Effectiveness of Christmas window displays in retail stores

¶ … Christmas Windows in Stores

The use of Christmas windows in stores is highly effective in strengthening brand recognition and promoting products over their lifecycles. The use of Christmas windows has been going on for over a century, and the sophistication of those at Lord and Taylor, Barney's and others tell stories and sell products at the same time. These window displays during the holidays are often interlinked with a story theme designed to evoke emotions that the store wants associated with their brands. The joy of giving gifts, enjoying time with family friends, and creating situations where people can readily see they having fun is the goal of the store displays. Studies indicate that these displays are effective at increasing sales of products featured in them, and has also been an effective strategy for turning around lagging sales of older products (Su, Myra, 1992).

Analysis

Everyone loves a good story and the best Christmas windows tell holiday tales that are rich win moments of pure emotion that evoke positive feelings in those that see them. What is noticeable about the window exhibits this year is the heavy reliance on nostalgic themes that would make baby boomers readily identify with the past holidays of their lives. This can be seen in the many windows that are retro to the 1960s and 1960s Christmas scenes and the tie-in to the favorite theme of so many window designers, Victorian England. The stories are all based on wonder and excitement of the holidays as a child, hoping to draw in baby boomer shoppers with the products that are discreetly featured in the windows. It is an interesting blend of nostalgia and marketing with the products featured being futuristic. It is as if the store is saying to the potential customers for the products that the device is the realization of their desires as a child for the futuristic, newest toy. This is everywhere in windows with the Apple iPad for example, where the device is showing up in 1960s retro windows as the futuristic toy of choice. It is an interesting strategy to juxtapose these images, but it works really well to bring attention to the iPad and get customers thinking about it. The best holiday window displays do this interweaving of storytelling and product imagery so well it is not noticeable. The holiday window displays are very adept at painting these visual images, bringing in products to support the messaging and tying it all together with a holiday theme.