English translation: to visually merchandise / to merchandise visually
Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
11:40 Nov 22, 2011
English to English translations [PRO] Marketing - Marketing / Market Research / a grammatically acceptable verb for visual merchandising?
English term or phrase:to visual merchandise
The end client has a strict concept, with very clear-cut guidelines and rules about window dressing, shop fitting etc.
This goes right down to the terminology in the guide book for shop owners... which I am trying to proofread.
The style is strictly correct, but somehow stiff, cold and awkward. This is not publicity that will go out to customers, but it gives an overall impression that I would hate if I kept a shop. And of course, it is written in non-native English from scratch, so there is no source text. The products are small luxury goods.
To the point: I simply cringe at expressions like:
´When you visual merchandise (product x), place it ...´
´Visual merchandise (product y) to highlight its versatility´
´To visual merchandise a product, think about colours...´
I could perhaps live with the split infinitive, but the whole thing sounds absolutely horrible to me.
Whenever I can, I am rephrasing to get it to sound more human and friendly. A lot of the target readers probably have English as their second language, and will be extremely fluent, but not natives.
But the commanding tone with the ungrammatical verb runs through dozens of pages and really grates on my ear.
Explanation: If you're going to (have to) use it as a verb, then I think either "to visually merchandise" or "to merchandise visually" are better than "to visual merchandise" which just sounds like retailese gone too far.
I did my stint in retail while at university, and I heard it used as a verbal noun and a common noun (Visual Merchandising & Visual Merchandiser respectively) but never as a verb, and I worked in GAP, and believe me, they had some wacky expressions but never anything on this scale.
"This approach had been eschewed in Westfield Stratford City, with the developer opting instead to create false shop windows and then to visually merchandise them to within an inch of their glass lives." http://www.sfd.co.uk/Westfield_Stratford
Thanks for the examples - I was being quite heavy-handed already with the editing, so I firmly corrected the grammar and rephrased this one too. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
And the inspiration from other texts, however wacky... Cool and attentive to detail is one thing, but plain bossy is another!
I'll see what comes in until tomorrow before grading.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
10 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
implement a visual marketing strategy / create visual merchandizing for*
Explanation: Some hip insiders might try to use this term as a verb, but I would shy away from it. You're right. It sounds awful.
Some options: Build/ create/plan implement a visual display for products
Also: Visual Merchandising Tips www.discoverdbr.com/visualmerchandisingtips.h...
When building a product display look for products that are natural add-ons to the main product featured. A great visual merchandising tip for a grocery store: ...
Has visitado esta página 2 veces. Fecha de la última visita: 22/11/11. empleo product development moda, trabajo, trabajar ...
empleo.trovit.es/ofertas-empleo/product-development-moda
Te ofrecemos todas las ofertas de empleo para product development moda. ... execute and implement visual merchandising strategies, plans and tools in the ..
Jenni Lukac Local time: 03:20 Meets criteria Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 16
Explanation: If you're going to (have to) use it as a verb, then I think either "to visually merchandise" or "to merchandise visually" are better than "to visual merchandise" which just sounds like retailese gone too far.
I did my stint in retail while at university, and I heard it used as a verbal noun and a common noun (Visual Merchandising & Visual Merchandiser respectively) but never as a verb, and I worked in GAP, and believe me, they had some wacky expressions but never anything on this scale.
"This approach had been eschewed in Westfield Stratford City, with the developer opting instead to create false shop windows and then to visually merchandise them to within an inch of their glass lives." http://www.sfd.co.uk/Westfield_Stratford
At least with this option you can choose whether or not to split the infinitive, so you have some control.
Ty Kendall United Kingdom Local time: 02:20 Meets criteria Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks for the examples - I was being quite heavy-handed already with the editing, so I firmly corrected the grammar and rephrased this one too.
10 hrs confidence:
to visual-merchandise
Explanation: It has certainly been interesting to learn some retail marketing terminology and especially to read all the great responses!
Since the ST is already being used in the industry, my first inclination was just to leave it alone, since they know what they mean. But as proofreaders, that's hard for us to do, being, among other things, sticklers for grammar. So, as a compromise, I simply hyphenated the ST into a single word, which (1) works to make it a more credible verb than it was with a clumsy, stand-alone “visual” and (2) preserves the original form of the ST.
There may be other examples of this adjective/adverb-verb combination, but unfortunately I can’t think of any offhand. If I do, I’ll post them as a note to my answer.
Hal D'Arpini Local time: 03:20 Meets criteria Specializes in field Native speaker of: English
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
peer agreement (net): +1
