Influence your customers with a smarter shop layout
Strong and well-thought out visual merchandising has a huge impact on your customer’s experience while in your store.
Whether you’re overhauling your current retail displays, creating new ones from scratch, or simply adding to the display furniture you already have, here’s how to create an influential, strategic and attractive retail display, utilising your space in the best way to ultimately increase sales.
Look through the eyes of the customer
When it comes to choosing the right display furniture, decide on your layout, the amount of space available, how you intend to use counters and what complimentary furniture you’d like to incorporate into your display. Look at your display from the customer’s point of view, the top, the floor and down the sides to ensure customers can easily view the hotspots and merchandise focal points. Provide an uncluttered approach, with no dramatic obstacles but with enough display areas to keep customers flowing nicely around your store, browsing constantly.
Browsing leads to buying so your central hub layout should lead them systematically to the sales counter, while offering impulse buys all the way. According to research carried out by Russell R. Mueller; creating ‘hotspots ’ or focal points can increase sales by up to 229%!
The importance of colour
Research conducted by the secretariat of the Seoul International Color Expo found that 52% of shoppers don’t return to a store if they don’t like the aesthetics and 93% of purchasing decisions are based on visual appearance. Consequently, catching your customer’s eye and delivering a message quickly and effectively are crucial to converting sales at this point.
Use colour carefully with your visual displays, it holds so much power! Using a subtle backdrop can help keep your customer’s attention on the products you’re looking to sell, the reason so many retailers choose simple solid background colours.
You could consider using contrasting colours, like black and white, or beech and glass to make your products really pop, creating an intriguing and eye-catching display. Our Silhouette range features fresh white, solid black and chic beech all which coordinate beautifully while giving their own individuality to a display theme. Whether you are branding your store or event in bright shades or mellower hues, these three finishes provide an easy-to-blend and sophisticated look.
Eyes on the prize
The secret to sales counter success is making it easy-to-view at any point within the store, and in a prominent position. If space allows, perhaps set it on an angle to really give it focus and stand out from the rest of the furnishings and items on sale. Make sure this area is well-lit and add all the finishing touches you want to tempt your customers in with when purchasing from you. You may use this as an opportunity to invite them to an exclusive event with easy to pick-up leaflet presented on your counter top. Perhaps use low-set posters explaining how to join their loyalty programme. Don’t miss the chance to tempt them into future purchases or capturing their contact details to send offers to.
Scalable success
The beauty of our Silhouette range is that it is modular, meaning it can be scaled up with your business. You can start small and build your way up to a full retail furniture display, or just opt for a few pieces to compliment those already in your shop. If you already have a shop counter and till unit, make your layout complete with any of our complimentary three-shelf, island display gondolas. The gondola ‘centerpiece’ is perfect for showing off clothing such as folded jeans, knitwear or t-shirts, but equally suitable for the presentation of bags, accessories and jewellery stands. Likewise, islands are terrific for arts and crafts, homeware items, books, specialist-wrapped deli produce, or anything that benefits from closer inspection on a flat surface, at an easy eye-level. They offer a great opportunity for potential customers to touch and feel and hopefully, once in their hands, take-away and purchase. Expose customers to the maximum number of products, but be sure to keep displays clean, sharp, spacious and barrier-free to prevent losing sales to slow decision making.
Our Silhouette range of display furniture is stylish, easy-to-assemble, and will suit your modern retail interiors down to the ground. Take a look at the range now and find inspiration for your next retail display renovation >