Display windows have always been used to tempt customers into stores. The first shopkeepers used ostentatious signs with their names over their doors, and placed their products proudly in the windows of their shops to attract the attention of passing trade.
When in the 1840s advances in glass production enabled large panes of glass to be used in shop fronts, the department stores began to take the concept of window displays to a new level.
Retailers quickly recognized that their windows were a leveragable resource and the growth of the department store in the early 20th century saw window dressing become a serious business. Rival stores used their windows as three-dimensional advertising hoardings, producing incredibly theatrical and flamboyant displays to outplay their competitors in luring customers across their threshold.
Today, professional window dressers (or merchandisers) and even sometimes well-known artists, are commissioned to combine fashion, design and marketing to create seasonal or otherwise themed temporary ‘art installations’. Color, props, lighting, moving parts and film footage, and sometimes even real people, are used to highlight and differentiate the store’s offering. In a retail world where most department stores are selling the same ranges and products, the display window has a vital role to play in giving a retail brand name a distinctive image and set of associations.
Contribution to Retail History
Window shopping has long been a regular leisure activity among shoppers and retailers have always responded with stunning displays that showcase their new and stylish merchandise. Displays are often themed seasonally as well as to specific designers and oftentimes make powerful and trendy fashion statements.