15 Retail Store Design Ideas to Increase Sales

Retail stores are designed with one goal in mind: to boost sales. The key objective is to create a shopping experience that encourages customers to spend more time and money in their store, while also making the shopping process as easy and convenient as possible.

Retail store design refers to how businesses arrange product displays, decorations, and items throughout their shop to promote their brand, increase sales, and provide a positive customer experience.

Store design has a lot of power, and if done well, it may help you develop your company. When done incorrectly, though, it may be a big turnoff and drive people away. According to a poll conducted by facilities management software supplier ServiceChannel, 64% of customers have left a business due to disorganization and poor physical appearance.

This post will look at some pointers to help you master the art of shop design, avoid the errors that drive customers away and make the most of your space.

1. Decide on the best store layout for your company.

Before you start thinking about the aesthetics of your shop, you need to build the foundation and choose a plan that will work for your company. The term “store layout” refers to the intentional placement of permanent fixtures inside a business in order to provide a pleasant shopping experience and encourage sales.

To adopt anything that makes sense for your company, you must outline the demands and objectives of your shop layout from the start of the design process. A grocery store, for example, may choose a plan that allows for the storage and organization of as much merchandise as feasible while still facilitating a simple shopping experience. A boutique, on the other hand, may choose to exhibit fewer, handpicked products in order to offer a more exploratory buying experience.

The sort of items you offer, the amount of square footage you have, and how you want traffic to flow through your space all play a role in determining the best shop layout. When done correctly, a retail layout may increase revenue while also providing a pleasant experience for consumers.

Parallel aisles are used to create a grid store layout in grocery stores. (Image courtesy of The Kitchen)

2. Boost Customer Flow

The quantity of individuals that enter your shop and how they move through it is referred to as customer flow. Understanding your customer flow is critical, therefore consider the following factors when defining what your flow looks like and how you should manage it:

• Peak hours: Knowing the maximum number of customers that visit your business can help you allot travel space and identify where and how flow is influenced during peak hours. To correctly count every person who enters your store, you may use a manual people counter or a door sensor (such as Dor).
• The busiest areas of your store: Recognize where customers like to gather so you can provide enough room for them to browse comfortably.
• Purchase data: Keep an eye on purchase data to see where customers are purchasing and where they aren’t so you can make smarter design selections. Lightspeed, for example, is an integrated POS system that will automatically monitor your sales data and create other useful information.
• Observe customer behavior when it comes to shopping. To make your clients’ experience amazing, you’ll need distinct designs for browsing, efficient shopping, and stopping for basics. You’ll also want to make sure you have adequate room for shopping carts or electric scooters.

Once you’ve figured out how customers travel around your area, you can utilize these design components to steer them in the direction you want them to go:

• Zone of Decompression
• Breaks & Bumps on the Road

The Zone of Decompression is the entrance area of your store where customers enter, adjust from the outside world, and orient themselves in your space. You should leave this area of your store relatively untouched by merchandise so that you give your customers space to make their adjustments and take an overhead look at your store. At most, you can put one or two of your key display items in this zone as a way to lure people in and lead with some of your best products.

Additionally, this will serve as a natural pause point for people entering and exiting your business. Make sure this area isn’t too crowded, and that there’s enough room inside for people to socialize without feeling crowded or rushed.

This bike store provides lots of decompression space for customers to rest and get a sense of the area. (Image courtesy of Fohlio)

Breaks, often known as speed bumps, are design elements that force people to slow down or halt when shopping. They’re an excellent approach to bring attention to underperforming or important items.

For example, if a boutique owner notices that hats aren’t selling, he or she may put a mirror in the hat department of the shop to encourage customers to stop by for try-on and browsing. Alternatively, they may set up a jewelry display on a table to draw attention to their best-selling necklaces.

Speed bumps may take the form of anything from an interactive display to a display table to armchairs, as long as they slow people down and encourage them to look around and engage with your shop.

This table display in the middle of the room is a good approach to attract people to stop and look at what you have to offer. (Photo courtesy of Everything Printing)

3. Use Theme to Strengthen Your Brand

To strengthen your brand, design your shop to evoke a concept that is consistent with your brand image. Your brand, or the emotions and concepts connected with your firm, should be mirrored in your design. Customers will be confused by a disparity between design and brand, which will make them unclear of what they can anticipate from you and, as a result, will reduce their loyalty and spending.

You may also increase consumers’ ability to recognize and engage with your brand and company when your brand and retail design are in sync. This alignment will boost revenue while also improving consumer perception and experience.

Take, for example, the Bass Pro Shops in Missouri. This outdoor and hunting boutique has a large outdoor motif throughout the store. Its extravagant design complements the shop’s brand image and has contributed to the shop’s success, making it the state’s top tourist destination.

When you visit Missouri’s Bass Pro Shops, take a walk outdoors. (Image courtesy of Visit Independence)

4. Increase the curb appeal of your home

The outward appearance of your store—everything from the outside to the window displays—is the first impression you create on consumers and how you draw them in. The purpose of your store’s exterior design is to attract passers-by and lure them into making a purchase.

Make a statement with your outside design and offer potential customers a taste of what they can anticipate from your company. Make sure your signage is clear and visible, and consider promoting deals on your shop windows or even placing up a sale table or rack outside.

You should also make your window displays engaging for passers-by. To make anything effective and attractive, use brilliant colors, imaginative design, and strategic product placement.

5. Use Digital Signage to Attract Shoppers’ Attention

Digital pictures, video, streaming media, and information are shown on digital signage using LCD, LED, and projection. Because digital signage is still a relatively new marketing strategy, it is an excellent tool for attracting clients’ attention. Interactive components, such as motion activation or touch-screen displays, may also be used with digital signage.

Place your digital signage at the front of your business or in your window displays to tempt customers in, or in the rear of your store to urge visitors to explore the whole area.

On shop pillars, digital signage panels are employed to create a magnificent show. (Image courtesy of Installation)

6. Make Use of Effective Displays

Displays are a great way to show off your merchandise. Displays, when done correctly, may help you conserve space and keep your shop tidy. Displays may be used to fill tables and counter areas, concentrate items into smaller places, create end caps, and use vertical space. You may even employ POP (point-of-purchase) displays that are just momentary.

However, make sure you’re not clogging up your business with too enormous displays. Too many huge displays in one place may be visually distracting, detracting from rather than promoting the items. To prevent cluttering your business, I would suggest just having one display in each zone.

Using your walls to display things is a great way to make the most of your space. (Photo credit: Pinterest)

7. Make Use of Appropriate and Intelligent Lighting

A retail store’s lighting may make or ruin it. It enhances visibility, calls attention to certain goods or places, and contributes to the overall mood of your space. Make sure your location is well-lit, and that you’re employing various forms of retail lighting as required. Customers will be able to see the rest of your shop design and it will serve as a background for everything else in your business if you use enough clever lighting.

The lighting in this shoe shop is used to keep the room illuminated, bring attention to essential goods, and create a calm and cheery atmosphere. (Image courtesy of Shopify)

8. Don’t put too much product on display.

The biggest enemy of retail design is clutter or having too much merchandise and décor. It makes it difficult for customers to navigate your store visually and physically and locate what they’re searching for. It also takes their attention away from their buying objectives.

Determine the appropriate quantity of merchandise for your location and kind of company. Higher-end establishments, for example, should show fewer items and leave more unoccupied floor space, since this would raise the perceived worth of merchandise, causing buyers to be ready to pay more. Big-box or cheap retailers, on the other hand, should make the most of every square foot they have, since this will reinforce the notion that buyers are getting a good price and help them sell more things.

Only a few objects are shown at this boutique to maximize their apparent worth. (Image courtesy of Dezeen)

9. Make Your Room Look Bigger

To offer the sense of more room and better client experience, make your business look bigger. Some of the more effective methods include:

• Make a feature wall out of it.
• Walls and furnishings should be painted in bright hues.
• Add a few modest fixtures and furniture pieces to the mix.
• Make use of mirrors.
• Make use of glass components.
• To conserve floor space and enhance the area, place design elements high up.

With light walls and vertical components, this tiny store makes the most of its space. (Image courtesy of Designbyte)

10. Make Your Product a Work of Art

Using your items as décor is one of the greatest methods to maximize the quantity of stuff on your floor without causing clutter or spending a fortune on decor. For example, in my store, we color-coordinated our clothes racks, arranged our candles on shelves in attractive patterns, and hung hats on our walls with hooks to make wall displays.

We were able to place more items on the floor, appeal to clients via a visually appealing layout, and reduce the requirement for decorative elements thanks to our method. The most difficult challenge we had was balancing access to the product décor with aesthetics. Pay attention to how high your items are displayed, as well as whether or not customers are motivated to shop your displays or are afraid to disrupt them.

Consider what products you have in your business that may be utilized as décor, and experiment with various arrangements to see whether they improve shopability and interest in the design. Pinterest is also a good place to browse for product-based décor ideas.

To optimize product space and shop design, my boutique utilized everything from our garments to candles and hats. (Photo courtesy of 303Magazine)

11. Establish Focal Points

Focal points are ornamental centerpieces in your shop that are often positioned in high-traffic places, such as entrances, important sections, or inside window displays. They serve to visually anchor your area and offer consumers visual direction. Focal points might take the form of a cluster of mannequins or a point-of-purchase display, but they’re essential for creating a visually appealing business and engaging consumers.

Consider your focus points to be stepping stones for your retail space. Due to their aesthetic attractiveness, shoppers will naturally flock toward them, and these centers of attraction will automatically direct consumers around your area. Place your focus points in all of the locations where you want consumers to go, and make sure they represent the items and services in those areas.

Consider employing the following approaches to guarantee that your focal points have enough impact to be true focus points in your shop design:

• Colors that are distinct from or brighter than the rest of your store’s palette can assist catch the attention.
• Utilize height to generate a visual draw: Because people’s eyes naturally go toward high places, use height to create a visual pull.
• Be inventive: Focal points don’t have to be shoppable, so go outside the box when designing your displays.
• Use dramatic lighting: Spotlights, uplighting, and contrast lighting will serve to pull the eye and provide greater visual appeal.
• Break up the monotony: If a section of your shop is lacking in variety, employ a focal point to create a more intriguing appearance and attract consumers.

In this store, mannequins and glass display cases serve as focus points. (Image courtesy of Retail Design Blog)

12. Create elements that are worthy of being photographed

It’s no secret that social media can help your company expand, and you can utilize shop design to encourage social media interaction by adding ornamental features that may be used as picture opportunities. Social shares or organic marketing is done by genuine individuals sharing with their own audience will be encouraged by picture-worthy shop features.

A plant wall, a creative light show, huge mirrors, an accent wall, illuminated signs, or objects that can be used as props are all wonderful methods to encourage customers to take photographs and share them on social media.

When deciding where to position your photo area, keep in mind that you want it to be at the rear of your shop so that visitors have to go through the whole space to get to it. You should also make sure to provide enough room for photography. Consider placing your photo op function outdoors if you don’t have enough space within your business.

Take, for example, the Paul Smith shop in Los Angeles. You’ve probably heard of or seen images of the Pink Wall at the art museum. Millions of people have visited the Paul Smith shop because of the wall, which has become a popular picture location for tourists and influencers alike.

Tourists take selfies in front of the famed pink wall. (Photo courtesy of Fotospot)

13. Create a Workspace for Your Projects

Different companies offer various events inside their walls, and you must ensure that you are able to accommodate such activities. A clothes store, for example, should have fitting rooms, an art gallery should have seats for customers to sit on while viewing the work, and grocery shops should have enough space for shopping carts to go about comfortably.

When designing your retail business, consider what chores will be performed here as part of shopping or store upkeep. So, how can you ensure that your workspace is prepared for such tasks?

14. Music

When planning your retail business, think about what music you’ll play, how loud it will be, how it will affect consumers, and how it will speak to your brand. Because music sets the tone in your shop, you’ll want to make sure it evokes the ambiance you want to create and appeals to your target audience.

The demographic group that shops at your business, or a group you believe might be interested in your brand and items.

For example, my boutique was in a higher-end neighborhood and appealed to moms and older women, so we played acoustic-style pop at a low volume. Conversely, a store like Abercrombie & Fitch appeals to teenagers, so the trendy brand plays loud pop music that energizes customers and appeals to its younger audience.

15. Incorporate QR Codes

Customers may access product information, start dialogues, watch movies, or easily move from an in-store shopper to an online shopping platform by placing QR codes on items or shelf tags.

QR codes may also be used to disclose discount coupons, sign up for newsletters or product alerts, exchange contact information or social networking sites, and indicate the location of a business or product.

QR codes may also be used to interact with consumers and boost purchases. Consider putting them in your business windows to attract passers-attention, by’s or around things that have a lot of user information that can be accessed over the internet.

This consumer was directed to a product expert page by a QR code for this washing machine. (Physics source)

Examples of effective retail store designs

As previously said, various sorts of companies will have distinct requirements and desires in terms of retail shop design. We’ll look at how three distinct storefronts employ shop design to help them achieve their objectives.

The Last Bookstore (#1)

The Last Bookshop in downtown Los Angeles is described as half bookstore, part art gallery, and employs store design to create a quirky and old-timey book shop. It emphasizes a nostalgic and homely appeal, distinguishing it apart from rivals, by using strong theme aspects.

The Last Bookstore also develops photo-worthy features, making it one of the world’s most popular bookshops. To minimize cluttering its limited area, it also employs product as its major décor feature.

The Last Bookstore’s retail design helps draw visitors and locals through its doors by reinforcing its image as quirky and friendly.

A striking design component in The Last Bookstore is a book arch. (Image courtesy of Travel Caffeine)

2. Erewhon Market

Erewhon Market, situated in California, is a high-end organic food shop. It has managed to carve out a niche in the crowded grocery industry by using sleek and attractive design features (such as warm contrast lighting and simple and contemporary design), keeping its product selection modest, and showcasing its great goods as decor. Its design entices its target demographic (luxury grocery customers) to visit its store.

Erewhon Market creates a pleasant shopping experience with elegant design and product merchandising. (Photos courtesy of Calabasas (L) and Prism)

3. Powell and Pilot

Pilot and Powell is a New Orleans-based premium apparel company. The storefront is light and airy, allowing the apparel to take center stage. Only a few focus elements aid in guiding clients around the room and encouraging exploration. It also creates a tasking area where users can watch their peers try on clothing.

The store has been able to harness its brand and lure people in by keeping things simple, sleek, and feminine.

For consumers to explore, Pilot and Powell provides a light and open environment. (Photo courtesy of Pilot and Powell)

Conclusion

A significant aspect of launching a retail company is designing an attractive, on-brand, and engaging retail shop. You want to make sure it creates a great consumer experience, increases sales, and strengthens your brand. Following the guidelines stated above will put you on the right road to establishing an effective and aesthetically attractive shop design that will help your company prosper.