Psychology and Visual Merchandising to Influence Customers

Introduction
In this assignment I will be explaining how retail outlets use psychology in their visual merchandising and display techniques and how this encourages customers to purchase goods. Then I will be comparing how three different retail businesses use space and psychology to influence customers to purchase goods.
Brand image
Brand image is a very important part of visual merchandising. Brand image is how people perceive the brand and whether they think it is good or bad. If a brand has a good brand image and people generally say positive things about the brand, the brand itself is likely to have good sale records. An organisation with a good brand image may find that there is no need to spend huge amounts of money on advertising as the products sell themselves. An example of a company which has a good brand image is, ‘Apple’. This is such a popular company which has generated billions of pounds as its products are sold word wide. The only advertising people will see from apple is when they release a new product. The products sell themselves as the brand produces high quality products and there is a good reputation for the goods that already exist.
Brand image is not something a company can buy. It is created by people’s perception on the brand. If there is a positive vibe about the brand and the products they sell the will be good word of mouth and the brand is likely to become more popular and generates more sales. Therefore, brand image can be reinforced by portraying the best image with every aspect of the brand such as, advertising, packaging, promotions, customer service and word of mouth.
You know if a brand has a good brand image when it can just be recognised by its logo or the colours of the brand. For example, the colours red and yellow may make people instantly think of