Too Much of a Good Thing

In my April 22nd posting, I singled out J. Crew for its sparse but effective use of in-store signage. It managed to tease the shopper into paying attention to items otherwise easily overlooked. That is a rare accomplishment; most retailers are either mute and leave the customer to figure out everything on her own or else plunge into what I want to comment on today.

Too, Too Much to See

At the other end of the spectrum from J. Crew sits a prominent national bookseller. This retailer has signage hanging overhead to denote major categories and signage atop every aisle designating sub-categories or authors or clearance and subsets of pricing within clearance and prompts for products sold in the in-store cafe. 

On some aisles there are multiple category headers and on the end of every single aisle there is signage as well: a standard 8x10” text sign with either a white or red background. 

What is the end result of all this verbiage above all these shelves and around all these colorful products and down all these busy aisles? A complete lack of communication. A visually noisy silence. 

Too Much Telling Creates No Selling

Too much visual clutter shuts down the shopper’s ability to absorb anything. It all turns into white (and red and black) noise. This is compounded by the fact that the products themselves (books and CDs) have a high degree of color and a high degree of colorful text slashed across deliberately active designs covering all of their surfaces. Customers are left to form their own impressions and reach their own conclusions and to sell the product to themselves, not because of a lack of information (signage) but because of an overabundance of it.

Yelling, visually, just does not equate to selling.

--Timothy Cohrs

www.TimothyCohrs.com