Guide to Shopfitting and Retail Display 2016

Guide to Shopfitting and Retail Display 2016

Guide to Shopfitting and Retail Display 2016 7 Key Shopfitting Considerations 5 Ways to Reimagine your Retail Space The Impact of Lighting on your Store 7 Window Dressing Tips The Importance of Good Signage Store Signage: A Customer Conversation

Guide to Shopfitting and Retail Display 2016 CONTENTS

7 Key Shopfitting Considerations 5 Ways to Reimagine your Retail Space The Impact of Lighting on your Store 7 Window Dressing Tips The Importance of Good Signage Store Signage: A Customer Conversation

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IMAGE CREDITS Front Cover: "Fashion boutique lighting"; Brobbel Interieur Source: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/462322717973311348/ Page 4: "Supermarket interior"; Paul L Dineen Source: http://tinyurl.com/zxefwmx Page 6: "In-store" Source: http://wearepopup.com Page 8: "London Terrariums" Source: http://londonterrariums.com Page 10: "Denim Gallery": Diesel Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2008/02/15/suspended-figure-by-ayako-murata-at-diesel-denim-gallery-aoyama/ Page 10: "A-Frame Lighting": Dezeen Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2011/09/26/dezeen-space-at-54-rivington-street/ Page 12: "Revival, Chattanooga": Revival Source: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/345088390174142455/ Page 12: "Petit Bateau": Zisla Tortello Source: http://www.dailyelle.fr/tout-dans-le-detail/le-faux-eclairage-de-petit-bateau-95683 Page 13: "Patisserie": Model in Training Source: http://theopeningnight.tumblr.com/post/15523762400 Page 16: "Durable Window Frame": Durable Source: http://www.durable-uk.com Page 18: "Signage Mission Burrito": Mission Burrito Source: http://www.rootstudio.co.uk

CREDITS Contributor: Emily Cleaver Contributor: We are Pop Up Contributor: Durable Editor: Rob Gamage Production Assistant: Charlotte Lynch Advertising Sales: Rich York

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THANKS Many thanks to all those who provided editorial content or images for helping us put together what we hope is a useful and informative read! Please send any comments or suggestions to: editor@modernretail.co.uk

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7 Key Shopfitting Considerations

By Emily Cleaver

Whether you’re launching a new store or revamping an existing site, beyond the products you sell, shopfitting has perhaps the most influence on customer buying decisions in a bricks-and-mortar retail environment.

The aim of shopfitting design is to get people to come into the store, to encourage them to stay for as long as possible and to get them to buy. This is achieved through layout design, materials and display techniques.

From the initial plans, your shopfit should take into consideration the customer journey through the shop. What do they see in the window, what greets them when they enter, what route are they encouraged to take, how do they find products or information, and how to they access customer services or payment areas.

1. Customer movement The first question to discuss with a shopfitting designer is the customer journey through your store. From the moment a customer enters, display stands, signage and walking routes should be designed to guide the customer on the path you want them to take. But this should be balanced with convenience; can customers shop your store quickly if they need to? Can they find what they want and get to it?

Signage and accessibility of customer services, changing rooms and tills are also part of the customer journey.

Large supermarkets use customer journey routes through the store to position attractive offers and draw attention to products; display areas at the ends of aisles are used for prominent offers because customers slow down at this point in navigating the store.

2. Back-of-house functions Your shopfit doesn’t just cover what customers see when they come into your store. The design must also incorporate the back-of-house functions – warehousing or product storage and shelf-stacking systems, for example.

3. Lighting Lighting should form a key part of a shopfit design, working in conjunction with display furniture and helping to guide customers through the store. See our full article on instore lighting on Page 10.

4. Product density How much product you display at one time will depend on what you are selling, and the message you want to send with your design. The shelves of a large pound store will be crowded with product, with many of the same item on the shelf, because sales volumes are high, margins small and the brand message is to pile it high and sell it cheap.

In contrast, a luxury store will display a minimal amount of product, perhaps only one of each item at a time. The Jo Malone store displays an extremely limited number of beauty products on stark white display stands and shelves, highlighting their brand message of exclusive luxury.

5. Technology

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...7 Key Shopfitting Considerations ...continued

In a modern retail environment, technology is a key part of retail design. Aside from tills, current technology includes plasma screens for product display, interactive technology to deliver product information and smart beacons to communicate with customers as they move through the store.

6. Flexibility If you have a limited budget for shopfitting, a key consideration will be flexibility. Do you want to reconfigure your shop to showcase different products or promotions? Reconfiguration is likely to be limited by the space available; a small shop floor may only offer scope for one arrangement. But you could consider using movable racks and shelves to make reconfiguration easy. Design gallery Spacecraft in Melbourne use wheeled racks and low, light display units in an unadorned space, combining easy configurability with a stylish vibe.

7. Employing Shopfitters Many shopfitting companies offer design services as well as fitting, but you may want to consider employing a separate designer to come up with a plan to be passed on to a fitting company.

Emily Cleaver is a blogger and content creator who writes on retail, business trends and creativity. You can find her at www.wordboutique.co.uk

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5 Ways to Reimagine your Retail Space

By Abigail Freeman, We are Pop Up

Retailers are reimagining the way that we browse and buy in order to offer something that is more than ‘just shopping’. By creating a unique environment within your shop – through anything from an innovative floor plan to hosting a coffee bar where your customers can relax between purchases – you can create an exciting, memorable experience for your existing customers and attract new ones.

Attract the Customer’s Attention Use your shop’s façade and windows creatively. Having a workshop in your window can increase sales by up to 800% so consider inviting one of the brands you’re stocking to have a ‘maker session’ in your window. Are you shopping your store with fresh eyes? Appeal to new customers and enhance your existing brand presence by collaborating with an artist or designer on your window. Make people really stop and look.

Change it up Keep your in-store layout fresh. Rotate stock, display different ‘hero’ products in the windows and in the customer’s line of sight in-store, and bring in guest brands to stock from time to time to refresh the customer experience. Up-and-coming brands are thirsty for access to retail space and would welcome a guest concession within your store. With over 21,000 creative retail brands looking for space, wearepopup.com is an excellent destination for sourcing new brands as content for your shop. Visit as many other shops as you can for inspiration. From Liberty and Selfridges to your local independent retailers and pop-ups, ideas and new styles are all around you.

Increase dwell time Hosting a café or juice bar within your existing retail environment can be an excellent way to provide a resting area for customers to relax whilst their partner or friends carry on shopping.

Fashion boutique Glassworks in Shoreditch hosted a cold press juice bar to complement their offering of contemporary womenswear and provide a ‘chill and detox area’ for shoppers.

Urban Outfitters teamed up with pioneering coffee brand Black Sheep to offer customers their daily caffeine fix.

Add a charging station to the drinks area and you’ve got yourself a happy shopper.

Make it interactive The benefit of physical retail over ecommerce is that you can play with all the senses. Allow your customers to touch, taste, smell and play with

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...5 Ways to Reimagine your Retail Space ...continued from Page 6

your product. According to Metamorphosis retail consultancy, 92% of sales come from touch, so the power of ensuring your store is experiential is not one to be underestimated. What’s more, there are tools at your fingertips to discover and book in brands that can run workshops or in-store lessons, such as London Terrariums or Make Thrift London. Established brands who bring their own following introduce new customers to your store.

Collaborate and ‘remix’ your brand Brands are pushing the boundaries of collaborations and brand remixes – the most recent and news-grabbing example of this was H&M’s sell-out collaboration with Balmain, but this concept of retail brands collaborating is an exciting and growing trend to consider for your store. When We Are Pop Up launched ShopShare in 2014 it captured the imagination of retailers in 20 countries – from London to NYC and beyond. ShopShare enables an existing retailer to rent out a shelf, table or concession area to another brand. Brands started connecting with brands, and so in 2015, We Are Pop Up launched brand-to-brand messaging heralding the next step in the evolution of pop-ups. Brands are connecting directly with each other and with spaces to create innovative concepts that delight customers and keep them coming back for more.

Abigail Freeman is Director of Marketing and Partnerships at We Are Pop Up. She is passionate about helping creative businesses start up and grow, and loves nothing more than seeing entrepreneurs use pop ups to realise their business ideas and help them flourish. Abigail has a strong entrepreneurship, innovation and creative industries background – prior to We Are Pop Up, she founded a boutique consultancy, working with clients such as University of the Arts London, the Fashion & Textile Museum and the UK’s innovation agency Nesta. Abigail is also a start-up mentor for UCL’s MSc in Technology Entrepreneurship. Find out more at http://wearepopup.com.

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The Impact of Lighting on your Store

By Emily Cleaver

Lighting is one of the most important elements of retail store design and can have a substantial impact on sales.

You can create beautiful product displays, but if they aren’t lit properly, all that work goes to waste.

Balancing the practicalities of displaying your merchandise with atmosphere and dramatic impact can be a challenge, so here are some of the basics of retail lighting design.

Cost Lighting is likely to be one of your biggest investments in terms of store design. It’s estimated that 43% of your energy costs are likely to go on lighting, and that’s after your initial investment in any kind of lighting rig. But scrimp on this design element and you could be compromising sales if merchandise isn’t displayed to best advantage.

Ambient lighting Choosing the level of ambient light – the general light in the store – is crucial. Compare a brightly lit a pound shop or branch of Primark to the warm, welcoming low light of a luxury boutique and it’s clear how different light levels send different brand messages.

Brighter isn’t always better, and low light can indicate a premium brand, but it’s crucial to balance this with merchandise display. If you have low ambient light levels, how will you light displays to keep the focus on your product?

Task lighting Task lighting highlights areas of the shop that perform functions – cash desks, changing rooms, help desks. It helps customers orientate themselves in store and lights the area so that particular task can be performed effectively.

Decorative lighting Decorative lighting is additional lighting that creates a particular atmosphere in store. It might add to the ambient light, but its main function is visual impact.

Accent lighting is used in conjunction with ambient lighting to highlight displays. The fittings required will depend on your merchandise. Mannequin displays will require a wider beam to highlight than a display of jewellery.

In this Diesel store, low ambient light, accent lighting and decorative lighting are combined to create a treasure-trove feel to this display.

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...The Impact of Lighting on your Store ...continued from Page 10 Using natural light Retailers are increasingly incorporating natural light into their visual merchandising. Department stores like Macy’s that traditionally covered windows entirely with displays are opening them up again to bring in light from outside. Natural light makes shoppers feel good and displays merchandise colour accurately.

Consider how you moderate natural light to deal with very sunny or overcast days and how you’ll light the store at night. One option is to use a thin curtain material that lets through light but cuts out bright sunshine. You can also balance out natural light with lamps to even the overall effect and avoid silhouettes. Some lighting systems offer sensors that will adjust lamps as the light level outside changes.

Natural light is used to bring out the contrast of natural tones and bold colours in this display at the Revival store in Chattanooga, USA. Colour Lamps have individual colour tones that give different effects in an overall lighting scheme. The Colour Rating Index (CRI) of a lamp measures its ability to display colours accurately compared to natural light; the lower the rating, the more accurately colours are displayed. A low CRI would be appropriate to changing rooms where customers want to view a garment as it will appear outside the store.

Flexible Systems Ideally, your lighting system should be flexible so that you can redirect lights depending on your displays. A track system with adjustable lamps allows you to combine flood fittings that give an ambient light to the whole store with spot fittings for highlighting particular areas.

Track systems are a substantial investment, but at the very least you should ensure you have the ability to highlight key displays and attractive merchandise separately from the ambient light.

Alternatives to Lighting We’ve covered using windows for natural light, but you can also bounce around more light with mirrors and reflective surfaces. Your colour scheme will also have an impact on how your lighting design works.

Emily Cleaver is a blogger and content creator who writes on retail, business trends and creativity. You can find her at www.wordboutique.co.uk

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7 Window Dressing Tips

By Emily Cleaver

Your shop window is likely to be the first interaction your customer has with your brand. It’s a make or break moment – you have a split second to convince them to stop, look for longer, and make the decision to come into your store. So how do you make the most of your windows?

Can customers see inside?

In the past, window displays tended to barricade a shop window with shelving or backing, but the trend is now for displays to be open to the shop behind them so that customers can see inside.

Psychologically, a customer who doesn’t know your store is more likely to come inside if they can see what to expect in advance. Displays at waist height or with strategic gaps can achieve this while still leaving scope for product display.

Sell Your Product Well-known destination stores can get away with not explicitly using product in their window – fashion brand Anthropologie is famous for its creative window displays, which often don’t feature clothes or mannequins at all. But if you’re a smaller independent, you need to signal to that person on the pavement who doesn’t know your store what they can expect when they come inside – and why they would want to.

Colour and Shape You don’t need a big budget to make an impact with your window. Use your existing products cleverly and think about colours and shapes – pick a colour scheme for the window to create a unified design and use shape to draw the eye to a focal point. The patisserie window display (see main article image above) in Paris allows people to see into the shop while the colours suggest luxury. The central pyramid of macaroons draws the eye.

Grouping Similar Products One easy way of making a visual impact is to group lots of the same product together in the window. Sticking in one of everything you sell will give a jumble-sale effect; instead, draw attention to a key product by repeating it.

Create Drama The window displays at flagship stores like Selfridges, Harrods and Fortnum & Mason in London are world-famous for their drama and lavish design. These big players have a store design team and substantial budget dedicated to their windows, but there’s no reason a smaller independent can’t take inspiration from the drama they use to create the effect. This could mean:

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...7 Window Dressing Tips

...continued

>>Displaying products in an unexpected way >>Using props to create an effect, like these pine cone snowflakes in a Christmas flower shop window display >>Using mannequins or other anthropomorphic elements to set a scene Use Display Stands If your products are small (jewellery, cosmetics, electronics etc.) it can be hard to create impact even by grouping similar products. Instead, consider using creative display stands to build structure and visual drama.

Think Laterally If your business doesn’t have products that lend themselves to an attractive display you can still use window dressing to attract customer attention. Think creatively about how your windows could say something about your brand.

Emily Cleaver is a blogger and content creator who writes on retail, business trends and creativity. You can find her at www.wordboutique.co.uk

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The Importance of Good Signage

By Durable

How important is it to have the right display information?

If you want to create an engaging and attractive retail destination you need to have good signage. It’s one of the first things customers are going to see and holds vital information like opening hours, offers and sales. The digital era has highlighted just how important design is to attract customers in a congested marketplace. This design ethos needs to be continued into the bricks and mortar world of retail.

Creating good signage takes time and careful consideration, it needs to be engaging and capture the customer’s eye. An effective sign will be informative and explain why they should purchase the selected merchandise. It should also include an important call to action and make them enter the store. Retailers put a lot of effort into their signs but if you don’t display them correctly noone is going to see that work.

So, where should display information be placed?

It seems obvious but displays should be placed where customers can see them. How many times have you struggled to see if a shop is open or when it closes or missed a sale because you just didn’t see the signs? It is frustrating for customers not to have the correct information right in front of them and can put them off entering the store.

Signage should be placed where all customers can see it but without intruding on the interior of the store. Retailers must consider who the message is directed at and check the readability from different distances accordingly. For example, people walking past a store need signage at eye level whereas people on the other side of the road need signage at a high level and in large text.

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...The Importance of Good Signage ...continued

What makes a good display in retail environments?

For retailers it is vital that they capture the imagination and the interest of customers. When it comes to designing a sign it must include specific details, for example if it is a promotion or sale, retailers must include the length of the sale and what items it includes. The signage also needs to be clear and concise; too much information can be as off-putting as too little information. Make sure there is a call to action, the whole point of signage is too make people do something.

Modern display frames, like the DURABLE DURAFRAME® are also available in a double sided format giving retailers the opportunities to get the message across on both sides of the sign.

What effects does bad signage have on a retailer?

Bad signage can cost retailers customers and in this competitive environment, retailers cannot afford to lose anyone. I have seen many examples of bad signage and it is the simple things that people often get wrong. If people put too much information on a sign it can confuse customers rather than helping and put them off buying from your store. If customers feel confused or misled they will go away with a bad feeling and it is commonly thought that people with a negative opinion are more likely to repeat this to others than those with a good opinion.

In this digital world, the effect of bad signage can also have a massive effect on your brand’s identity. People are keen to show the world examples of bad signage and before you know it your sign has gone viral and not for the right reasons.

How important is it to keep information up-to-date?

Retailers need to have the flexibility to change display information without having to wait for lead times for delivery of new signage. This means it must be quick and simple to change, for example DURAFRAME® is a contemporary self-adhering display with a magnetic front which allows for the creation of professional-looking signage and displays quickly and easily.

By having easily updateable signage, retailers can take advantage of flash sales and allow them to react to competitors without letting them know.

For small independent retailers, it is also important to build a loyal customer base. By providing them with clear and regularly updated information you can demonstrate you are listening to their needs and this will help you develop on-going relationships.

Can a sign adapt to different trends?

Yes, retailers are now able to adapt and purchase their signage specific to their corporate branding style. This small attention to detail keeps your brand’s style consistent, generating a more professional outlook of the store.

As well as abiding by internal company trends, the retail market is constantly evolving and retailers need to adapt quickly to new trends within the wider industry. Different colour signage options are increasingly being selected to customise and professionalise displays at different times throughout the year. For example, grey has been the stylish colour of the moment for most of 2015, yet bold colours are forecast to feature heavily in 2016.

For further information about DURABLE, please visit www.durable-uk.com or follow @durableUK.

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Store Signage: A Customer Conversation

By Emily Cleaver

Your in-store signage is a conversation with your customer. And like any method of customer communication, it should be clear, compelling and on-brand. We take a look at some of the key considerations when you’re designing signage.

Point of View When you’re thinking about signage, you should be thinking from your customer’s point of view. What questions are they asking when they come into your store? These questions might be…Is this store for me? Where do I find this product? Which one shall I choose? Where do I try this on? Where do I pay? Can I return this if it’s wrong?

The first question is the most important, and one that your signage should be constantly answering. For a customer, a shop they haven’t visited before is an unfamiliar and potentially threatening environment. Signage should remove confusion and tell a clear story with the customer as the hero. This doesn’t mean a signage overload though – too many signs and a retail environment becomes confusing. Concentrate on key messages that make a customer’s journey through the store less stressful.

Talking to customers Signage fulfills a utilitarian purpose, but can also just be there to add to the customer experience. Signs that ‘talk’ in your brand voice can add to your customer’s overall impression of the value you offer.

Pointing out the Process If shopping your store involves a particular process that a new customer may not be familiar with, clear, instructional signage is essential. But get this wrong, and you could be bombarding your customer with confusing instructions or too much information.

Fast food chain Mission Burrito (pictured above) uses large, simple signage above the counter to show their menu,

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...Store Signage: A Customer Conversation ...continued

but also to explain to customers how to construct their burrito.

Similar instructional signage can be used to explain deals; Marks & Spencer’s recent ‘Dine in For Two for £10’ promotion offers a range of ready meal main courses, sides, deserts and wine for £10, with in-store signage clearly explaining to customers how the deal works and what choice is available. Similar meal deals are run by Boots and Superdrug, with signage showing what items can be added together to get the deal.

Choosing Colours Good design helps your signage get the message across strongly, so it’s worth researching some design basics. Choose colours carefully. At the most basic design level, high contrast signs (a light colour on a dark background or vice versa) will be the most readable and eye-catching. Picking out particular offers in one colour of signage can be effective in drawing a customer’s attention across a store.

On a deeper level, give some thought to the psychology of colour. Why do coffee shops use a lot of brown, or budget brands often use orange?

Red is a signal for urgency and danger, and because it makes us react quickly it’s the most common colour for sale signage. The brightness of yellow makes it an eye-catching colour, a popular choice for signage about deals and offers.

Other colours can be used effectively, depending on the context. Tesco has often made use of blue signage to advertise back-to-school merchandise. Research has shown that blue has connotations of trustworthiness and productivity, possibly why Tesco have gone with this colour for a school range.

Choosing fonts Choosing a font that fits with your brand is important, but first and foremost a sign should be readable, so a font should be clear. It might be tempting to go big and bold on lettering to draw attention, but in fact lowercase letters are easier and quicker for the brain to read than uppercase. A mixture of uppercase and lowercase font can be used to highlight key words in a brand message.

Interactive signage New retail technology is transforming the scope of what instore signage can offer customers. Digital signs can display

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...Store Signage: A Customer Conversation ...continued

more layers of information for customers than traditional signage and some can offer personal interaction, either through touchscreens or by communication with a customers’ smartphone.. At the Ralph Lauren flagship store in New York, interactive mirrors in the fitting room recognise items brought into the room to be tried, offering additional sizes, colours and related items.

Use and flexibility The type of signage that’s suitable for a particular store will depend on its use. Do you need to be able to change signage regularly to reflect price changes or new products? If so, flexible signage will save time and money.

Responsive signage Some chains are using digital shelf-edge screens as a high-tech alternative to the chalkboard sign to make their signage responsive to fluctuating price and stock levels. Metro, an international cash and carry chain, has to react to market conditions in its pricing, including buying costs and supply issues. It started using electronic shelf edge displays as far back as 1999 and is still using them across 60 stores to show reactive pricing and to manage stock levels. More recent shelf-edge technology offers retailers the opportunity to mix price displays with branded images, adverts and other content.

Emily Cleaver is a blogger and content creator who writes on retail, business trends and creativity. You can find her at www.wordboutique.co.uk

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