Today’s guest blogger is Naomi Shaw, who is honored to have had the opportunity to share her insights on why retail design is so important, and what businesses can do to increase their sales.
Retail Design: Why it Matters So Much for Sales & the Success of a Business
Naomi Shaw
Running a business is never easy, regardless of whether you are running it solely online or in an actual storefront. But when you do have physical space for your retail business, getting customers in the door is almost always the most difficult factor of growing. Once you get the customers in the door, you’ll be making sales, right? It really all depends...
How do you attract those customers and how do you get them interested enough to come in, especially if they’re not already familiar with your business? Let’s say, for example, you’re in the fashion industry-- what will make customers be more interested in your brand of jeans or shoes than the more well-known and reputable store across the way?
At this point, what will make the difference between attracting customers and steering them away are your retail design skills. Does your storefront have what it takes to encourage curiosity?
Below, you’ll find a variety of tips to help you draw more customers into your store and influence your clientele to buy from you.
An-eye catching sign goes further than you might think.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Why Does Retail Design Matter?
When many business owners think about the design of their store, they think about efficiency. While the cost of building and maximizing space are two very important things to keep in mind, the interior of your store is just as vital to your business’s success. You can spend all your time and money on strategically-placed signs and fanciful window designs, but what will keep those customers intrigued by what you have to offer if the inside of your store is bare?
The first impression will be the only chance you’ll have to impress potential customers and keep them coming back, so you need to consider the following:
- How am I going to draw customers in?
- How am I going to keep them interested in what I have to offer?
How Do I Make Customers Notice My Store?
The first thing you need to do to make customers notice your store is make it abundantly clear what your business does. That means clear signage – and signage that advertises your style, as well. You might be a jeweler, but if you’re a high-end jeweler instead of a middle-of-the-road store, you need to make that clear in your aesthetic or wording.
The next most important thing you can do is simply give customers something visual to look at – something to draw them in. Using the same jeweler example, displaying a countertop caseof wonderful watches that really catch the eye in your front window can work, as can a more abstract display.
What doesn’t work is the old-school signage that advertises that you HAVE watches.
Creating an instantly recognizable aesthetic will help boost sales over time.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
How Do I Improve My Retail Design?
The answer to this question isn’t something that can be simple, and good retail design really depends on the type of store that you are. A store that sells cough syrup, like a convenience store, doesn’t need the same type of design as a high-end boutique clothing store.
Still, there are some basic tips you can follow:
- Consider what you’re selling. In short, the design should match the aesthetic and lifestyle you’re trying to put forward. Think about how the Apple store displays its products versus how a high-end department store does. They both have an aesthetic, and you can feel that as soon as you walk in.
- Don’t overcrowd your product. That means leaving a bit of space between items on shelves and showcasing what you’re really trying to sell. Crowding makes customers want to leave your store – not buy from it. No one likes clutter, regardless of how amazing your product really is.
- Think about product volume. If customers are coming into your store for multiple items, making things easy to find is incredibly important. However, if they’re coming in for one item, something large like a television, making sure other items are visible in the store is key to boosting sales.
In such a saturated market, which almost every market is in 2014, retail design is playing a major role in the success of every business. Unless you want to be left behind and allow your competitors and new entrants in your field pass you up, it’s time to get on board and improve your aesthetic right away.
