I feel very passionate about the need for retailers to have strong visual merchandising in their stores. Why? Because I've seen sales increase as much as 40% after a store merchandising redesign—and who doesn't want a sales increase?

In all my years in retail, I can't tell you how many uncreative and tacky handwritten store signs I've seen. So a few weeks ago when I was at the Atlanta Gift Show and I saw a very creative sign in the Eastern Breeze showroom, I was very excited.

The sign read, "The Our Pain Is Your Pain Recession Market Special, 25% Off All in Stock Merchandise Sale." From a marketing perspective the sale was cute, but most manufacturers were offering some sort of deal, so what I loved more than the marketing was the creativity behind the execution—the use of something as simple and easy as Band-aids.

It immediately caught my attention in the showroom, which is exactly what it was supposed to do.