The art of creating great retail space is really geared around an understanding of the client’s brand, getting under the skin on the retail branding and the requirements for the look, feel and function of the retail environment.
Of course, key to this is ensuring that the retail design is geared around a fundamental understanding of the retail environment, how individuals will migrate around a retail outlet and the buyer behaviour patterns that they will employ in browsing, selecting and making a purchase.
The positioning of point of sale displays to the actual point of sale itself are just as important as the location of shelving, items and window displays.
Retail branding must be clear and consistent with the overall brand of the retailer, ensuring that the look and feel, together with the buying experience, are ‘on-brand’. Once the buyer experience has been created, suitable feedback mechanism are required in order to ensure that all of the right design features and functions are performing as designed. Amendments to the design post launch are therefore not uncommon when striving for the right retail design experience.
Once a pilot store design has been successfully launched, further stores can then be designed and rolled out in a consistent manner and within brand guidelines.
A consideration should also be made to the overall brand and marketing strategies of the retailer, such as, how does the web design strategy integrate with the retail purchase process? How does the retailer maximise the revenue opportunity with follow up communication using tools like email marketing? How does the retailer ensure follow up visits and repeat business. All of these are elements that can be incorporated in the retail interior design process.
Finally, the last consideration to make when designing the ideal retail space is to ensure that you have some real design talent on board. Make sure that you pick a team that are highly experienced in creating these environments, can show you a great existing portfolio of work and can provide a wealth of case studies, testimonials and reference sites that support their creative portfolio. If you can tick all of these boxes and at the same time you get on with them on a business and personal level, then you are surely on to a winning formula.
