Communication of Window Display - Essay Example

The communication of window display Affiliation The communication of window displays Chanel S.A is an extraordinary fashion house that specializes in ready-to-wear clothes and haute countre, fashion accessories and luxury goods. Gabrielle Chanel established the House of Chanel in 1909 after she opened a millinery shop on the group floor of the Parisian Flat, which belonged to a textile businessperson and socialite Etienne Balsan. The growth of her business was attributed by the fact that the flat was a salon for the French sporting and hunting elite and for that reason; she had the opportunity to meet their mistresses. The demi-mondaine mistresses were women of class and fashion where the rich men displayed their wealth through ornate hats, clothes and jewerly. Chanel saw this as great opportunity to become independent as she started making hats she had designed and selling them to the mistresses (IaroccI, 2013. P.45). Through the financial help of Arthur Capel she got her first millinery shop in Paris; however, this limited her to only selling millinery goods and not couture due to the location of the shop. In 1913, the Chanel shops in Deauville and Biarritz, which were couture shops offered for sale the Pret-a-porter sports clothes for women. These practical designs allowed the women to play sports. The First Word War affected the European fashion industry greatly in 1914-1918, due to the mobilization of women and scarcity of materials. However, this did not stop Chanel as she created clothes from jersey and some of her designs were derived from military uniforms, as they were made prevalent by the war (Bott, 2007, P. 40). Where by 1915 the clothes that were made by Chanel were known across France. In 1917, the Harper Bazaar magazine indicated that the clothes from the House of Chanel were on every individual’s buyer list. This meant that the clothes had become famous and his territories expanding in relation to the sale of the clothes. In the same year, the Chanel Dress shop at 31 rue Cambon created a daywear dress and coat bands of simple designs, tulle-fabric dresses that were decorated with jet and black evening dresses trimmed with lace, as well as, a minor gemstone material. By 1920, she created designed that she catered for women with taste and elegance in dress, with trousers and dresses and blouses and suits, as well as, jewellery. The designs created by Chanel replaced the over-designed, opulent and constrictive accessories and clothes that were found in the 19th-century fashion. In the 1920s, Chanel; made simple-line designs that were made popular by the flat-chested fashions that were the direct opposite of the hourglass-figure that had been achieved by the fashions of the late 19th century by British Edwardian Era and the Belle Époque France. She also produced fashion trends where she produced bearded dresses that were made popular by flapper women. Therefore, the composition of design allowed women to have a modern and feminine appearance while at the same time made them feel comfortable and practical to maintain. In 1920s, she created a perfume line where the best perfume was no. 5, which was given to his best clients as a gift. Since the 1920s, the House of Chanel has been labelled one of the best fashion houses in France. Today Gerard and Alain Wertheimer who are grandsons to Pierre Wertheimer who was an early business partner to Gabrielle Chanel own the company. The House of Chanel has shops all over the world where the shops are located in wealthy communities. The shops have all products that are created by the House of Chanel ranging from clothes to accessories and perfumes among other products (Ebster & Garaus, 2011. P. 67). The strategic position of the House of Chanel shops indicated that their target market is that of customers who are of high-class people as their goods are elegant and classy. This means that an ordinary person cannot afford their products, as they are unreasonably expensive for an average citizen to purchase. The products of House of Chanel can be identified through their logo which is implanted in all their products and that is . The financial performance of Chanel is great where the products have been made famous by “little black dress”, the Chanel suit and the Chanel No. 5 perfume. The revenue of the company in all their categories were up this led to the opening of nine beauty boutiques including one in France and China (Lea-Greenwood, 1998.P. 324). Although the House of Chanel stagnated after the death of Chanel in 1971, Karl Lagerfield took over and revived the company where he tapped the market by introducing designs that focussed on the younger generation. Window display has been used to communicate the best products that the fashion houses are selling to attract the consumers. Window display has not been an exception to the House of Chanel that has used Visual merchandising to sell their products (Percy, 1928. P. 120). Visual merchandising can be defined as the profession and activity of creating the floor plans and three-dimensional exhibitions in the effort of maximizing the sales of the organization. The goods and services are displayed in order to highlight their benefits and features where the main objective is to engage, attract and stimulate the shopper towards making an acquisition. In the 21st century, the internet has played a major role in taking away the customers, as most of them now prefer to shop online (Pegler, 2011. P, 43). Therefore, the window display has become the most effective way to attract customers not only as a mode of communication, but also show casing the products that the company is selling. This is essay will examine how communication of window displays are effective and the essay will focus on the House of Chanel to make the analysis, especially now that were are nearing Christmas. Window display is an effective strategy that is used to gain the interest and attention of window shoppers. This is because according to (Berger, 1972. P. 56) the relationship of what people see and what they know is never settled. This means that there are many ways of seeing things where according to Berger what is displayed on the windows and what people think it is not the same thing. Chanel uses lighting, mannequins, as well as, colour to make their displays look good and attractive to their customers (Bolton & Koda, 2005. P, 70). Additionally, the house of Chanel uses pyramidal format to show their fashion trend this format makes the window display dynamic and makes it easier for the consumers to find the distinctive thing they need (Colborne, 1995.P. 78). For example, fig 1 highlights a mannequin dressed in the House of Chanel famous suit. Beside the mannequin is a Christmas tree that has decoration indicating that they acknowledge the festive season. The use pyramidal format has been held to be effective way of visual merchandising because window shoppers easily catch the format (Baudot, 2000.P. 78). Fig. 2 illustrates that besides using the pyramidal format placing the mannequins in a way that they face the window shoppers is an effective way of catching their attention. This is because most of the mannequins look real and for that reason, it entices the consumers into looking into the products making them go into the shop to look at the products (Morgan, 2008. P.34). This in turn increases the customer flow in the shops, which also increases the sales and enhances the relation between the retailer and the customer, as they will communicate to get a better understanding of the products. Fig. 1 Front of House of Chanel Window 1. Fig. 2 Front of House of Chanel window Visual merchandising has proved to be effective in the sense that, it has increased the sales of many fashion company’s. In that, according (Portas, 1999. P. 45) shop windows play a major role in displaying art in the high street. Chanel agrees with the argument made by Portas in the sense that, they ensure that the window displays where they ensure that the make their window transparent by using glass and mirrors take most of the space in the shop (O’Brien, & Warner, 1946. P.27). The mirrors play a vital role in ensuring that the customers see the back of the clothes. Additionally, they leave the display there all night through to ensure that even the people who work at night have the opportunity to see what the company has on sale. Chanel has also used the windows to show the appreciation of the festive season by displaying a Christmas tree on their window display beside their mannequins as illustrated by figure 1 and 2. Additionally, the tress are decorated using products found in the shop to ensure that the customers understand that the shop has a wide variety of products and services that they offer (ZaghI, 2014.P.67). The golden has been used as the main theme by the shop where they have ensured that their decorations are of the same colour this has been illustrated in figure 3 and 4. This design of lighting and colour is one that is supported by (Morgan, 2000) where he stated that “effective window scheme that has been used by visual merchandisers is the one that only uses one colour (80).” The use of gold as a theme colour indicates the sense of class and high fashion sense because even the location of the shop says much. Figure 3: Front of House of Chanel Window Figure 4: Front House of Channel Window Chanel is expanding where it has also started designing clothes for the younger generation. The expansion has now gone to China where they have opened a new store that will play a major role in promoting Chanel’s products. By suing window displays in the stores the market will grow tremendously because many people will appreciate the products more; hence, increasing the sales (Easey, 2009.P.89). Although there is a downside to the window display where it is an expensive endeavour, it is worth it because it increases the customer base, as well as, creating a good relationship between the retailer and the customer. For that reason, visual merchandising should be promoted because they act as a good marketing tool for Chanel creating a huge customer base for the company. According to Pegler (2011), “as long as there are shoppers there will always be a need for visual merchandising.” References Baudot, F. (2000). Chanel: fine jewelry. New York, NY, Universe/Vendome Press. Berger, J. (2008). Ways of seeing. 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