What is a visual merchandiser at target

​Executive Summary

             The goal of “How to Merchandise” is to instruct a new employee at Target how to create captivating displays by utilizing products, style, brand, trends, and promoting sales through signing and labeling. A Visual Merchandiser will need to know not only how to work with the products, style, trends, and sales he or she has at their disposal in order to increase overall sales for the company, but will also need to think outside the box to create these displays all while maintaining the brand
            At the beginning of the module, the learner will take a Pre-Test so that they can check their knowledge for what they already know. Then they will need to print out a Module Checklist that contains questions about the learning tutorials that the learner will need to answer and fill in throughout the module. Every learning tutorial is broken up into smaller sub-sections with expandable tabs so break up the content easier. For every learning tutorial, there is a small Check-in/Review question so that the learner can test themselves to see if they know the material. At the end of the module, the learner will take the Final Exam and will print out the results along with their certificate of completion. They will then turn the Module Checklist, Final Exam, and Certificate all in to the person administering the module.
            I used Adobe Dreamweaver to create my website, along with Photoshop. I also used my own personal pictures of the work that I have done throughout my time working for Target. For the Pre-Test and Final Exam, I used Google Forms to generate assessments for the learner to take. I also used Google Forms to generate a Course Evaluation for taking a survey on how well the content works for the learner, if it was helpful, and how to improve it for future learners. I created the Module Checklist with Google Docs and the Job Aids using Microsoft Publisher and converted them to PDF.
            During the course evaluation, the one thing that kept being brought up was that the learner wanted to see more “before and after” pictures. As in, how the display. endcap, table, or mannequin looked like before, then how to clean it up and create a new one with step by step demonstrations. The learners wanted to see more step by step modules with clear pictures of creating the display rather than just the end product. My only concern with this is that when we are creating the displays, we clock in at 4am and are on a strict time limit to set it up by 8am when the store opens, and after lunch, by 10am, to push out any last minute products and/or put up any last minute signing for any sales. This means that taking a step by step photoshoot of how a display is made can be time consuming, especially when time is very limited during a shift.

Introduction
Background
A visual merchandiser is someone who sets up displays within a store. “To show product items and concepts on how to use said product items at their very best, with the final purpose of making a sale,” (Pegler, 2006, p.7). His or her job is to show off the new products, trends, and concepts at their finest. The ambition for this work in retail comes from increasing sales by convincing the shopper of the product’s value being presented.
The main initiative of the visual merchandiser is to create a “story” from the products and trends the retailor has for sale. He or she will construct a visual display that will link the shopper with the products and trends and attempt to convince them that they need to buy it because it is relevant in their everyday life. Visual merchandisers apply design, style, fashion, trends, as well as new ideas to a focal point within the store for said “story”. These focal points consist of, but are not restricted to: mannequins, display tables, and display rooms. Due to the endless variations of weather, seasons, fashion, and style trends, the visual merchandiser has to think outside the box and present the merchandise on sale so that it will fascinate the eye of the shopper.
Problem Description
Over the last few years, Target has been trying to compete with other major retailers throughout the nation, since they had been grossing about -0.58% since 2013 (Wahba, 2015). One of the biggest differences between Target and other major retailers, for instance IKEA, is that IKEA has a visual merchandising team that helps create displays using the products the retailer has in order to increase sales with shoppers. Target has not had this role within the corporation, thus implementing a visual merchandiser into the company is a work in progress. The closest to a visual merchandiser team that Target has is the Planogram team, which are the group of people who set up the aisles, endcaps, and displays throughout the store very early in the morning throughout the work week. However, the team usually consists of workers who have been with the company for at least a year, know the store layout, and are familiar with reading planogram blueprints for product placements. The planogram blueprints tell the workers exactly how the display need to look, and how the merchandise needs to be set up. The problem here is that although the planogram may say how to set up the display, the display set up may not work for increasing sales throughout the store.
This is where a visual merchandiser comes in. He or she will need to analyze why the product is not selling, if the display looks too plain or too busy, and creates adjustments from there. The Planogram team also does not necessarily need to know the branding of the store; all they need to know is how to set up the shelves and tables. The visual merchandiser will know the few rules of how the brand (or say, the identity of the store) such as: selling a product through display promotions; inspire the shopper’s eye and influence his or her decision to enter the store and make a purchase; to highlight the store’s aesthetic image; draw interest and increase a positive shopping experience for the shoppers; and, not only be able to explain the product being showcased, as well as educate the shoppers on how and when to use said product to relate to the trend through guest service.
Target Audience and Context of Use
The target audience for this module are all adult ages, ranging from 18-retirement. The learners also range from having absolutely no college experience, to having a master’s degree.  The average employee knows how to “push” product onto the sales floor, and how to “zone” the merchandise on the shelves and racks. To “push” means to know how to unpack new products and place them onto the shelves and racks. To “zone” means to clean up and keep the shelves and racks organized and neat for it to look desirable to the shoppers. The more advanced team members, such as those on the Planogram team, know how to “set”, which is setting up the shelves on the aisles and endcaps, as well as tables for merchandise by reading the planogram blueprint.
The focus of this capstone will be to be able to push the products onto the sales floor and structuring it to make it look desirable on the shelves, racks, mannequins, and other focal points throughout the store. Most of the incoming new team members will already know how to push and zone, thus the priority will be to learn how to design and structure the product layout into a display without using a planogram blueprint. By showing the visual merchandising team the first basics of creating a display, the team will be able to build off what they already should know and how to implement it critically onto the salesfloor to increase sales in the long run.
Literature Survey
The position for visual merchandising is new for Target as a company. Other companies, such as IKEA, Anthropology, and Macy’s, to name a few, already had this position for a few years now. However, for Target to remain relevant in the current trends in home décor and apparel styles, the company had to reinvent the visual aspect of their brand for their shopper’s shopping experience. Therefore, the company website has posted numerous job openings for this position throughout the country within the last year. The job description includes: “Demonstrated passion for: style trends in Home and Apparel, sharing your enthusiasm in a retail environment, and providing an amazing shopping experience for guests. Ability to work independently, understand and interpret visual merchandising tools and direction, and develop and train others.” (Target Brands, 2016). Through this job description, the priorities are clearly stated as knowing how to style and highlight a product onto a focal point so that the shopper will be interested in making a purchase. The job description also takes note that the visual merchandiser needs to work independently and have previous knowledge of resources of style trends and fashion, hence, the learning theory of androgyny and adult learning.

 Solution Description
Goals of the Project
“We realized we were making them [customers] work too hard […] When you walked into our stores to browse, all you saw were a sea of racks or a string of search results. So we owed our customer a better presentation.” (Wahba, 2015). To have successful sales, the salesfloor needs to look presentable, desirable, and filled with products shoppers want to buy. The general goals of the website module for visual merchandisers is to interest the eye of the shopper with the products and trends at hand, preserve the brand of Target, and raise sales for the company.
Task
Objective
Domain

Generate a display, endcap, and/or focal point that will captivate the eye of the shopper.
Given an endcap and/or focal point, the learner must generate a captivating display by the end of their shift.
Psychomotor/Cognitive

Preserve and uphold the brand while incorporating new style trends and concepts.
Classify examples of the Target brand including new style trends and concepts with 100% accuracy.
Psychomotor

Learn by rote the sales floor layout and how new merchandise can be incorporated.
Describe the sales floor layout while incorporating new merchandise with 100% accuracy.
Cognitive

Promote sales through signing, labeling, and displays of merchandise.
With 100% accuracy, label, sign, create displays of merchandise when promoting a sale.
Affective

  Instructional Strategies and Justification
While the target audience encompasses a variety of education levels, all learners are adults and therefore have ownership of his or her own learning. The theory of andragogy is best suited for designing this module. “A main assumption of andragogy is that adults bring a store of life experience to the learning encounter an experience can serve as a resource for learning,” (Adult and Continuing Education (ACE), 2008, p.64). In other words, adults are capable of directing in the planning of his or her own learning (S. B. Merriam, Stein, Imel, & Owenby, 2001, p.5). Being a visual merchandiser involves not only extensive individual learning, but also relying on prior knowledge as resources for resolving intricate complications. In addition, grounding the module in an adult learning theory produces a context-based adult learning which should also be addressed. “[L]earning in context is paying attention to the interaction and intersection among people, tools, and context within a learning situation,” (S. B. Merriam, Stein, Imel, & Owenby, 2001, p.44). The employee will therefore shape his or her own learning through the tools, atmosphere, and ideologies that are being set in the learning situation at hand.
Using the theory of andragogy is best suited for designing this module. Being a visual merchandiser consists of lots of individual learning, as well as relying on previous knowledge as resources for solving complex problems (Merriam, 2001). In addition, by basing the module through an adult learning theory, context-based adult learning is also important to be addressed. The target audience will be able to shape their own learning through the tools, environment, and principles that are being set in the learning situation at hand.
The module will also consist of Merrill’s first principles of instruction, which include interactive events, and realistic day to day tasks. The module will include images, graphics, and interactive quizzes and events that will simulate a digital version of what they will be doing on a day to day basis as visual merchandisers (Carr-Chellman, Reigeluth, & Masulis, 2008).
Media Concepts
The storyboard for the website module was created through Microsoft PowerPoint. The website was created and programmed using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery on Adobe Dreamweaver. The media was created and edited through Adobe Photoshop. The website was tested on multiple web browsers, such as Chrome, Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.
Anticipated Challenges
The challenges in producing this module was using Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop for the multimedia content, such as the interactive website and images included on each webpage. Google searches, along with YouTube tutorials on how to resolve any encounter that came my way relating to the software will be used while developing the module. The risk of not receiving reliable data when having peers run the module was also a factor. This was due to time constraints, conflicting work schedules, and holiday retail excitement in the workplace. 
Although the lack of direct resources for producing this module was difficult to manage, the biggest challenge was generating the JavaScript onto Dreamweaver. This is mainly due to lack of experience with the computer language.

 Methods and Procedures
Steps Completed and Preliminary Results
The Job Analysis, Learning Objectives and Goals, and defining media and graphics are all completed. All the tutorials, reviews, and interactive activities of the module have been developed and launched onto ITCDLand. The additional PDF documents, such as the Module Checklist (see Appendix C, pg. 36) and both job aids (see Appendix D, pg. 45) have been uploaded onto the website as well.
Design and Development of Project
The content outline, storyboard, as well as programming and coding of the website are all completed. The development procedure was designing and coding the tutorials and interactive webpages (see Appendix A, pg. 20). The storyboard was designed using Microsoft PowerPoint. This gave the development process a plan on how the website is laid out.

Resources
Time: 100-200 hours
Money: $12 per month for subscribing to Adobe Dreamweaver, $8 for external USB flash drive,            $20 for overnight shipping of hardcopy
Hardware: Available Microsoft Surface Pro Notebook
Software: Google Chrome. Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Dreamweaver
Space: To be stored on ITCDLand and a USB flash drive
External Expertise: Consultation with visual merchandising experts
Training: None
Technical Skills Required: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, basic jQuery
Resources Utilized to Learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery: Online resources such as YouTube, Khan Academy, and Code Academy.

Timeline/Progress Report
Milestones Checklist
- Finish designing “What is a Visual Merchandiser?” tutorial
- Finish designing “How to ‘Brand’” tutorial
- Add intro tutorial to Sales Floor Blueprint Activity
- Develop overall module assessment
- Add quiz for “How to ‘Brand’” (identify the Target picture)
- Add quiz for “What is a Visual Merchandiser?” (multiple choice quiz)
- Run usability test
- Conduct developmental evaluation based on usability test and make necessary changes
- Finish capstone report
Timeline
Sept. 16-20:                Revise capstone proposal
Sept. 21-27:                Design “What is a Visual Merchandiser?” and “How to ‘Brand’” tutorials                                            and quizzes
Sept. 28-Oct. 4:           Design intro tutorial for Sales Floor Blueprint and overall module assessment
Oct. 5-11:                    Edit tutorial for Sales Floor Blueprint
Oct. 12-18:                  Conduct the evaluation based on the usability test and make necessary changes to the module
Oct. 19-25:                  Meet with adviser Jeanne Farrington and update her on Capstone Project                                             Progress, upload link to iLearn
Oct. 26- Nov. 1:          Complete developmental evaluation and finish making necessary changes to the module, revise final deliverables
Nov. 2-15:                   Finish website and start writing one-page summary and final report
Nov. 16-22:                 Complete all deliverables and prepare Capstone presentation files
Nov. 30-Dec. 14:        Submit one-page summary, Capstone presentation, Capstone Project, ePortfolio, and Final Report
Dec. 16:                      Capstone Project Presentation

 Evaluation/Usability Test
            The evaluation for this website module will be focused on the usability since the target audience will have a foundation of minimal technological knowledge and practice. The usability test was used to determine if there were any other way the learner would like to use the website module that will help ease his or her experience while taking it (See Appendix F, pg 49).
In regards to the usability of the module, the six participants stated that the links worked fine. All the learners could navigate throughout the module perfectly and without interruptions. This includes the Google Forms for the Pre-Test and Final Exam, as well as the tutorials and interactive review pages. Five of the learners however took the module on a mobile device, which by default, the images on some of the web pages took a long time to load or were too large. Four participants ranked the module’s images as 3 out of 5, 5 being the highest, and one two ranked it as a 4. However, all agreed that the images throughout the module were helpful in explaining the concepts of each lesson.
As far as the module content, 4 participants agreed that the learning objectives were clear, one was neutral, and the last one disagreed. For the course content, 5 strongly agreed that it was well planned and organized, while 1 agreed. In terms of workload, all 6 strongly agreed that the course workload was appropriate and that the course organization allowed the learners to participate fully.
Five of the participants stated that the most useful aspect of the module were the images. One stated that the module’s value derived from the interactive activities throughout the module. All the participants expressed that they would like to see a video on how to create an endcap and/or a display. However, creating a video would take strenuous planning, since the team who specializes in this area clocks in at 4am and usually has a heavy workload of over 80 hours a day (divided among the team members). On average, the participants took about one hour to complete the module. All in all, all 6 participants also agreed that they learned more about what to expect as a Visual Merchandiser after taking this module.
For further development, more work, such as pixel adjustments and sizing maintenance needs to be done in the tutorials. In addition, more interactive content could be added as well, such as a tutorial video demonstrating how to create an endcap or a display, or even how to do an adjacency.
            As far as the results from the Pre-Test and the Final Exam (see Appendix B, pg. 28), the average score on the Pretest was 15.83/28, or ~56.5%. For the Final Exam, the average score was 25.67/28, or ~91.7%. By generating a Paired Two Sample t-Test for the means, the data concluded that after taking the module the learners would significantly improve their scores (see Appendix E, pg 48).

 Conclusion
         The Target Visual Merchandising module is an interactive learning website designed for beginners in visual merchandising that need to be trained on how to set up displays to portray new products, trends, and concepts. The tutorials provided by the module are crucial in the learning experience of the visual merchandiser because it exemplifies real world scenarios in which he or she will be encountering when performing the daily tasks. The activities will include: reading, drag and drop, multiple choice assessments, and matching.
            The capstone project entails multiple step by step tutorials on how to style and begin to merchandise. Such tutorials will include: “What is Visual Merchandising?”, “How to Brand and Style”, “How to Promote Sales”, and “How to Read an Adjacency”. Each tutorial will be followed by a quiz to assess the knowledge and skills the learner needed to acquire during the tutorial, then with an exam at the end of all completed tutorials and quizzes to assess the overall content of the module.
            The general goals of the website were to captivate the eye of the shopper with the merchandise and trends at hand, maintain the brand of the store, and increase sales for the company. Without eye catching displays, the shopper will not be interested in the products that the store has to offer, nor in the current style trends that the products can be used for in their everyday life. However, even when a visual merchandiser has captivated the eye of the shopper with a display that he or she has created, the display will still need to maintain the brand, in other words, the distinguishable characteristics that differentiate Target to the other retailers. By maintaining the identity of the store while drawing in the shopper, the visual merchandiser will then to be able to promote sales and increase the overall profits of the company.
Even though the target audience comprises of an inclusive range of education and age levels, all the learners are adults and therefore have ownership of their own learning. Using the theory of andragogy, a visual merchandiser does a great deal of independent learning, as well as relying on previous knowledge as resources for solving complex problems. In addition, by basing the module through adult learning theory, context-based adult learning is also important because the learners will be able to shape their own learning through the tools, environment, and principles that are being set in the learning situation at hand.
            The website was created and programmed using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery on Adobe Dreamweaver. The media was created and edited through Adobe Photoshop. The storyboard was fabricated on Microsoft PowerPoint. The website was tested on multiple web browsers, such as Chrome, Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.
The website underwent through a usability test through 6 learners that are new and experienced with visual merchandising within and outside of Target. In addition, the website also went through an evaluation assessment to ensure that all the learning content is correct and current. The Assessment determined that the learners did in fact learn new concepts that were presented throughout the module.

Works Cited
Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) (2008). Third update on adult learning theory: Fall 2008.    San Francisco: Wiley,            John & Sons.
Brands, T. (2016, June 9). Visual merchandising leader. Retrieved September 18, 2016, from  Target Careers, https://jobs.target.com/job/burbank/visual-merchandising leader/1118/2960463
Carr-Chellman, A. A., Reigeluth, C. M., & Masulis, A. (2008). Instructional-Design Theories and Models, Volume III.                         Routledge.
Merriam, S. B. (2001). The new update on adult learning theory. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Merriam, S. B., Stein, D., Imel, S., & Owenby, P. (2001). The new update on adult learning theory Vol. 89: New                           directions for adult and continuing education. San Francisco: Jossey  Bass Inc.,U.S.
Pegler, M. M. (2006). Visual merchandising and display: The business of presentation (4th ed.).
          New York: Fairchild Publications.
 Wahba, P. (2015, October 27). Target CEO says fancier in-store presentation is giving sales a major boost. Retrieved December 11, 2016, from http://fortune.com/2015/10/27/target merchandising/

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