A customer’s experience with a retail shop often begins the day they walk into the storefront. What they see when they enter your place of business can ultimately determine whether they want to purchase from your store or not. Beyond the great prices and quality products, capturing the attention and potential business of passersby starts with the layout and design.
Without careful thought to details like the layout and decor, your storefront blends in or gets overshadowed, costing you lots of potential revenue. Not to mention, customers aren’t interested in doing business with stores that are boring, dingy, or cluttered.
If you want regular foot traffic, customers browsing your products, and an increased opportunity to make sales, your retail shop’s style and decor must create a shopping experience that encourages people to want to buy your brand. If you’re not sure of how to do this in your shop, these design tips should give you some ideas:
Cleanliness Is A Must
No matter what kind of retail shop you run, cleanliness is imperative to your brand’s success. Make sure that the store stays clean both inside and outside of the premises. Hiring a cleaning crew is ideal to ensure that all details are taken care of from the parking lot and storefront to the restrooms and dressing rooms.
Signage Grabs Their Attention
The idea is to grab the attention of your target customers before they ever set foot into your store. You want them to see who you are and what you have to offer. Signage is ideal for retail shops. They are essentially bold statements letting passersby know you’re there. Incorporate signs, banners, and flags throughout the store. Custom printed feather flags, for example, would be great to stand on the sidewalk just outside your storefront. Banners are great for announcing sales and promotional offers. Signs, however, can be used for anything from enhancing displays to providing directions to customers (bathroom, exit, checkout, dressing rooms, etc.).
Create A Feature Wall
You’ll notice that no matter what kind of retail space you walk into, they have a feature wall. This wall should grab the attention of your audience from the moment they walk through the door. The wall should, therefore, tell the customers a story of your brand. Start by choosing a prominent color that compliments the other colors throughout the store. Then, create a focal point. This can be a large graphic, your company name in bold letters, a large mirror, or shelves with some of your most exclusive products in the store.
Maximize Space with Layout
No customer wants to walk through a store that looks disorganized and browse around. To create a more Zen-like experience that encourages them to want to view more, it is essential to maximize your space. No matter how large or small your retail shop is, it is imperative that people can move through freely and access the products they’re interested in. Keep spaces between aisles or clothing racks, create enough walking space in the aisles, keep displays neat, utilize wall space with floating shelves and hanging racks, and clearly label sections of your shop (for example, women’s, kid’s, shoe’s, etc.).
Set The Mood, Create A Theme
How do you want your customers to feel when they walk through your store? What is the vibe or overall mood of your brand? Are you a kid’s store? If so, you’d want a more high-energy, fun, vibe throughout your retail store. You might go with bright, bold colors, bright lights, playful displays, and upbeat music. If you are for the upscale woman, your approach might be more classy and sophisticated. You might opt for softer colors, dimmer lights, comfy couches, side tables, and centerpieces near the dressing room, and instrumental music. If your target customer were teens and young adults, then trendy pop culture designs, bold prints, creative displays, and current pop music might be the mood you want to create.
You can have a substantial online following, great products, and competitive prices, but if you haven’t focused enough of the customer experience, having a successful retail shop can be challenging. The design, layout, and decor of your retail shop are imperative to making a lasting impression on your target audience. When you work hard to create a space that showcases your brand that is also clean, organized, attractive, appealing to passersby, your chances of succeeding are higher. Hopefully, these design and layout tips have given you some ideas on how to create an experience your customers will love revisiting time and time.
