An interesting career option that has cropped up in recent times is that of visual merchandising. This is a concept revolving around creatively presenting an item or a service to the public. The nature of work is such that it requires talented individuals with a good sense of aesthetics.
This is a highly specialized field which requires an individual to generate tons of innovative ideas that can capture the imagination of the target audience and work wonders for whatever product or service is being presented. The individual is required to come up with some out of the box but at the same time within the budget. This can be quite a challenge even for the best of us.
Basically virtual merchandising provides a sort of interactive retail experience as well as electronic fashion. The potential virtual merchandiser needs to have a good sense of interior designing, lighting, sound as well as fashion in order to be able to come up with some thing interesting each time. Since this is something new for the Indians it is advised that interested Individuals take a course in visual merchandising in order to be able to perform better.
Applying for visual merchandising courses
Generally a candidate must have completed their higher secondary education in any discipline in order to enroll in one of the visual merchandising courses. Apart from the educational qualification the individual must possess an aptitude towards designing and a sheer sense of aesthetics. The potential candidate can then appear for a Bachelors degree program in fashion design or technology where visual merchandising is one of the majors.
There are many other Indian institutes that hold a special workshop on visual merchandising. The Institute of Fashion Technology is one of the most prominent places that conduct these courses. Graduates in fashion design or technology can apply for these courses that will further improve their skills of visual merchandising. There are other institutes that conduct short term certificate courses in the field.
The area of specialization
After undergoing some training in visual merchandising you will have learnt all the integral parts of the job. The main focus of the course is on retail store layout and decoration along with aligning and presentation of fixtures on display. You will also generate a fine idea about the use of colors and setting up window displays.
Furthermore the students are made aware of the intricacies of super market merchandising as well as furniture layout and the presentation of equipment. You will also learn how to use communication tools to attract customers and other attention grabbing techniques. Basically you will be sharpening up on your imagination skills and learning how to best execute them.
You will also learn how to make use of lights and sounds to interact with customers. The use of graphics to create an ambiance and various other elements of interior design are also taught to the student. In the end the student is totally geared up for the job. With the concept of visual merchandising taking birth in India there are plenty of job opportunities for youngsters in the field.
