Your store design is the first thing that people see when they walk through the front door. It’s your first impression, and you only get one chance to make a good one. Even more, it’s a first impression that customers will subconsciously absorb and remember—based on their perceptions of color, design, layout, and flow—long after they’ve left your store.
Retail design is like fashion: what’s in style today might be out in a year or two. But there are basics that never go out of style, things you can do to support the overall physical image of your shop that will help you attract customers who spend money with you rather than another retailer down the street. Keep these concepts in mind when you design your store.
How your store design impacts your sales
The most basic rule of retail design is this: if it looks good, it’s perceived as valuable. This knowledge gives you a powerful tool to help increase sales: your store design can create value in a product by making it look more expensive than its actual price tag.
In other words, with visual cues alone, you can convince customers that they are buying quality products and get them to pay top dollar for them. It also means that if you have cheaper goods on display, the display itself should be designed to make those items look expensive rather than cheap.
More advanced retail design techniques take into account the psychological factors involved when setting prices and choosing physical displays. If you sell higher-end furniture, for example, using dramatic lighting effects and other visual cues that hint at higher quality materials and craftsmanship will make your store look more expensive, driving up the perceived value of the products.
Creates a “traffic flow” to increase sales
Beyond making different products seem valuable in terms of price points or perceived quality, you also want to give customers a reason to buy something from you rather than going elsewhere. Having a clear sense of direction is important for retail stores because if customers can’t find their way around easily, they’ll get frustrated and leave.
Here are some elements you should include in your store design when creating “traffic flow:”
- Clearly defined entrances and exits. Make it easy to understand where customers are coming from and where they need to go.
- Shelves or display areas that guide customers through the store and towards specific products instead of being used simply for storage. A bookshelf, for example, can create a “traffic flow” by stacking books in logical places based on topic or theme rather than in random piles wherever there is space. Products that are logically grouped together also look more valuable than those scattered throughout the store haphazardly.
- Lighting that makes it easy to see everything clearly without having to strain your eyes – particularly important if you’re selling clothes or other merchandise where color choice is an important part of the purchase decision and where people may want to try items on before making a final decision about whether to buy it or not.
- The placement of product displays makes it easy for customers to browse different items and view their value and quality with just a glance. Providing little touches like mirrors beside the display area so people can see how clothes will look on them before committing to purchase also helps in this regard.
Why merchandise positioning matters
The next thing to know about retail design is that the positioning of products within your store has a direct effect on their perceived value in the eyes of customers.
Outside of retail design, you probably already know this as pricing psychology. There are certain ways that human beings process information and if those patterns aren’t followed, there will be an error in communication resulting from misperception or misinterpretation that can affect your sales negatively.
In retail stores – clothing shops for example – ideal merchandise positioning means arranging clothes so they reflect the social status associated with wearing them. The higher-end the item, the further it should be positioned away from doors, windows, or other sources of natural lighting (because light fades fabric) and toward areas where it can be viewed in low light.
At the same time, positioning merchandise so it appears to have a greater value than other products helps create perceived “traffic flow” and can entice customers into purchasing those items instead of cheaper ones. You want an existing customer to buy from you again, not another retailer that has better prices or more sales.
Key Takeaway Points on How Retail Design Increases Sales:
- If you have cheap goods on display, the store itself should look expensive rather than cheap – even if they aren’t– because this is how you get customers to perceive higher quality for a given price point.
- The way that you position your products relative to natural light and away from entrances and exits can affect how much they sell and how much they cost you.
- Create a design for your retail store that makes it easy to browse products based on their positioning within the store itself rather than their price point, because when customers are shopping with limited time, seeing something once is enough.
- If you have cheap goods on display, the store itself should look expensive rather than cheap – even if they aren’t– because this is how you get customers to perceive higher quality for a given price point.
- The way that you position your products relative to natural light and away from entrances and exits can affect how much they sell and how much they cost you.
- Create a design for your retail store that makes it easy to browse products based on their positioning within the store itself rather than their price point, because when customers are shopping with limited time, seeing something once is enough.
- Make sure that your retail design makes it easy for people to get an overall sense of your offerings without having to walk down every aisle unnecessarily.
Quaddro Studio Retail Design to Help You Sell Products
Retail design is like fashion: what’s in style today might be out in a year or two. But there are basics that never go out of style, things you can do to support the overall physical image of your shop that will help you attract customers.
Quaddro can design and build a retail design that will attract customers and increase sales for your business. Contact us today!