Not even a difficult economy can deter Americans from showing their appreciation for their Moms on Mother’s Day!  Deservedly so!  According to  NRF’s 2010 Mother’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average person will spend $126.90 on Mother’s Day gifts, compared to $123.89 last year. Total spending estimated to reach $14.6 billion.

Mother’s Day is one of the biggest holidays of the year with billions to be spent at restaurants and stores. Although most Moms will say “it’s the thought” that counts, “sparkly” gifts are always sure to please.  Gift givers seem to agree on this point as they’re expected to spend $2.5 billion on jewelry for Mom.

Help Your Jewelry Sales Sparkle with the Perfect Displays

Retailers help make your jewelry sales sparkle this Mother’s Day! Select and use the right jewelry displays to showcase your merchandise. Experts agree that well-organized jewelry displays helps to grab potential customers’ attention and helps them to better focus on your selections. For the greatest impact, use displays that are specifically designed for each item (i.e. necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, watches, etc.). Whether you sell fine or everyday jewelry, there are many budget-friendly display solutions to choose from. Some of the most popular jewelry displays include:

• Easel-back Stands & Display Pads – allow you to showcase several (necklaces, earrings, bracelets, or body jewelry) pieces of jewelry at once.

• Earring Cards – use these plastic display cards to attach pairs of earrings and display the cards on a hook or on a countertop earring displayer.
• Earring Trees – use to display a single pair or multiple earrings.
• Jewelry racks, hooks and hangers – work well if you stock quantities of low-priced necklaces.  Use with fold over necklace/bracelet cards for easier hanging and pricing.
• Neck Forms or Busts – often padded or made from polystyrene, gives buyers a good idea of how a necklace will look on a person.

• Revolving Displays – fit on countertops, these square, rectangular, triangle and even hexagonal displayers hold earring cards and revolve or rotate.

• Ring Display –  allow you to feature a single ring or up to five rings separately in a row.
• Risers – come in different colors and materials including acrylic and wood. Risers allow you to display jewelry items at varying heights for a striking display.

• T-bars Style Jewelry Displays– ideal for showcasing bracelets and necklaces. These displays can sit on counter tops or inside display case.
• Trays and cases – elegant looking jewelry trays and cases are often used to display rings. There are a variety of inserts for these displays including flat pad and slotted ring.

• Watch Display – designed specifically to hold a watch upright, these displays fit attractively in a case or a countertop showcase.

It’s not too late to order jewelry displays for Mother’s Day and beyond.  May and June are great months for jewelry purchases with special occasions such as First Communions, Confirmations, Proms and Graduations, all in full-swing.

When displaying clothing for sale, remember that people prefer to see clothes on people. The next best thing is to merchandise clothing on mannequins and forms. It’s proven that you can sell more when you display it well. Mannequins and forms make it easier for customers to visualize how the garment will look on them. Today there are literally hundreds of mannequins and forms available to choose from. Following is some useful info to help in figuring out whether a mannequin or form will fit your needs.

Space considerations

• Forms give you more opportunities to displays clothing in limited areas. You can use forms as displays on top of racks and hung from walls.

• Mannequins are available standing or sitting, in action or still, and take up floor space.

Merchandise considerations

• Forms allow you to display individual items (tops, bottoms, tee-shirts, swimwear, etc.).

• Mannequins allow you to display full outfits (tops with bottoms, dresses, suits, etc.).

Style Differences

Forms

Forms are available in complete rounds or plastic shells. Shell forms cost between $8.00 and $15.00 with full rounds increasing in price, but are still economical. There are also separate heads, hands, legs, and bottom forms.

Jersey Forms are a long-time standard in the industry. Covered in jersey fabric, they offer smooth contours and shape. Jersey forms make pinning and shaping garments easy. They also offer a classic look with neck block and wood base.

Mannequins

Mannequins come in a lot of styles. Typically mannequins have arms and legs. They can come in all sorts of different poses. Style wise, there are abstract mannequins that have no facial features, sculptured heads that don’t require any wigs, and those that give you different wig styles as options. Mannequins also come in different ethnic styles.

Then there are the headless models considered “timeless” because they don’t depict a specific style or genre. You don’t have to worry about ethnicity, hairstyles that go out of fashion, you don’t have to show age, etc. Retailers like headless mannequins because they’re not affected by current fads/looks.

Both forms and mannequins come in male, female, adult, child styles and in different shapes and sizes (plus-size, pregnant, petite, active, etc.).

If neither mannequins, nor forms fit your needs, consider alternative displays such as flexible forms and metal displayers. These non-traditional displayers offer a more abstract way to show off clothing.