Just before Christmas Tokyo Bike did just that. They opened their Popup Gallery for six weeks in an empty shop in Llankelly Place just off Macleay Street in Sydney’s Kings Cross. They sell simple bicycles designed for city riding. They already have a permanent shop in Surry Hills and thought they would ‘spread the word’ by trying out another city location for a short time. They designed the shop themselves proving that it is possible to create a branded environment on a budget.

Pop-ups are the embodiment of our short-attention-span culture. Here today, gone tomorrow. They can be anything, a bar, a club, a shop and they spring up in unexpected places, get people talking and disappear just before they go out of fashion. Pop-ups also make commercial sense for small businesses, because they allow them to try out new locations without having to commit to a long lease and expensive refit. For customers, it adds a sense of excitement to the shopping experience and their feedback via word of mouth, Twitter or Facebook is crucial to the retailer, because there’s usually no budget to publicise these ventures.

Tokyo Bike’s Pop-up is more like a gallery, using the raw shell of the building interior as a backdrop for the sleek bicycles. The overall effect is a ‘classic minimalist aesthetic’, which matches well with the look of the bikes. Founded in Japan eight years ago, Tokyo Bike wants to bring the urban cycling experience to Sydney. The days of lycra-clad speed junkies are on their way out as the more relaxed riders take to the road. This new urban cycling is about losing yourself in the city, enjoying the ride and is a way of switching off and escaping it all. The bikes are easy to ride with few or no gears and are pared back to the basic elements.

Their pop-up gallery is basic too, but complements this brand perfectly. Simple black and white text on the cardboard wall behind the service desk explains what the brand is about. The accessories, all brightly coloured, are laid out on the cardboard plinths on the shop floor with white sticky labels used as ticketing. The range of colours of the bikes and other products sit well against the monotone background of the cardboard and the floor and walls. It was no accident that they are in such a utilitarian space as it was chosen to match the pared back, minimalist feel of this brand. Location was of course is a key consideration. They didn’t want cars running outside their door, as it would make test riding the bikes more difficult and the alleyway position fitted well with the environment their bikes are designed for, the small back lanes of Japanese cities.

Store signage is also pared back, apart from the bikes being signposts themselves, a simple black and white A Frame sign on the pavement points to the store and two A4 sheets display the opening times on a box by the entrance. To give a sense of where these bikes originated a series of short videos are back-projected onto a fabric screen. Each video is shot in Japan showing their bikes in a number of cities where they have shops. This shop is not complicated. There’s no bike racks, no shelving units and cabinets or clutter. The space is all about Tokyo Bike, no other brands or promotions get in the way. This makes for an easy to operate space, there’s no-where for the staff to hide, they can meet and greet the customers one-on-one around the bikes, because, really, the bikes are the most important part of the store, that’s what the customers want to see. The environment is there as a neutral backdrop to show off the products at their best without getting in the way.

This simple solution to creating a shop has been a success as they had already sold 10 bikes in the first 2 weeks when we visited.

If you’re thinking of setting up your own pop-up or just want to improve your existing shop, here are 10 things we learnt from Tokyo Bike:

1. Use anything you can get your hands on to display your merchandise, it doesn’t need to be expensive;
2. Make your space open so you can easily approach your customers;
3. Create a backdrop that doesn’t compete with your products, but instead lets them shine by choosing neutral colours that complement what you sell;
4. Arrange your accessories by colour and give them space to breathe;
5. Keep your in-store messaging to a minimum and say only what is necessary;
6. Re-use or recycle to save yourself money. The bottles ($1 a piece from Reverse Garbage http://www.reversegarbage.org.au ) added a little Japanese feel to Tokyo Bike;
7. Spend a little more on just one feature item so your space isn’t too basic.
8. If possible, tell customers about your product, put it in context, tell a story, display a video like Tokyo Bike;
9. Do at least one thing that’s different to amuse or interest your customers. Tokyo Bike stuck their magnetic leaves on the ceiling with great effect.

10. Finally, show that you love your product and what you do, it’ll be infectious and your customers will want some of it too!

Rob Bryant is a graphic designer with 20 years experience in helping businesses communicate to their customers. www.trebordesign.com Email: rob@trebordesign.com

Catriona Woodgate is a visual merchandising specialist. www.cwvm.com.au  Email catriona@cwvm.com.au

Is this an advanced visual sense developed thousands of years ago to spot charging beasts on the plains of Africa and now used to seek out things she likes in the modern world, or is it the powerful effects of a cleverly merchandised shop window? Perhaps it’s a bit of both. In fact it isn’t true to say only women have this ability to see things they like, we can all do it. Put me in a busy street and I’ll spot the latest Scott mountain bike across the pavement before I see the fishing rod in the shop next door.

We see the things we want and so the aim for all shop owners should be to get us to want their products. It’s often suggested that it is the consumers’ desire, not needs, that drives them to the shop. Driven by this desire, people go shopping for fun and recreation. There are many ways to make shopping enjoyable but getting people to walk into your shop is the first task and that’s what we’ll talk about here. So, how do grab their attention?

Whilst walking past a shop, it’s the window display, which consciously or not, influences whether you will take a look inside.

Co-ordinate your colours. Organise the product according to colour. Think of colours in a rainbow pattern or focus on one or two colours in your presentation. Colour contributes significantly to the impression people have of a display. It catches the eye and makes them pause and look. The Salvos in Melbourne put together a stunning display using all the blue and yellow products they could find. A market stall in India demonstrates how the colour of the product can be used to great effect to produce an eye-catching showcase.

Go for impact. It takes only a few seconds to walk past a shop window. If you don’t stand out you’re less likely to grab people’s attention. Divert the focus of the shopper. Be more engaging than the competition next door to you or across the street. Camper have the power and image of their brand to draw on, but their window display in Barcelona creates a bold frame around what is going on inside the store.

Create a story. Selling clothing? Create a scene for your mannequins to perform in. For example, to display your summer clothes, set up a barbeque, get some fake food, some bottles of wine and a picnic rug …The idea is to create a snapshot of a life so people look at it and think ‘I want that life’. The Victoria Garage bottle shop in Darlinghurst came up with a window display to promote Belvedere Vodka using the bottle’s label design to create a fantasy scene.

Think outside the box. Instead of just thinking about a display in your shop window, think about ways to use the outside of the building as well. Don’t constrain yourself just to your windows like your competitors do. The owners of the World Store in Paddington have temporarily covered their window and building in coloured spots. They sit on a busy corner and definitely get noticed. The theme of the spots runs throughout their store appearing on the bags and postcards.

Less is more. Don’t overdo it. Less can be more, or at least it is more readable to the eye. Use less products and props to create clarity and rhythm. A cluttered window can easily look a mess and unappealing and your key products will get lost. Kirrily Johnston used a simple idea of paper dolls clothing to display just two dresses in their window in Paddington.

Write a message. Use vinyl lettering on the window to the side, top or bottom of the display. Keep your message simple and straight-forward. Inform your potential customers how your products satisfy their needs and desires. Think who you are targeting. If you’re selling fashion, perhaps your products appeal to those who want to stand out from the crowd but not pay designer prices. You then need to promote quality and price, but within a theme appropriate to your target market. If you sell groceries perhaps a window display based on suppliers of your products and where the goods come from could be the theme of your message. You need an idea to focus on to add value to your products and services and it will pay dividends. A fashion store in Surry Hills (Saint Augustine Academy) uses a quote from one of Nick Cave’s songs on their window to announce the theme of their new collection.

Start afresh every time. Don’t just change a portion of the display.  Shoppers quickly become accustomed to the same message. Take everything out and start again, create a completely new and original window display every time.

Good, Better, Best. If you have space or more than one window, one great trick is to represent one of 3 price points, but never mix them …Good, Better, Best. So, for instance, a basic picnic range might have plastic products in one window, which become china in the next, while the ‘best’ window will display crystal glassware.

Reinvent. Don’t try to invent, re-invent instead. Take the everyday approach and look at how you can do it differently. Everyone has Sales but there are still ways to communicate them differently. Take Lisa Ho, they have used over-size parcel tags as hanging signs to advertise their Sale.

Use shapes. Stack products or use a pyramid. Place items in the window at varying heights and depths to grab attention. Also think of the proportions, the comparative relationship of size, quantity and space. Each piece may look good in isolation, but placed with neighbouring items it may seem out of proportion. Consider each piece in relation to all the other merchandise.

Think of those driving by. If you are on busy street in a prominent position make your display larger, use a large prop and focus on colour to draw the attention of the passing motorist.

Try a backdrop. Backdrops are useful tools to create strong and bold displays, and by separating the window from the store you can create intrigue and if done well encourage people to come in and see. A store in the UK used a large backdrop to communicate their Stocktake Sale and covered their window in red.

Do something unexpected. Display something upside down or hang it obviously wrong and you‘ll get noticed.

And finally… Stick to odd numbers. A good shop window display will use an odd number of items, one, three, five, seven… Oddly enough people always notice three mannequins more than they will notice four!

Rob Bryant is a graphic designer with 20 years experience in helping businesses communicate to their customers. www.trebordesign.com

Catriona Woodgate is a visual merchandising specialist. www.cwvm.com.au  Email catriona@cwvm.com.au

So here’s what you should do if you want to start your own café business.

First decide if you’re the right person for the job.

How many people have thought about opening a café or restaurant? Damn it, I have! How nice would it be to hang out in a café all day? But really what sort of person should do it? I asked Vikki and she said, if you aren’t passionate about food, don’t even try and if you’re not a ‘people-person’ you won’t have what it takes, “and you shouldn’t be in it for the money either, I can show you my bank account balance if you like!” There are lots of tips on how you should treat people and satisfy their needs in hospitality, but if you don’t love what you do then you aren’t being honest with yourself or your customers and that leads to failure.

Before setting up in Darlinghurst, Robbie and Vikki had a café in Paddington for 5 years and established a loyal ‘family’ of customers. Robbie (or Roberto Fucci) is originally from a small village called Nerano on the Serrento Peninsula along the Amalfi Coast of Italy. He says he made his first cup of coffee at the age of 5 when his father helped him up onto a milk crate to pull down the coffee machine handle. His family have run a beach restaurant and bar for 3 generations, it’s a very traditional area of Italy, so you could say coffee, food, wine and family are very important to Robbie. Vikki is from the English countryside, not too far from London. Her mother was a chef and she has always been into food. However, despite 4 years at college and numerous jobs in catering it wasn’t until she came to Australia that she found her true passion for good healthy, soulful food. The freshness and abundance of the Australian produce changed her concept of food forever, but perhaps, meeting an Italian boy may have also helped!

The next thing to do is make the place look good.

Vikki and Robbie have always wanted to open a wine bar and a chance to buy an existing café and liquor licence came up. They had a clear idea of how they wanted the place to look, choosing a black and white theme that was inspired by a wallpaper from Florence Broadhurst. The colours make the café feel ‘more professional’, ideal for the business customers during the day and a ‘little sophisticated’ for the evening crowd. Inside a number of dark stained tables and 2 larger communal ones with bent wood chairs, stools under a high shelf and a bench with cushions along a mirrored wall provide a variety of places for people to sit with friends or on their own. Large lampshades for the day and candles at night create a comfortable atmosphere. We want people to feel included, Vikki explains, everyone in the room is made to feel like they are part of the family. Customers say they like the ‘banter’, the conversations across the room, half listening to what Robbie or Vikki is saying to someone as they wait for their coffee. Quattro Passi is an extension their home, a place to relax, but also a place to meet friends and colleagues. The interior was produced on a budget. The wine display is a half price Ikea unit made from part of a black and part of a white unit, The effect is clever for such a familiar piece of furniture. The wine list is hand written in red on the mirrored wall to look like lipstick, perfect for the evening time. Framed pictures have either been drawn by customers from their old Paddington café or are of Robbie’s home village on the Amalfi Coast.

Decide on a name and image.

So, why the Quattro Passi name? “Well we did think of calling it Robbie and Vikki’s (or Vikki and Robbie’s) because that is why some people come here, but really the name we chose sounds more professional and more Italian!” Like many business owners they had no idea about their logo and they left it up to a designer friend to come up with a few options. The final one is a hand written font that adds to the homely, welcoming image. The menus use old hardback book covers with bulldog clips to hold in the sheets and customers are encouraged to write comments on them.

Have a good product.

Robbie and Vikki’s goal is to always make good wholesome food that’s fresh and home cooked without over indulging in hundreds of ingredients. They have a few signature dishes, corncakes, stews and scrambled eggs for breakfast. The food, however, changes to fit what customers want and now in their new Darlinghurst home they find they are making more meat dishes, pies, stews and meatloaf. In the evening they have Stuzzichini, an Italian equivalent to tapas – appetisers to complement the wines such as prosecco. This is the time for the aperitivo a peaceful pause before dinner.

Keep the place spotlessly clean

As in any retailing business, a cafe is on show to the public from the moment the doors are open, to the close of trade. If you operate a food business, a very high standard of housekeeping goes without saying and a less than clean place, no matter how chic the decor, gives customers the perception of poor standards of food handling and kitchen cleanliness. A good practice for any cafe owner is to step back and see it from the customer’s point of view. Is the shopfront clean? How much dust or grime has collected on the signs? Do the customers see spotless tables, floors, fixtures, light fittings, walls and ceilings? Is clutter gathering around the cash counter or on any other surfaces? If customers can see the food service area or kitchen, is every surface scrubbed clean? A clean place shows you care, “it’s being honest”, says Vikki.

Look after your customers

“You have to treat people like human beings”, says Robbie. “Everyone has a name, they’re not just a flat white with one!” Both Robbie and Vikki make a point of asking customers their names and to find out a bit about them. It is all to make people feel like it’s not just a place to get a coffee it’s somewhere that you want to come back to. Learning what coffee they like also helps and you should always find out how they like it, Robbie says, fundamental, but some places don’t, making the coffee the way they want to. Vikki sometimes plays a game in the car on the way home by saying a customer’s name and letting Robbie say what coffee they have. One time they got up to 300. Imagine making hundreds of coffees a day, it must get boring. “No, you have to make it enjoyable.” Occasionally a customer mentions they are going on a diet, so Robbie might secretly reduce the number of sugars in their coffee. A week later they ask him to make their coffee with one less sugar and he smiles and nods his head!

Clearly if you are going to run a café and wine bar there are some things you must get right, such as creating a look, designing the space, the logo and menus, but there is one super ingredient that I learnt you must have when I visited Quattro Passi – passion. Without passion all your hard work will feel just like hard work and you’ll be there just to make money and what is the point of that? Robbie and Vikki’s hopes for the future are to be open 5 nights a week and be happy making people smile, seeing them come back, making Quattro Passi a destination and with this will come some money and success.

Passion means:

Loving your product

Wanting to talk to people

Finding out their names and being genuinely interested in them

Making people happy

Creating a place to relax and enjoy

…And finally, of course, enjoying yourself.

All this can easily be applied to anything you sell, not just food, all you need is a love for what you do and you will find business is much more fun.

Quattro Passi Caffe and Wine Bar, 176 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst. Open Mon – Tues 7am – 4pm, Weds – Fri 7am – 10pm, Sat 8am – 4pm. Alcohol served all day.

Rob Bryant is a graphic designer with 20 years experience in helping businesses communicate to their customers. www.trebordesign.com – email rob@trebordesign.com

Catriona Woodgate is a visual merchandising specialist. www.cwvm.com.au  – email catriona@cwvm.com.au

In fact, according to MissChu, to do even better, make things simpler, but, she says, that can only be done if you are confident in your idea, your product and your look.

Perched on the corner of Bourke and William in Sydney’s Darlinghurst is the Queen of Rice Paper Rolls, a different kind of queen from what you are used to seeing hanging out on the streets around there. The Queen of Rice Paper Rolls, or MissChu as the sign says above her ‘tuckshop’ window, creates mouth-watering Vietnamese rice paper rolls, vermicelli salad and steamed dumplings and sells them to a growing number of loyal customers.

MissChu has taken a simple product, turned it into a simple lunch and dinner experience, added her own brand with a simple grey and white look and sells it at a price that makes her customers happy. Once the word was out they have been queuing every lunchtime to get their bags of treats. Look at the menu and you’ll find exquisitely hand-made roast duck and banana flower rolls or English spinach and tofu dumplings and a refreshing lassi. Everything is made while you wait or can be pre-ordered.

MissChu has made it easy to choose by printing the menu on your paper take-away bag. You can select and tick what you and your office colleagues want for tomorrow’s lunch; all you have to do is fax it back to MissChu to prepare. It’s a simple idea that cleverly gets the customers coming back and saves MissChu time and money. Simple ideas are what makes Miss Chu’s tuckshop special; everything has been considered. The paper bag also serves as a lantern holder. Filled with sand and a tea-light, it sits on the tables at night.

We asked Miss Chu or Nahji (her real name) what tips she would offer retailers to help their businesses succeed. She burst with enthusiasm as she told us her story. Having spent 4 years in a refugee camp in Thailand as a child before she came to Australia, she understands how to make the best of what you have. You can see this in everything she has done at the tuckshop. The tables, old school desks, line the pavement, their angled flip-top lids compensate for the sloping street.

Banana plants, besides shielding the happy eaters, attract the attention of passing traffic and add to the homemade Asian street stall feel. “Refugee funk” is how Nahji describes her tuckshop look and she has used her refugee visa, issued from the Australian Embassy in Bangkok in 1973, as the design for a new menu card.

Her signature piece is the makeshift bamboo awning above the service window. Nahji fought with the council to get that one approved, but it was worth it she says. Festooned with bunches of green bananas, and at night, colourful strings of glowing paper lanterns, it’s there to add theatre, an essential part of her identity.

After 3 years Nahji can now watch, with satisfaction, things happening and success knocking on her door. Actually, it was on her window that she first heard the knocking, she says. Her business began as a catering specialist and everyday she and her staff would be in the kitchen preparing the day’s orders when people started to tap on the window asking to buy her rice paper rolls. That is when she realised there was opportunity to open her tuckshop and she grabbed the chance.

A sense of fun and light-heartedness emerged in her brand with grey vinyl-cut lettering on the wall above the workbench, visible to the potential customers, “shh… operating on rice paper rolls”.

From the outset Nahji had a few tricks up her sleeve to keep people interested. She wanted to create a buzz, so she purposely crossed off items on her menu board towards the end of lunchtime. She could make more but by limiting the supply turned the food into a rare commodity, something special, so you have to get there early if you want the best. Also she didn’t want to compromise on quality by over supplying.

“What else can you suggest that can help business owners succeed?”, we asked. Have a strong idea and always stick to the theme. Too many ideas confuse. Believe in your product, keep perfecting it and never cut corners. Create a look to attract attention to show you are the Queen and use the look to let your product stand out. By looking different you’ll have a personality that customers remember and they will talk about you. Her logo uses the pattern from the rice paper she uses, she wants people to think MissChu whenever they think rice paper rolls.

Think about what your customers want. Think about their day and how you can make it more enjoyable when they come to buy something from you. MissChu has music flowing from speakers all day to add to her customer’s experience. Use every opportunity to tell people who you are. Word of mouth is your best advertisement, but it is dependent on the consistent quality of your product and service. Don’t forget a website, it’s your shop window – a very big one and a place to share ideas and let customers know what you are doing. MissChu has plans to open more tuckshops and hopes to be in the CBD soon. Finally, have confidence in yourself even when it looks like time to give up.

That all sounds like good branding; does MissChu believe branding is important to a business? “Yes definitely. It is. Even if you have a small budget like me, it is still possible, just keep it simple”.

MissChu – Queen of Rice Paper Rolls and catering specialist can be found at shop 1/150 Bourke St, Darlinghurst    Monday – Friday 11am – 9pm    www.misschu.com.au

Rob Bryant – is a graphic designer with 20 years of experience in helping businesses communicate to their customers. www.trebordesign.com email rob@trebordesign.com

Catriona Woodgate – is a visual merchandising specialist. www.cwvm.com.au email catriona@cwvm.com.au

As with bricks and mortar stores, they will buy from and return to the online retailers who provide a stimulating, engaging and easy shopping experience.

Retailers face challenges in providing an online shopping experience to match the experience of the physical store. Many online retail environments fail to see the online shopping experience through the customer’s eyes.

How do retailers take the customer experience from the store environment into the online environment?

Visual Merchandising plays a part in the online environment just as much as it does in the store environment.

The key attributes of the superior bricks and mortar store environment, from the store front, windows, point of sale communication, merchandising and product displays, even music, translate into the virtual store environment. This takes customers on a visual journey that stimulates the senses, touches the emotions, is informative, makes shopping easy and enables them to purchase confidently.

Visual Merchandising becomes Virtual Merchandising!