Color Banding – What is it?
Color banding is the use of colors in bands of like colors to make a display attractive and easy on the eyes so to speak. There are 2 ways to color band your products, either vertically or horizontally. Most salons tend to merchandise horizontally, resulting in certain products getting placed on the bottom shelf never to be seen by a customer. Sometimes it makes sense to go horizontal, but I highly recommend doing vertical color bands if your inventory allows for it. You have to have substantial inventory to go vertical, so if you don't - stick with horizontal.
Color banding example
This is a really great example of vertical color banding at Z Gallerie. The vertical color bands allow them to give equal real state space to each color - what does this mean? The prime real state space of any shelf is in between a client's eyes and waist, anything higher or lower if not considered optimum shopping height. If we were to change this shelf and put the blue plates on the top shelf, followed by the red, the green and the orange - we would be giving prime real estate space to the red and green plates only. By going vertical, all colors get to be seen at eye level. Vertical bands also allow us to create beautiful vignettes at the top of each column showcasing what is below.
Vertical color bands
This photo shows Redken merchandised in vertical color bands. The first section is only blue because this is the "feature" shelf showing one of the current promotions the salon has going on. The next 3 sections show the entire Redken Haircare line in vertical bands from left to right, from red to blue. I like to place products in order of the color spectrum - ROYGBIV - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. This makes the products look more organized and inviting for clients to shop. Change things up a bit by mixing colors within the spectrum.
Horizontal color banding technique
This photo illustrates the horizontal color banding technique using Pureology products. In this case, it made more sense to go horizontal and still looks beautiful!
Whether you are going horizontal or vertical, keeping your products clean, straight and front faced is very important to a shoppable retail environment for your clients. Happy Merchandising!