Overview

Gone are the days when shopping was just to purchase products. Nowadays, customers increasingly seek out the real shopping experience. With more technology and innovations interwoven into shopping, retail stores have evolved into immersive experimental spaces. Customers have a multitude of shopping options, with retail locations springing up like mushrooms every day. How can you make your business stand out a mile and attract customers? This blog discusses about the importance of innovative retail designing, a proven strategy that triggers customers to shop with you.

Retail Design

Retail designing is the systematic strategy followed in retail branding which involves brand merchandising to maximize conversions. Market studies report that innovative retail store designs can boom sales up to 40%. Retail designing is all about making your retail space  design visually attractive, stimulating, and advertising so that the customers make an immediate purchase decision. The items and all the elements in the retail space should be appealing and presentable, making them attractive and convenient.

However, retail designing is not just about setting up a commercial space. In a broader picture, it involves everything right from the store’s layout to the store operation and management strategies. It is based upon the principles of store design and construction of retail space. In short, designing a retail space should be effective enough to make the customers explore the brand on their own terms.

Why is retail design important?

Cooking up a compelling retail design idea is vital in increasing your sales and improving your business identity. It leaves a strong impression on your customers and helps them connect with your business.

Retail designing increases customer retention time inside your retail space by helping them have a smooth movement for shopping. It establishes brand identity and transforms store operations, leading to repeated purchases.

What does retail design include?

Retail designing involves everything from managing the traffic flow inside the store to the purchase and exit of the customers. It also involves both permanent and non-permanent elements in the retail shop design that allow it to adapt to changing retail design trends and consumer demands. An innovative retail design company would conduct retail designing incorporating many strategies and different types of displays in visual merchandising. The placement of product stories, digital elements, and salespeople would be considered that assist the customers in having a seamless shopping experience.

The below-mentioned are some of the primary elements considered in the design of a retail store.

• Display cases
• Shelving
• Shop windows
• Illumination
• Furnishing
• Display space
• Ceilings
• Furniture
• Navigational signage
• Interior retail signage
• Music
• Aromas
• Digital wall paintings
• Flooring
• Materials and fabrications

Retail Store Design Tips- The Essential Don’ts

Now that we’ve learned about retail designing and the importance of store design in retail brand identity, let’s look at the things to avoid while designing a retail store. Staying away from these mistakes would offer your customers a pleasant and soothing in-store experience, convincing them to shop with you again and again.

1. The first and foremost negative factor is overstuffing of the retail space. Ineffective utilization of the shopping space would create an uneasy feeling in the customers that can affect their intention to purchase.
2. The retail designing strategy should never overlook the customers’ personal space value during shopping. Inefficient space management and traffic flow can negatively impact the customers and trigger them to move out of the space. Narrow aisles and corridors can create a “butt-brush effect” in the customers, preventing them from exploring the store.
3. Poorly designed displays might detract the customers from the store’s mood and create an unwelcoming environment.
4. Never try too bright and harsh lightings that weaken the merchandise. Inefficient and wrong illumination can create false impressions about the products and discomfort the customers’ eyes. The lighting used should not divert the shopper from the mood created by the retail space.
5. Avoid bright color shades that do not go with your brand image and theme.
6. Avoid incorrectly positioned electrical equipment or air conditioning components inside the retail space.
7. Unstable display elements should be avoided during retail design to prevent product damage and injury to the customers.
8. Retail design should consider check-out areas with equal importance as the shopping space. Obstructed check-out area creates discomfort in the customers and prevents them from making a second visit.
9. Shelves, display tables, and racks should not be positioned in a messy way. The spacing and positioning of these elements should be taken care of during retail designing to add safety and comfort to the customers. Avoid multiple varied shelving and rack systems that create a cluttered look to the retail store. They also heighten anxiety and discomfort in the customers, thereby affecting the sales.
10. Never go for fancy materials and furnishing elements that demand frequent maintenance and repair. Periodic maintenance, if not done, may reflect poorly on the brand image.
11. Avoid loud music that affects in-store communication and sales.
12. Don’t choose signages that provide the customers with improper or confusing navigation assistance.

To recap, your retail designing approach should ensure that the store merchandise satisfies quality standards and offer the customers a pleasant retail experience. Even the textures and materials used should convey your brand message to the customer. However, designing a retail store following the trend and business goal is time-consuming and lengthy.

Are you unsure of retail store design ideas and which retail design strategy to follow? It’s fine; approach a creative design agency. A retail store design company would help you connect the business dots with the exemplary retail design architecture and interior store designs. Connecting with a retail designing company would help you make the shopping experience exciting for your customers.

Your store’s ambiance, and each element in it, should serve as a brand ambassador, aesthetically speaking to your customers. Using the expertise and competence of a professional retail design agency will definitely support in attaining your business objectives in a reasonable timeframe. So, RETHINK AND RETAIL with the best retail design strategies.