*Min 3 participants from the same company

Dates & Location	Individual: Only $4,995	Group*: Only $4,495
November 4-5, 2025  Toronto, ON, CA Venue: The Westin Harbour Castle

*Min 3 participants from the same company

Dates & Location	Individual: Only $4,995	Group*: Only $4,495
January 12-13, 2026  Dubai, AE Venue: JW Marriott Marquis

*Min 3 participants from the same company

Dates & Location	Individual: Only $4,995	Group*: Only $4,495
February 9-10, 2026  Las Vegas, NV, US Venue: The Signature at MGM Grand

*Min 3 participants from the same company

Dates & Location	Individual: Only $4,995	Group*: Only $4,495
March 10-11, 2026  Miami, FL, US Venue: Sheraton Miami Airport

*Min 3 participants from the same company

Dates & Location	Individual: Only $4,995	Group*: Only $4,495
April 7-8 , 2026  Istanbul, TR Venue: Sheraton City Center

*Min 3 participants from the same company

Contact: Josephine Hill
email: JHill@retailmanagementworkshop.com
Phone: +1 (813) 556-6437 or +1 (800) 953-4501

Trusted by the smartest employees at these organizations (partial list)

“The price of education is paid just once. The price of ignorance is paid forever!” Anonymous

 

DMSRetail reserves the right to change dates and/or locations, and to cancel any workshop at any time. If a registered and paid participant cannot attend a workshop they may send a substitute or they may attend a future workshop in the location they choose. The credit does not expire. If DMSRetail cancels a workshop, registered paid participants are entitled to a refund of their workshop fee paid. DMSRetail is not responsible for any other costs.