Even though the relentless rise of eCommerce is dominating headlines, there is still very much a place for bricks-and-mortar retail stores in today’s world. The challenge lies in redefining what you need the space to do for you. For most businesses, it’s about creating something experiential, that ties in with, but offers something completely separate to the online purchasing journey. Many global brands are now starting to experiment with how they present their physical retail space and what they use it for – so it could well be time for your retail premises to undergo a bit of a repurposing and a redesign. But where should you begin?

Think About Store Design

How people move around a space is hugely important. You are literally taking them on a journey, leading them around the goods that you have for sale. Working with professionals in the Construction industry ensures that you can renovate your retail premises to function better within your budget. Using a backdrop which complements your stock, and merchandising it well so that it draws people in, encourages them to try things and ask questions of sales associates can all be done with the right design.

Keep Your Displays Fresh

Successful retail is all about footfall. The more visitors you can draw in through the door, the higher your day’s profit will be. For this reason, keeping your window displays fresh and enticing should be high up the list of priorities. Even if you don’t have new stock, you need to rotate what appears in the window. A new display has the potential to draw in new customers, or even to re-capture the interest of previous ones. They can either be focused around new products or seasonally themed – there are enough national days and holidays to keep your window fresh every week of the year if you wanted. You should always remember to remove a display – especially a time-bound one, for example, Valentine’s Day – as soon as it is no longer relevant.

Create An Ambiance

It sounds fluffy, but boosting sales and creating a customer experience is all about setting a mood and an atmosphere – and done right, it can have a powerful effect. From the colors on the wall to the shelving design, presentation of stock, lighting and even the smell, there are dozens of almost subconscious factors that engage the senses as the customer steps into the store. Plenty of brands have developed clever ideas for merchandising, or even developed a custom scent that is sprayed into the room. It’s a component of brand building that is hard to quantify, but that definitely has an effect on drawing people in and converting them from casual browsers to brand advocates.

Focus On Experience

When people come into your store, you need to give them more than a sale – you need to give them an experience. Customers love to be engaged – demonstrations of unique products, opportunities to interact with the stock and help and guidance should all be built into your day in store. Allow customers to touch, pick up, try out and interact with your stock. The power of engagement can create long-term connections and allow people to spark their interest in what you do.