Turning Your Store Into A Revolutionary Retail Space
Nowadays, the competition for retail stores is intimidating. Not only do you have other nearby stores to compete with, but the entire world of e-commerce, as well. As such, brick-and-mortar stores must work to stay relevant, offering the kind of competition that can’t be replicated by their online counterparts. Here, we’re going to look at a few options you can use to keep your store up with the times and ahead of the curve.
Learn About Visual Merchandising
Put simply, visual merchandising is the art of presenting your products in a way that generates attention and inspires customers to not only purchase but to further explore your store. It requires you to use the layout of your store and the arrangement of products to put those that have the biggest visual impact front and center. It can also help you better indicate how you section your store, helping customers better navigate it for the specific products they’re looking for.
Incorporate Innovative Shelving Strategies
Aside from being a practical necessity in most stores, shelving is also your opportunity to set your store apart aesthetically. If you’re still using traditional shelves, you should look into some of the more dynamic and creative installations that better reflect your brand’s spirit. This can include modular shelving systems you can adapt to new products, as well as asymmetrical layouts or even custom-built shelving that’s installed directly into the architecture of the building.
Make Your Signs Pop
Traditional signage often doesn’t offer the level of visual engagement that truly helps your store stand out. For modern retail spaces, installing screens and working with a digital signage software vendor, like 22Miles, can ensure that you’re able to highlight your store in a dynamic and eye-catching way. One of the biggest benefits of digital signage is that you’re able to update them, rather than using a static poster. As such, you can use them to showcase promotions, highlight new arrivals, or share brand stories that capture the imagination of your customers. You can even use them to target the different customer demographics more likely to arrive at different times of the day.
Consider A Digital Touchpoint
Digital technology can play a much bigger role in your store than just a marketing display alone. Interactive touchscreens are becoming increasingly popular. Not only do they help to shorten the gap between physical stores and the kind of instant convenience expected from their online counterpart, but they can provide a whole level of self-service that modern customers tend to prefer. Equip your customers with the power to explore your full range of products, check availability levels, or even read reviews while they’re there in your store.
Engage The Senses
While the visual aspect of the store is always going to dominate the conversation to some degree, don’t underestimate how engaging your customer’s other senses can heighten their experience even further. Aside from choosing the right music to play in your store, you can enhance the atmosphere and emotional resonance of the space even further with the use of the right scents. With commercial scent diffusers like those from Aroma Designers, you can choose a signature scent that reflects your brand and creates a new level of comfort that encourages customers to spend even more time in your space.
How About A Drink?
Although it might not be a suitable option for all stores, serving a complimentary beverage can help customers feel truly welcome in your space. They may not be as well suited to stores that target children or for stores where a spill can cause serious damage to the products, but they are becoming increasingly popular in the high-end of the shopping experience. Jewelry stores, bookshops, and boutiques are installing more hot drink stations to give that little extra bit of a personal experience. A warm drink can lead to a warm mental association with the brand.
Embrace Biophilic Design
While maintaining the aesthetic of your brand is usually the best option, for those who are able to embrace it, there are serious benefits to biophilic design in retail spaces. The incorporation of elements such as potted plants, green walls, natural materials, and organic color schemes can transform your store into a truly refreshing and relaxing oasis. Even the presence of greenery is well known to help reduce feelings of stress, which can make not only our customers more comfortable but can help maintain morale for your staff as well.
Use Smart Technology
Again, the adoption of the right technology can help improve the impact of your retail shopping space in a wide variety of ways. Rather than any one specific appliance or application, however, it’s the interconnectivity of different hardware that can have the biggest impact. With the use of smart technology, you can both remotely and automatically adjust the lighting, temperature, and music levels of your store based on things like the time of day and the number of customers in the store. While bright lighting and energetic music might be best for peak hours, for instance, making things softer and more calming can better set the mood for when you just have a few customers. You can use smart technology to create the experience best suited to those in your store at that moment.
Tie It To Your Online Store
If you have your own online storefront, then competition might not be the approach. Integration may be the way ahead for you. This can include making your stores a pickup point for online orders, as well as omnichannel marketing that allows you to provide a consistent experience for customers, regardless of which way they interface with your brand.
Which of the above solutions works best for your store is going to largely depend on the specifics of the products you sell and the market you work with. However, these examples should indicate how you should be thinking about the future of your store and the kind of changes becoming more and more necessary over time.
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