Retainer
Work that comes back to the store.
VM Retainer Basis is VMID’s name for it: planned store visits, a VM checklist and a report at the end of each session — each named in at least one of VMID’s retainer posts.
02/
Retainer programs in this archive
From a 21-store island operation to a two-mall store check.
- Find it in Uluwatu Lace projects
Find it in Voila.id projectsVoila.id
Find it in Nike Indonesia projectsNike Indonesia
Find it in Lee Cooper Indonesia projectsLee Cooper Indonesia
03/
What a session covers
A session ends with more than a tidy display. It ends with the props accounted for, the VM checklist filled store by store — the checklist the Uluwatu Lace program was set up to fill across 21 store visuals in Bali — and a report you can read instead of walking the floor.
Gathered from VMID’s own retainer posts into one list — to be confirmed by VMID
- Scheduled in-store visits, store by store
- Product display and re-arrangement, with the running campaign brought forward
- Window display mock-ups before anything changes
- Props, signage and display tools — type, quantity, sourcing and production
- A VM checklist filled in at every store
- A report at the end of each session, so you can review the state of the store without walking it
- A direct brief to your store team on what to watch: product quantity, organised merchandise, the latest information from you
- Store revamps planned inside the schedule, the way the Nike and Lee Cooper programs ran them
Draft list — to be confirmed by VMID
Uluwatu Lace, Bali — the garment wall re-hung rail by rail 
Uluwatu Lace, Bali — gloved hands tie the back of a mannequin’s top 
Voila.id — bags placed shelf by shelf
04/
How a month runs
The visits are planned ahead, not called in when a window goes wrong — in 2019 our team and Nike’s own VM team worked through 10 stores a month on previously planned visits.
The first half is our reading of VMID’s retainer posts — to be confirmed by VMID
Baseline walk
We walk every store in scope and record what is actually on the floor.
From you — Store list, access, and your VM guidelines if you already have them.
Plan the month
Visit dates, campaign priorities, and mock-ups for anything that changes.
From you — Campaign dates and product information.
In-store session
Display, product grouping, props and signage installed to the plan.
From you — Store team on site that day.
Checklist and report
Filled per store, sent after the session.
From you — Nothing.
Reset points
Bigger revamps sit inside the schedule, not outside it.
From you — Sign-off on the mock-up.
Draft steps — to be confirmed by VMID
05/
Masshiro&Co., 2022
The retainer opened in February. By December the same team had delivered a product launch, a new store opening, and a Christmas campaign across three locations.
“The same team” is our reading of the dates — to be confirmed by VMID
Read the retainer case study- February
VM Retainer Basis
Products, props and signage displayed to the guidelines the brand handed over.
- September
Breathe in Denim product launch
Rolls of tencel denim made, hung, and set in the window as props for the collection.
- October
A new store, and a collection with Rama Dauhan
Layouts for the Dharmawangsa store opening and for the designer collaboration launched with it.
- December
Christmas collection
Window display and in-store decoration.
06/
Brands that came back
Only a few of these brands were ever filed under a retainer. Far more of them simply came back.
Tagged: brands with work filed as VM Retainer.
Our reading of the archive — to be confirmed by VMID
07/
More than one store, more than one city
Twenty-one stores across Bali. Ten Nike stores a month. Three Jakarta malls in one program. Fleet coverage is the normal shape of this service, not the exception.
The last line is our reading — to be confirmed by VMID
Uluwatu Lace, 2023
Monitoring 21 store visuals spread throughout Bali, with monthly visits, working together with the Jakarta team and the partners at the brand’s head office.
“The Jakarta team” as written in the post — to be confirmed by VMID
Uluwatu Lace: 1 project in the archiveNike Indonesia, 2019
Working with 10 stores every month across a six-month program.
Nike Indonesia: 2 projects in the archiveLee Cooper Indonesia, 2018
Multiple cities — as far as Semarang, Surabaya and Bali.
Lee Cooper Indonesia: 1 project in the archive
Corkcicle, 2025
One program covering Plaza Senayan, Grand Indonesia and Pondok Indah Mall.
Filed as New Store Set-up; the post calls it a three-month VM retainer — to be confirmed by VMID
Corkcicle: 1 project in the archive
08/
How long a program runs
Programs in this archive have run three months and six months. Which length fits your stores is the first thing we work out together, not the last.
Three months
An ongoing three-month program
Six months
Working alongside the brand’s own VM team
Six months
A six-month service across multiple cities
Durations that have run, not terms — current terms to be confirmed by VMID
09/
Not sure which one you need
If the display only has to be right once, book the project. If it has to be right in March and again in June, book the retainer.
“One season, one window, one store.”
Take it as a Window Display project. A retainer would be paying for months you do not need.
Window Display31 projects“A store opening, and nobody to hold the standard afterwards.”
Set the store up inside a retainer — the shape the Corkcicle work took: the Plaza Senayan set-up was part of a three-month retainer that also covered Grand Indonesia and Pondok Indah Mall.
New Store Set-up25 projects“Ten or more stores whose displays have drifted apart from each other.”
Retainer, starting with a baseline walk of every store.
VM Retainer6 projects
Draft guidance — to be confirmed by VMID
10/
What it does not replace
It does not replace your store team. On the Lee Cooper program we trained their team — VM training, VM coaching, and help building their own reporting system with a VM checklist.
Your store staff keep running the floor. The program is built so your operations and design people can stay on their own work.
We work to your existing VM guidelines when you have them — the Nike program ran to a brief from Nike’s head office, the Lumine work to briefs from the brand’s Singapore team, and the Masshiro&Co. sessions to guidelines the brand handed over.
Store construction and fixture fabrication are scoped as their own projects, not absorbed into a monthly session.
Draft — to be confirmed by VMID
Stock, staffing and pricing decisions stay with you.
Draft — to be confirmed by VMID
11/
Before the first visit
Four questions a retainer raises before it starts — answered as drafts until VMID confirms them.
- Who actually comes to the store?
A VM team on duty, working with the complete standard VM tool kit and to the protocols agreed between your brand and ours.
Draft answer — to be confirmed by VMID
- We do not have VM guidelines yet. Does that stop us?
No. VM Guidelines is one of the five services on the menu, and it can be settled before a retainer starts rather than during it.
Draft answer — to be confirmed by VMID
- What happens between visits?
Your store team works from the checklist left at the last session, and the next session opens by reviewing it.
Draft answer — to be confirmed by VMID
- Can we start in the middle of a season?
Yes. The first visit is a baseline walk, not a campaign install.
Draft answer — to be confirmed by VMID
12/ Start a project
Tell us how many stores, in how many cities.
That is enough to start a conversation about a retainer.
Some of what the brief asks
- brand & retail category
- city
- type of work
- number of stores
- when it has to be live