Setting up a retail store can be challenging. Understanding the impact of visual merchandising and how it determines your retail success is crucial.
Researchers conducted a study in July 2021 to explore the various factors that impact consumers’ purchasing intentions. This study focused on in-store factors.
The findings concluded that a store’s visual merchandising and product displays directly impact the customer’s buying decision. These factors also impacted the customer’s overall intention to return to the store at a later stage.
Visual Appeal
The method you choose to lay out your store contributes to the overall tone and messaging of your brand image. Using this method is a subtle way to market your products as well as draw your target customers into your store. Strategic use of these elements captures customers’ attention and draws their interest towards specific items.
Creating various displays in your store that encourage the customer to browse through your products is just as important. This maintains the customer’s interest even after they have entered the store.
Using the various elements that make up your store, more effectively creates visual appeal for different items. This highlights any new seasonal products and creates hype towards high-value products. Alternatively, you can use it to draw attention to your slow-moving products and assist in increasing sales.
Store Layout
The layout of the store influences the foot traffic, once the customer enters the store. The method chosen to display products, their placement, and the furniture used, all form part of the overall store layout and purpose.
Well-designed product displays combine several elements to create an overall shop design. When designing a retail store, one should consider a combination of various product displays to ensure consistency.
The most important feature of a product display is the functionality. A product display being functional means it is easy to interact with and simple to understand. These displays present the customer with all the necessary information about the product. This assists them to make a buying decision.
Product Displays
Various methods of displaying products in your retail store, both internally and externally, exist. Some factors to consider are:
- All product displays should match the branding to create a consistent aesthetic throughout your retail store.
- The design of the display needs to attract the target customer.
- The product displays must assist the natural flow that a customer will follow when moving through the store.
- These displays control the traffic pathways helping customers to move towards the sales counter.
Product Placement
Another factor to consider is the placement of the merchandise on the various displays. Sloppy and untidy displays create a negative impression on the customer. This results in less time spent by the customer experiencing the products and leads to lower sales conversions.
When deciding where to place and display a product, consider its functionality and aesthetics. Think about how effectively it will perform and how visually appealing it will appear once completed. One also needs to be mindful of the day-to-day maintenance of the display.
The product display must be easy for the customer to navigate and for staff to refresh and maintain. Keeping displays neat and well-stocked is important to create a good impression on the customer. This encourages the customer to spend more time in your store, engaging with your product.
Accent Lighting
The use of technology in visual merchandising has improved the way customers experience displays. Lighting plays a vital role in how your space impacts a customer when they are walking through your store. Using various types of lighting in your product displays will attract attention to the displays.
When you are selecting the lighting for your space, consider the atmosphere you are creating throughout your store. When combining each element in your retail store the impact of visual merchandising becomes more obvious.
Studies have found that lighting can change the overall mood of your story. This triggers emotional responses from the customer and changes their mood in general while browsing your retail store.
Store Fitout:
The method you choose to furnish your store impacts various areas of daily operations in your retail store. Choosing the right furniture for your store is crucial for creating the desired look and atmosphere.
The retail fitout needs to complement your brand as well as play a role in your store’s aesthetic. Ensuring you have quality and well-thought-out store furniture will ensure your store remains consistent. Ensuring your store fit out is of high quality and well planned contributes towards the overall atmosphere. This is the last part of visual merchandising through store design.
By using high-quality store furniture in your store fit-out, you create a luxury and trusted feel within your store. This will instill a level of trust within the customer and predetermine what the quality of your products will be.
Ask the experts
With over 50 years of experience in the industry, Apex Display has become an industry leader in the retail space.
Together, we design and furnish stores that are authentic to your brand, functional to you, and memorable for your customers. Our extensive product collection provides endless options to personalise and capture your brand’s unique story.
Contact us today and let us help you design the retail store of your dreams.
