York Gate Gift Shop

“Kat was brilliant from the moment we spoke about the project, helping me understand all the key elements to making a visual merchandising plan. Her project proposal was flexible and helped me decide where to make the best use of my budget to maximise sales.”

Laura Cloke - Trading Manager - Perennial

Creating a clear and enticing customer journey is more important than ever.  Customers need to quickly connect with and understand the retail environment, which ensures an exceptional and memorable experience. Retail that is well positioned within a larger brand story will also win in these new times.

 All these ingredients came together in an exciting project for York Gate, a magical one acre garden in West Yorkshire run by Perennial a charity dedicated to helping everyone who works in horticulture.  The inspiring garden also integrates a café, plant nursery and a new gift shop to make for a fantastic day out.

I collaborated with the Pernnial team with the refitting of the gift shop, defining product category placement, fixture design, customer journey and visual merchandising principles. I planned floor layouts and visualised product on fixtures so we could understand capacities and product groupings for opening and future planning.  This was all brought together with the development of a comprehensive Visual Merchandising guide to aid implementation. Sales have doubled from last year since opening, even with fewer visitors to the garden.

 Working together a flexible, exciting retail space was created, displaying garden related gifts and local artisan product inspiring customers into making a purchase.  We also ensured the total brand story was told, highlighting the important work that Pernnial delivers to the horticulture industry