As interior design specialists, we recognise that with the continuing growth in online shopping, it is more important than ever that stores are designed to engage shoppers and optimise their shopping experience. Regularly redesigning an entire store however, whilst usually part of a shopping centre’s leasing requirements, is an expensive endeavour.
So here are 10 cost effective retail fitout tips for ‘on the run’ changes that will help to increase your bottom line, before your next major retail fitout is due.
- Strategically place your lowest priced products at the front of your store to encourage shoppers to enter, and display the higher priced items at points of high traffic, within your store.
- Research has shown that the right hand side of a store is the most lucrative, as shoppers tend to turn right when they first enter a shop. So take advantage of this fact and have your best and most enticing displays on the right hand side of your store.
- Once the shopper turns right, create a pathway so that they are led on a wandering journey throughout your store, exposing them to as many of your products as possible.
- Make sure that the aisles are wide enough for shoppers to walk through in comfort and don’t forget to make it easy for parents with strollers or people in wheelchairs to navigate your store.
- Place top selling products at eye level and add a display at the end of product aisles to encourage impulse buying.
- One of the best additions to your store is to provide seating for your customers. A few minutes resting their weary feet gives them ample time to cast their eyes over your products and to then hone in on their choices. Seating also helps to take the weight of a male partners feet and gives the lady shopper plenty of time to shop in peace and quiet.
- One of the more annoying retail fitout designs is the lack of counter space at the checkout. Trying to juggle handbags, shopping bags and young children at the register can be made a whole lot easier if there is enough counter space to place their bags while they find their credit cards.
- Always add an additional fixture or two at the register to encourage impulse buying. You can display discounted items or frequently bought items, so long as they are easily reached from the register.
- Design your store so that the aisles and fixtures can be easily changed. Customers become bored with the same layout and a quick change adds an extra sparkle of interest and encourages customers to return more often.
- As your customers wander along the path you have made for them, add interesting displays or product information, discount signs etc., with the aim of slowing their journey towards the exit. The addition of seating also helps to slow their progress through your store.
As you can see, the perfect retail fitout doesn’t have to cost a fortune and many of these ideas can be achieved in a very short space of time with hardly any cost.
