The day-to-day operation of a retail concept, especially one situated among a bustling high street, is likely to leave you busy. And, while regular and abundant custom is set to only have a positive effect on sales, it can bring certain areas of your store to suffer neglect. Design detail in retail environments is important. Priorities must be chosen and service, among other aspects, is most likely to receive the most diligent attention. However, a successful retailer must make effort to ensure that small details of the store are not entirely forgotten.
The importance of design detail in a retail environment is difficult to overestimate. For retailers, especially those who spend significant portions of time within the store, it is easy for details to disappear. Colours fade, scuffs accumulate, and dust collects, all slowly, at a pace that becomes invisible to an employee’s regular glances, especially if attention is drawn to other aspects of the shop’s operation. Unfortunately, to customers, especially those who are viewing the store for the first time, the details of a store’s design are apparent and will speak volumes about brand quality.
Which Details Are Important?
It is the details of your store’s design that will appear most prominently to customers, features which, as part of their browsing, they are likely to pay more attention to. Shop fittings, such as standoffs, that have deteriorated will draw focus away from the poster they are displaying, flaking paint will undermine your brand quality, and dusty shelves will tarnish your products’ appearance. An attractive product cannot detract from low-quality shop shelving and, while a single unkempt feature might not amount to much, over time its impression will accrue, making worse the positive appeal that your store has worked hard to deliver.
What Can Be Done?
Diligence should be a standard part of your retail routine. This, coupled with a regular and refreshed perspective will help you to recognise the impression your store’s aesthetic is making. Take a few minutes each day to take on the perspective of a customer, stepping outside of your typical line of sight to probe at various products and peer behind different shelves. This will allow you to spot deterioration and even hazards before it appears.
Take time to go through the exact process of a customer’s journey, from entering the store to handling a receipt. It might help to highlight certain areas of the shopping experience that are obscured from the employee’s perspective.
Additionally, you can ensure that the quality of your shop fittings and merchandising is excellent, choosing to purchase and install standoffs and sign fixings that accentuate the best parts of your retail reputation. Certain shop display products will also be manufactured to last, ensuring that they remain durable and appealing for a significant amount of time. Installing such high quality shop fitting products will also exemplify your brand, communicating an attention to detail that will impress customers.