A retail consultant whose company uses in-store "spy cams" to track shoppers' behavior introduced Independents Day attendees to the idea of assessing their "visual liability"-a method of gauging whether their store's signage and display was too much for customers to take in.

While research has shown that only about half of all messages should be visual in nature for optimal effect, in retail environments, the visual component typically makes up almost 80% of what is presented, said David Levy, vice president of strategy and business development for Merchant Mechanics in West Lebanon, N.H.

With such an emphasis, "people will be overwhelmed," he said. "We like to talk about the deer-in-the-headlights effect," he told an Independents Day session titled "Drawing Retail Traffic: Merchandising to All the Senses."

"You give a person all this information, and they don't know how to react," Levy said. They end up "stunned, not stimulated."

Levy demonstrated his company's Communication Channel Ratio inventory system that enables retailers to map out their stores and see what balance of the five senses they appeal to in different areas. Stores should make use of touch, smells and sounds in addition to the visual, he said.

"Think whether you are really adding value or distracting people from other communication channels that would be more effective."