Visual merchandising in food retail: strategy and layout

Visual merchandising nella GDO alimentare tra layout espositivo, segnaletica e comunicazione visiva

There are moments when a market changes not because of a single disruption, but through the silent accumulation of pressures that eventually redefine the rules. The Italian food retail sector is entering a new phase. After years in which price has been the main competitive factor, attention is gradually returning to the quality of the shopping experience, the organisation of space and the store’s ability to communicate value.

It is in this context that Paolo Zanardi met Ilaria Capasso, retail designer and retail expert who has been collaborating with XT Retail since 2025. Her career has taken her through some of the most complex organisations in Italian retail — Mondo Convenienza, Wycon and MD S.p.A. — giving her a privileged perspective on what works, what is still missing and what is changing in visual merchandising in food retail.

Visual merchandising in food retail

Ilaria, you have worked in both furniture retail and food retail. What is the most significant difference from a visual merchandising perspective?

The main difference is the pace. In furniture retail, customers stop, think and come back. In food retail, everything happens within a few seconds at each shelf: the product has to capture attention, communicate its value and convince the customer within a very limited space and time. This requires a level of design rigour that leaves no room for purely decorative elements: every visual choice must have a precise function, from the colour hierarchy of the different departments and the readability of signage to the height at which products are positioned. Scale adds another layer of complexity: at MD, I worked on layouts across hundreds of stores, and maintaining visual consistency on that scale requires systems of rules that are far more structured than one might imagine from the outside.

Fresh produce department with suspended visual communication and colour-based product displays

Visual merchandising in the fresh produce department with product displays and price signage

What still does not work effectively in visual merchandising within food retail?

The most common gap is between design and maintenance. A layout is often created with great attention to detail, but within six months it begins to deteriorate: products are out of place, price communication overshadows product communication, and shelves lose their original logic because the people replenishing them have not been trained to understand the reasons behind certain choices. Visual merchandising in food retail is not a one-off intervention; it is an ongoing process that requires staff training, monitoring tools and a replicable method. Without this continuous oversight, every new concept lasts only as long as the opening phase.

Food retail shelves organised by product categories and display hierarchies

Supermarket shelving with organised product displays and price communication

Integrating physical and digital communication

Are digital technologies — electronic shelf labels and in-shelf displays — changing your work as a designer?

They are changing it by expanding the scope of the project. An electronic shelf label is not simply a way of updating a price: it is a visual element that has to be integrated into the shelf communication system. If digital displays and printed signage use different visual languages, the result is visual noise rather than clarity. Today, my work increasingly involves defining graphic standards that extend consistently across both channels — physical and digital. Technology represents a major opportunity, but only when it is governed by a project rather than added along the way.

Food retail space with environmental graphics, signage and organised product displays

Supermarket layout with organised shelving and integrated lighting throughout the retail space

Training and the day-to-day management of visual merchandising

If you had to identify one absolute priority for retailers looking to improve their visual merchandising, what would it be?

Train the people who work in the store. Before developing new concepts, and even before investing in technology. A department manager who understands the visual logic of the shelves is the only safeguard that works every day, not just when the consultant is there. I have seen stores with mediocre displays perform very well because the staff were aligned and motivated, while others with excellent layouts fell apart within a few weeks because there was no ongoing supervision. Visual merchandising in food retail is won or lost in everyday operations, not in the pilot project.

5 principles of visual merchandising in food retail

Design for quick decisions

Every shelf must communicate within seconds through clear visual hierarchies, readability and effective product presentation.

Eliminate visual noise

Signage, promotions, labels and digital communication must speak the same visual language to make customer choices easier.

Plan for layout maintenance

A good concept must retain its effectiveness over time through simple rules that can be easily replicated.

Integrate physical and digital

Electronic shelf labels, displays and traditional communication should be designed as a single visual system.

Train the staff

Visual merchandising does not end with the design: the people who manage the store every day are responsible for maintaining its consistency and effectiveness.

Ilaria Capasso — Retail Designer & Retail Expert

Graduating with honours in Architecture in 2013, Ilaria Capasso began working as a freelance visual merchandiser in fashion and furniture in 2015, collaborating with brands including Camomilla, Ferragamo, IKEA, Pollini and Gente Roma. In 2016, she joined Mondo Convenienza as a head-office Visual Merchandiser, managing merchandise layouts and displays across all its stores in Italy. In 2019, she developed visual guidelines for Wycon, an international beauty brand. Since 2019, she has worked as a Store Designer for MD S.p.A., overseeing new openings, refurbishments and the development of visual concepts. Since 2025, she has collaborated with XT Retail on visual merchandising, retail design and in-store communication projects on a national scale.

Paolo Zanardi, founder of XT Retail