If you own, run and maintain a retail space, then you know just how important visuals are in constructing the right area to engage and convert customers. Humans are incredibly visual creatures – most of the information we absorb and send to the brain comes directly from our eyesight. What we see in front of us and how we respond to it defines our emotional and psychological reaction to something. Here at Leach, we are firm believers in the power of visual display and your ability to control and influence the reaction a customer has when they enter your store. We’ve provided graphic displays, lightboxes and wallcoverings for major retail outlets throughout the UK, and we’ve consistently seen that the right design choices can have a huge impact. With the right combination of space, lighting, graphics, displays, colours, and tone, you can drive footfall through your retail space, increase customer engagement, improve brand recall and recognition, and boost conversions.
If you want to capture and retain people’s attention then you need to display something stimulating and attractive. If you run a physical high street store or other retail space, then you have a lot to gain by spending some time considering how you can improve your interior design. To maximise conversions, you need to think about the space you have available and how you can best use this. Your customer is at the heart of all of this – if you can get inside their heads and think about what they need and want, you can begin to design a space that influences their response and reaction in the way that you intend. Let’s take a look at some of the different ways in which you can begin to shape how visitors react to your store.
Immerse customers with tone and atmosphere
A great place to start when considering how you want people to react when they visit your store is to step back and look at the big picture. Begin by painting in broad strokes and thinking about what kind of experience you want someone to have, and how you want them to feel and remember about your store afterwards.
This all comes down to the overarching tone and atmosphere that you want to set. What emotions and feelings do you want people to have when they enter your retail space? Do you want them to feel excited and energised, calm and relaxed, a sense of glamour and luxury, or anything else? Once you have this figured out, the rest is all about bringing this atmosphere to reality.
Without this overarching design motivation, the likelihood is that you’ll struggle to make a strong impression. Excellent retail space design is about more than just a few attractive displays and well-spaced merchandising. It’s about bringing everything together to create a bigger picture that is targeted and specific to your intentions.
Think about what makes your brand special, unique or different. Consider what it is that you want your brand to be, and how you want people to respond to it. That’s where you should start when designing a retail space.
Use focal points for all your displays
When you’re designing a specific display, it’s important to be able to prioritise your merchandise and decide what exactly it is that you want customers to focus on. We know that it’s tempting to think that you need to make the most of your available space by filling it with as much possible. After all, why wouldn’t you want to bring attention to as much as possible in your window displays and on your shelves?
Well, the problem is that by trying to bring attention to anything and everything, the chances are that you’ll actually miss out on the opportunity. You’ll likely struggle to capture customers’ attention anywhere near as much as you would with a targeted and thoughtful display. There’s a lot to suggest that one main focal point in a retail display is a far more effective way of getting people to stop and look. And we all know that once you’ve managed to stop a customer in their tracks, your display has more of an opportunity to work its magic.
Whether you’re putting together a window display, a table fixture in the middle of your space, or a shelving display, be clear about what exactly you want your focal point to be. Pick your most important or eye-catching merchandise, position it strategically, and then carefully place other items around it that will successfully share the attention. Remember that if you can manage to hook a customer in by making them interested in your focal point, they will naturally take a look at everything around it as well anyway.
Space and clarity – don’t overfill or clutter your space
Customers need a bit of space to move around if you want them to really appreciate your merchandise. If there are areas with tight spaces in which customers are frequently bumping into and brushing up against one another, you should seriously consider redesigning this space. Retail spaces that make people feel uncomfortable and stop them from relaxing aren’t effective. Personal space is important, so you should make sure your store has plenty.
A clear and open store also allows people to spend more time inspecting your products, which means you have more time with which to persuade and convert them. Also, a spacious store immediately feels like it has been more thoughtfully designed, with more attention given to what is on display and why. If a customer thinks your retail space is clean, neat, and well thought out, you’re more likely to make a positive impression on them. More often than not, light and airy is what you should be aiming for.
Update your displays frequently
When it comes to the design of your retail space, it’s not just the quality of the appearance that matters when it comes to success in converting your customers. If you’re running a high street store you have to expect quite a lot of return customers. So why wouldn’t you want to impress your audience with a changing updated series of displays? Things can get stale quite quickly in retail, and people can easily become bored with a particular store.
Holidays and seasons are obviously a great place to start, but you should also consider more frequent updates. Not only does this mean that you can adapt and shift your message to promote different products as often as you need, but you can keep the design and interior of your store fresh throughout the year.
Of course, frequently updating your displays means more work. Fortunately, here at Leach we have an amazing wallcovering solution called Stik. Stik is a magnetic wallpaper that allows your own staff to quickly and easily replace and install new graphics once the magnetic base has been installed – allowing you to change your wall displays and graphics as much as you want or need. Interested? Get in touch with us to find out more.
Do you want to invest in graphic displays and lighting solutions that can make a visible and influential impact in your retail space? Here at Leach, we’ve been providing major UK retailers with lightboxes, HD graphics, and wallcoverings that boost store performance and push conversions for years now.
Want to find out more? Please get in touch today to discover how Leach can help you to make the most of your interior space.
