Guide to Shopfitting & Retail Display 2017

Guide to Shopfitting & Retail Display 2017

Guide to Shopfitting & Retail Display 2017

4 Ways to Revolutionise your VM in 2017 3 Benefits of Digital Signage for Independent Retailers 5 Instant Upgrades for your VM that Cost Under £10 Getting the Most Out of Mannequins How to Display and Sell 'Ugly' Products The Power of Paper: Corporate Social Responsibility Eye Level is Buy Level Fitting Out your Pop-Up Shop on a Budget Retail Stores: Using Display for Increasing Sales

Guide to Shopfitting & Retail Display 2017 CONTENTS 4 Ways to Revolutionise your VM in 2017

Page 3

3 Benefits of Digital Signage For Independent Retailers

Page 6

5 Instant Upgrades for your VM that Cost Under £10

Page 9

Getting the Most Out of Mannequins

How to Display and Sell 'Ugly' Products

Page 11

The Power of Paper: Corporate Social Responsibility

Page 17

Eye Level is Buy Level

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Fitting Out your Pop-Up Shop on a Budget

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Retail Stores: Using Display for Increasing Sales

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IMAGE CREDITS

Page 1: Front Cover: www.canva.com

Page 7: DFS Digital Signage image http://www.dfs.co.uk/

CREDITS Editor: Rob Gamage Production & Marketing: Charlotte Lynch Advertising Sales: Emma Mjekiqi Special thanks to: Zoe Hewett

Modern Retail is published by Ricochet Media Services Ltd (Registered Company Number 6043446), Unit 1b, Building 6, Croxley Green Business Park, Watford, WD18 8YH.

Page 12: Shopfitting Warehouse Child Mannequin www.shopfittingwarehouse.co.uk

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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4 WAYS TO REVOLUTIONISE YOUR VISUAL MERCHANDISING IN 2017

By Zoe Hewett

Successful Visual Merchandising can be difficult for independent retailers to achieve on top of the day-to-day pressures of running a business.

Firstly there’s the need to constantly come up with new and exciting ideas, and then there’s the time required to actually implement them – as well as finding the cash to pay for the project, of course. It may seem like a real drag to come up with display after display but, in today’s environment of internet shopping and giant retail chains, it has never been more important for independents to invest in the appearance and customer experience of their stores. The good news is that although Visual Merchandising is a profession in its own right, you don’t have to be qualified or an expert to succeed in creating competent displays.

Follow the four tips below to streamline and de-stress your Visual Merchandising operation: DEVISE A VM STRATEGY Once the January sales are over and all trace of the busy Christmas period gone, it is the perfect time to focus on creating a Visual Merchandising Strategy for the whole year ahead.

First, you’ll need to decide which festivals and celebrations you intend to coincide your displays and promotions with. Window Displays are for life not just for Christmas! There are so many events throughout the year that it would be unrealistic to reference all of them, but to aim for a minimum of 8 wow-factor window displays per year is good practice.

The main celebrations (in addition to the four seasons) are New Year, Valentine’s Day, Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras, Mothering Sunday, Easter, May Day, Harvest, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Day, Remembrance Day and, of course, Advent and Christmas.

In addition, there may be sporting events, different religious observances, regional Saints’ Days or other occasions such as International Women’s Day, Yarn Bombing Day or even International Talk Like a Pirate Day, that chime with your brand and customers. Film releases and news stories can also be a rich source of inspiration and will speak to your audience. However, it is wise to avoid referencing the more political aspects of current affairs – and always ensure that any stories or events you latch on to are relevant to your core business.

Once you have chosen your window display occasions, you can set about planning for them.

CREATE A VISUAL MERCHANDISING CALENDAR All too often Christmas window displays are left unchanged until the middle of January, at least a week after most customers have already recycled their tree into wood chippings. The superstitious would say this is bad luck, but old wives’ tales aside, it is easy to see how this could harm a shop’s image.

Retail is indeed a fast-paced industry, but with just a little forward planning it is possible to keep up.

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4 WAYS TO REVOLUTIONISE YOUR VISUAL MERCHANDISING IN 2017

By Zoe Hewett

Setting dates in the shop diary for window-display 'Change Days' is an excellent way to ensure your shop is always current.

Designating fixed dates for these overhauls signals to everyone working in the shop that this is an important activity that must be done on time.

However, fixing dates just for new installations is not enough. Time for preparation, planning and manufacture of displays must also be accounted for, as must the removal and disposal or storage of previous displays. So it is advisable to always be working around three months ahead so that things don’t get squeezed too close the deadline and either rushed at the last minute or dropped completely.

An effective Visual Merchandising Strategy does not consider window displays in isolation, but relates them to the in-store experience.

So, if there is a product showcase in a window, the in-store display of those products must bear resemblance to the window version. This sounds obvious, but it is a common mistake that in-store sign posting and way-finding are neglected.

Tempting customers into shops with something in the window is brilliant, but it is essential to then aid them in completing the journey first to the product and then to the till!

Once a product has been elevated to windowworthy status, it should be prominently and beautifully presented inside too, as having to search for such an item in a cluttered store leads only to frustration and disappointment.

Depending on your product lines and chosen celebrations and promotions, stock levels will likely vary throughout the year.

This may well impact on available space on the shop floor, so the layout may need to change to accommodate additional stock, in line with your Visual Merchandising Calendar Of course it isn’t possible to plan for every detail and the exact number of boxes that will be getting in the way at any one time.

But a little advance anticipation will help you stay on top of the disruption, and make your Visual Merchandising duties a little more joyful.

Zoë Hewett is a member of Modern Retail’s Editorial Board. Zoë is an interior designer who specialises in helping independent retailers make their mark on the high street. Find out more at: http://www.zoehewettinteriors.co.uk/

Please visit www.modernretail.co.uk for much more...!

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3 BENEFITS OF DIGITAL SIGNAGE FOR INDEPENDENT RETAILERS

By Rob Gamage Modern shoppers are more and more used to seeing digital signage on the high street. As well as large outdoor screens in eyecatching city locations, we are nowadays accustomed to seeing digital screens in hotels, waiting rooms, food outlets and, increasingly, in shops too.

The proliferation of flat-screen TVs and the accompanying digital display technology means that digital signage is an increasingly affordable prospect for retailers. But what are the advantages of this technology for UK independents?

Enhance your brand By their very nature of providing dynamic, animated content, digital screens are more eye-catching and memorable than static signage. This ability to provide rich, compelling content via digital media can only serve to enhance an independent retailer’s brand.

As with all marketing, it is important to consider your audience and ensure the tone of any marketing message is appropriate. But whether your tone is quirky and humorous or glamorous and sophisticated, if you consistently deliver relevant and interesting content to your customers you will only serve to enhance your brand.

Retailers can use screens to draw attention to special offers or announce an imminent sale, for example. Simple promotion of your social media channels is easily doable or, for those more adept with IT, a feed of your latest Instagram posts or Pinterest pins can be displayed.

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3 BENEFITS OF DIGITAL SIGNAGE FOR INDEPENDENT RETAILERS

By Rob Gamage Capitalise on your agility A key facet of digital screens is their flexibility. With forward-planning, they can be regularly updated to show timely or seasonal messages. But digital signage can also be updated in an instant, meaning retailers can adapt screens quickly to promote new lines, flash sales or other topical messages.

Smaller independents are by their very nature more agile than their Tier 1 high street counterparts, and as such can directly benefit from the ability to be flexible and change marketing messages to suit the moment, or to experiment and try a new approach. And, of course, the beauty of digital marketing through in-store display screens is that retailers can change their message quickly and easily at no extra cost.

Keep customers informed The advantages of digital signage for retailers are not purely centred around marketing. It’s worth noting that providing useful information for customers can increase efficiency in-store and improve customer satisfaction too. Digital signage allows for multiple messages to be delivered to customers on a loop, which means several pieces of information can be delivered over a period of time.

There are plenty of messages that can be conveyed to shoppers that can help improve their in-store experience. For example, if you’re offering a Click & Collect service, it can speed up customer’s collection times if you point them to the relevant cash desk, or the rear of the store, to pick up their goods - this will improve their overall purchasing experience and encourage them to shop with you again.

If you offer a loyalty card scheme, sell warranties, or have “upsell” products on special offer at the till, letting your customers know via digital signage before they get to the cash desk may encourage customers to enquire, or at least soften the ground for your staff’s sales approach at the point of sale.

Summary Digital signage is more affordable and accessible than ever for independent retailers. Through well-thought-out use with good forward planning, you can boost both your marketing efforts and improve your in-store operations.

ROB GAMAGE, DIRECTOR, MODERN RETAIL UK

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5 INSTANT UPGRADES FOR YOUR VM THAT COST UNDER £10 Zoe Hewett

Looking to improve your visual merchandising on a budget? Here are 5 great tips...

1. HERE COMES THE SUN Some stores will be more affected than others by the damage caused by strong sunlight depending on which side of the street they are located, the direction of the road and the surrounding buildings.

But it is worth being alert to this easily avoided problem, especially as it costs nothing. Faded posters and notices quickly make stores look old and neglected. This is no good in the fast-paced retail industry where everything needs to constantly look up-to-date and fresh.

Any product displayed in the windows will also be vulnerable to sun damage, so be sure to keep an eye and rotate displays more frequently if necessary. Even if you mark-down ex-display products it will be difficult to sell them at all if they have been baking in the sunlight for too long.

Avoid cladding the windows in yellow cellophane at all costs, as it is incredibly dated and obscures the view into your treasures.

Instead, consider delegating to shop assistants a weekly check for any items that need removing or replacing.

2. DON’T GET PERSONAL People buy from people, it’s true, but personal clutter on and around the service counter of a shop diminishes professionalism, and can detract from the brand image. The charm of independent stores is that they are unique, so of course, it is very important to inject plenty of character into retail premises.

However, the place where transactions are carried out should be free from family photos, novelty pens, toys or other personal knickknacks. It can be difficult to get the balance right between personality and the personal, but generally speaking, it is best to avoid resembling cluttered desk booths that have been made cosy by open-plan office staff. It can seem over-familiar. The emphasis should not be on you but on your customer.

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5 INSTANT UPGRADES FOR YOUR VM THAT COST UNDER £10

Zoe Hewett

3. QUIT USING BLU-TACK Although Blu tack is a quick and easy way to fix important notices to glass door panes and windows, it is by no means the most attractive option. It can very easily look messy, amateurish and as though no effort has been made to keep a presentable front.

Professionally-produced window stickers may seem hard to justify when cash-flow is tight, or if only a temporary message is required, so a better solution to Blu tack or sellotape is transparent sticky glue dots.

Available in permanent or repositionable strength, they are made by Bostik, Pritt and Scotch among others so are inexpensive and easy to source. Being clear, they won’t clash with any brand colours and will create a more sophisticated finish than those still using ugly blue blobs.

4. HANDWRITING IS AN ART Unless you happen to be a keen calligrapher, avoid hand writing notices, as all-too-often they look horribly unprofessional. When you have a quick message to write or a one-day special offer to promote it can seem like a chore to print out a half-decent sign from the computer. It would be a waste of money to have these professionally printed, and of course hand written signs do have character and charm.

However, unless written by someone with truly beautiful handwriting and using a good choice of pen and paper, it is a wasted effort.

Scratchy biros and nearly-dead marker pens are not a good look but, if embracing the handwritten suits your brand, then here are some tips to help you succeed. Chalk written messages on blackboards are currently very in vogue but are also classic so will always look stylish. Available in any size, chalkboards have a place inside and out.

The right typography can change the tone of the message to match your brand image. Even the least artistic person can make a beautiful sign by printing out the words needed in the right size to make a template.

Cover the back of the paper in chalk, then tape it in position on the board. Draw over the words with a soft tipped pencil to make a transfer of the letters, then remove the paper and fill in the text on the board with map chalk or a chalk pen. If that’s too much bother, delegate it to one of the team, and if chalk doesn’t fit the store image, download and install some suitable free stock fonts from the web to use in making your own DIY printed paper signs. Use the same typefaces to unify your logo, storefront signage, POS graphics and pricing to create a professional, cohesive look. It will be worth the effort.mises.

5. SPRING CLEAN REGIME Spring is a great time for maintenance around the home – and shops are no exception. Even if your regular cleaner is committed and conscientious, your shop will love you back after a really deep clean and a thorough maintenance inspection. Go over every square inch with a fine tooth comb looking for wear and tear, and make a list of any dirty, dusty corners, grubby shelves or cabinets, broken light bulbs, out of date info notices, prices, offers, ads etc. Delegate this task if you are too busy, and ensure everything on the list is actioned.

It is amazing what grime you can notice when browsing a store as a shopper; details that people who spend everyday in-store would easily miss. Residue from sticky pads, double sided tape and sky hooks is ugly and always makes stores look particularly unloved, so invest in a bottle of Sticky Stuff Remover, and get rid of all trace as part of your Spring Clean regime.

Zoë Hewett is a member of Modern Retail’s Editorial Board. Zoë is an interior designer who specialises in helping independent retailers make their mark on the high street. Find out more at: http://www.zoehewettinteriors.co.uk/

Please visit www.modernretail.co.uk for much more...!

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GETTING THE MOST OUT OF MANNEQUINS Charlotte Lynch

The focus of visual marketing is presenting your products in a way which entices customers into your store – and subsequently into making a purchase. In fashion retail, a mannequins role is vital in this process it tells a sales story; helping the customer visualise how they could look in your clothing, and even just seeing the latest trends at a glance.

SHOP WINDOW MANNEQUINS Your Window is what initially attracts shoppers into your store, enabling you to create visual communication between your brand and potential customers. By having a mannequin display you can present your product personality, the style of your brand and what your clothes look like on the wearer.

But that’s not all: Using a mannequin display can utilise story-selling to great effect. For example, if you are promoting a beachwear range, you may have mannequins positioned on beach towels, fanning themselves or even use a beach ball suspended by wire, with two mannequins positioned as though they’re hitting it to each other, generating a feeling of energy and movement in your window.

A backdrop of sun, sea and sand would create a summer vibe within the window, bringing happy, holiday connotations to your customers and increasing the desire to buy. By positioning the display in a unique way you are also differentiating yourself from the other boring shop windows that don’t showcase summer atmosphere in the same way!

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GETTING THE MOST OUT OF MANNEQUINS Continued...

Having movement allows your customer to envisage an event or circumstance.

This is especially true for children’s clothes where their parents will know they’ll be running around in them. Child mannequins should be positioned to show movement and, ideally, you could create a story in your window of children playing. Again, creating a feeling of movement and excitement attracts the buyer’s attention but also serves in this case to highlight product practicality.

CONTINUE THE JOURNEY IN-STORE Your front-of-store mannequins highlight the unique collections you have; inside you should aim to showcase as much of your range as possible.

But this is crucial: To make your product look their best the mannequins need to fit the exact measures of your clothes. Your customers will get a closer, panoramic view at how your clothes look on, so you’ll want them to fit perfectly, whilst on display.

Why not use different mannequins to demonstrate various aspects of your brand?

One could be more focused on the accessories you sell, jewellery for example. Another could be layered in various clothes to showcase how your different items can work together to create a look. If you sell both male and female ranges, then displaying them next to each other shows how they can interact together and again improves the story-selling element of your display.

If you have an eveningwear range, you could use several mannequins together to build the feeling of a group of people going out.

Customers will subconsciously put themselves into that situation and imagine wearing the outfit while out with their friends. Be careful not to clutter the store too much. By having too many mannequins all in one space can detract your customers focus.

ECOMMERCE Using mannequins for your ecommerce site is a much cheaper option for product photography than using expensive models. They also allow your products to hold their shape, which can make product images seem more professional and consistent.

Overall, as can be seen from their longevity in fashion retail, mannequins are a great tool. If you use them well and successfully display to your customer just how great your clothes can look.

Mannequins can also help to create an atmosphere, demonstrate your brand’s personality and reveal the trends you have in store.

And in the best cases, they will utilise story-selling to boost your takings at the till.

Charlotte Lynch is the Marketing & Operations executive for Modern Retail UK and our mission is to help independent retailers grow!

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HOW TO DISPLAY AND SELL ‘UGLY’ PRODUCTS

By Zoe Hewett Showcasing your actual product stock in your shop windows is the most cost-effective way to create a window display. It signals unambiguously and efficiently to customers exactly what can be found in store, but not all retailers are blessed with selling pretty products that easily make great window displays.

This makes visual merchandising much more tricky for purveyors of the more humdrum, everyday essentials that are unremarkable, or even ugly, to look at.

The last thing you want to do as a small business is go to the trouble of making a banal window display that is easily overlooked or, conversely, spend a lot of money on specially made props and set pieces to compensate for the unattractiveness of the products.

Luckily, with a little creativity and imagination there are several ways to make a resourceful and striking window display, even with using the most dull items.

WINDOW DISPLAY TIPS It can be tempting to show off everything you sell in the window, particularly if you stock many and varied product lines, but this usually leads to a messy melange. Less is usually more when selecting product varieties for a window display, to keep the message clear, concise and give it a curated look. If you think of a window display as a theatre stage, ordinarily there would be one star of the show, and a supporting cast. So use this metaphor to help you choose one product to be the focal point of your shop’s show. Give this one pride of place, centre stage. The leading role is nothing without the help of his or her supporting actors, so pick another two products (maximum) to make up the rest of the cast. Display these around the main character, making sure the emphasis is on the star.

Another visual merchandising technique that has great impact is repetition. Although an under used device in window displays, repetition can be very effective at attracting attention. Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Tins are a great Pop Art example of this. It is worth emulating and very easy to achieve whether you sell soup, scissors, spanners or shoes. Simply choose one product and display duplicates of it, adding nothing else to avoid diluting the potency of the image. If the same product is available in different colour variations then creating a kaleidoscopic rainbow effect is just as good as using one colour throughout.

Another variation on this technique is to use all one colour except for just one box or item in a different colour. There are multiple ways to install the products from suspending on string or clear thread, or stacking up to placing on shelves or plinths. The best and easiest display method may depend on the type of product you choose, and whether you keep it boxed or unboxed. Every month or 6 weeks you can simply choose another item to repeat throughout the window, and hopefully get people wondering about what you will choose to show next time.

The third way to make a virtue of ugly product window displays is to set a scene and tell a story, because this is what really gets people talking. If you can make people laugh, you are definitely on to a winner.

For example, a store selling household products could stack up packets of toilet paper rolls, and unwrap and unroll a quantity of the rolls to make a deliberate, carefully placed mess – as if the dog or kids have created chaos then disappeared.

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HOW TO DISPLAY AND SELL ‘UGLY’ PRODUCTS

By Zoe Hewett

A witty caption could be written on to the window, or a series of doggy footprints on the floor. This would be enough to help explain the scene and hint at the story, as opposed to just leaving a pile of unexplained loo roll everywhere.

This sort of humorous ‘whodunnit’ style tableaux can also work with a pyramid stack of tins or boxes that has been partially knocked over by a mystery pet/child/elf /etc that has disappeared leaving just a clue to their guilt Simply change the stacked items and the clumsy character to change the story.

Pyramid stacks are not overly practical in small shops for obvious safety reasons and have long been the source of calamity jokes on TV adverts. However, there is no harm in referencing this in window displays, particularly where customers can’t reach them to get hurt or damage your stock.

You may well think of better stories and ideas that are more appropriate to your particular brand. If cash flow does not permit getting a freelance Visual Merchandiser onboard, you can always get your staff involved with brainstorming and installing the ideas, which will have the added bonus of making them feel valued provided you reward their contributions.

Zoë Hewett is a member of Modern Retail’s Editorial Board. Zoë is an interior designer who specialises in helping independent retailers make their mark on the high street. Find out more at: http://www.zoehewettinteriors.co.uk/

Please visit www.modernretail.co.uk for much more...!

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ADVERT +EDITORIAL

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THE POWER OF PAPER: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

By Zoe Hewett

Developing a Corporate Social Responsibility plan might seem like a tall order for many independent retailers. But CSR is not just for the big boys in business, and can help even the smallest of retailers become more efficient – both environmentally and financially.

Visual Merchandising is the perfect area of business for retailers of all sizes to start streamlining, because displays are rarely used twice. Creating new props, set pieces and baffles from plastic or foamex every season is becoming increasingly irresponsible, and is certainly not cost-effective for smaller stores.

Committing to reducing the use of disposable plastic is just one step that all businesses should now be taking to reduce their carbon footprint. Fortunately, there are plenty of sustainable alternatives to plastic for making impressive window spectacles.

DEVELOPING A CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PLAN Paper is the single most virtuous material for making window displays. The ultimate renewable resource, paper is incredibly versatile and available in a myriad of different textures, patterns and finishes. You can paint it. You can punch holes in it. From the simplest bunting to complex origami, the possibilities for design with paper are literally endless.

Paper can also be very cheap (or even free) to source. Re-using and re-purposing old magazines, newspapers, maps, music sheets and so on will always win extra ‘green’ points, as will using recycled paper. These types of paper will not suit every brand or window story of course, so the next best place to find paper is at your local scrap store. They may have larger scale off-cuts or end-of-line rolls of different papers for you to fashion into decorative displays without leaving a big environmental footprint.

The easiest way to use paper to make a design statement is to cut out simple shapes from a template and suspend them in the windows, ideally using clear nylon thread. Inaccurately or roughly cut shapes will instantly look unprofessional of course, so take care or delegate to someone with patience. With this kind of display more is usually more, so make plenty.

To tap into the sculptural potential of paper you can experiment with folding, fringing, curving and curling – simply run the edge or a ruler or scissor blade along a strip of paper like a florist curling ribbon. Secure shapes with staples, staple pliers, double sided tape, sticky pads, or glue. Play with light and shadow by punching or cutting holes or other shapes to the paper, adding a further layer or detail to your display.

Construct larger shapes or even set pieces using boxes or rolled-up wadges of corrugated card (sourced from your own empty delivery boxes of course).

Cover with paper maché which is, in case it has been a long time since you did this at primary school, simply a mixture of paper and glue that, when applied to cardboard, shapes to make a hard surface. You can texture it too by adding sand, rice, lentils or textiles depending on what you are trying to achieve. For a smoother finish, layer it up neatly, and lacquer it with water-based acrylic varnish for a glossy effect.

Zoë Hewett is a member of Modern Retail’s Editorial Board. Zoë is an interior designer who specialises in helping independent retailers make their mark on the high street. Find out more at: http://www.zoehewettinteriors.co.uk/

Please visit www.modernretail.co.uk for much more...!

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EYE LEVEL IS BUY LEVEL

By Zoe Hewett

Making life easy for shoppers is one of the most effective ways to encourage sales. Shelves or hooks on walls are one of the easiest ways to display products, so take advantage of the verticals in your store with these pointers.

Stretch Level - 180cm and above Most shoppers will often not bother to look up to the higher shelves, unless they are really searching hard for a product (although ideally, you don't want them to have to do this by making everything clear), or the items displayed up high are truly eye catching. As these shelves are difficult for many shoppers to reach they will, of course, be shopped from less often. So the Visual Merchandising convention is to place premium products with higher margins up here. This way, when products do sell from the top, they earn and pay for space on the shelf, even if they sit there for a longer time.

Common sense dictates that heavy or breakable items should not be displayed up high, as they will be more likely to cause injury if an overstretched arm reaches up and knocks something off or loses grip. The last thing you want is bulky objects falling on to customers from a height. From an aesthetic point of view, visually heavy or dark coloured items are less successfully displayed up high, because they can make shelves look top heavy. Shelves are more appealing to look at when dressed with dark and bulky items at the bottom, gradually getting lighter as the shelves go up.

Eye Level - 122cm - 152cm Eye Level is Buy Level, or so the saying goes.

This is one of the most basic principles of Visual Merchandising. As this area is easiest for adult shoppers to browse, it will receive significantly more attention from shoppers than products in the other zones. If you have an abundance of a product you want to shift, or a line or collection you want to showcase this is the ideal spot for it.

Touch Level - 90cm - 120cm It isn’t rocket science to say that products placed in this area will be most easily seen and desired by children. If your business doesn't sell anything for little youngsters, then use these lower shelves for items in the next margin bracket down from this in the eye level zone. Products with detailed instructions or particulars on the packaging can be well placed here, as it is easy for customers to pick them up to scrutinise.

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EYE LEVEL IS BUY LEVEL

By Zoe Hewett

Stoop Level - 90cm and under Bending down to pick up items placed near the floor can be a pain for some groups of shoppers, particularly the elderly or those with certain disabilities. Generally, products with lower margins are best placed on these lower shelves, so that best sellers and merchandise with better margins are given the premium eye level position. It is also worth mentioning that less-mobile customers, and/or wheelchair users may need a little extra help from store assistants, no matter how conveniently things are placed on the shelves. It's always worth encouraging staff to be sensitive to their needs and quick to step in to offer good service. You can have the most beautiful and tantalising shop display in the world, but it is nothing without the support of staff to make it shoppable and accessible to all.

Zoë Hewett is a member of Modern Retail’s Editorial Board. Zoë is an interior designer who specialises in helping independent retailers make their mark on the high street. Find out more at: http://www.zoehewettinteriors.co.uk/

Please visit www.modernretail.co.uk for much more...!

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FITTING OUT YOUR POP UP SHOP ON A BUDGET: FIND A PLACE THAT WILL WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS

By Bowen Revill

My first business was a pop up café and event space; we served organic food and held band performances, theatre shows and exhibitions. We were there eight months before moving onto running events and kitchens in a chain of bars. I was still a student when it began and while I had a lot to learn about business, I was a world-class expert (like most students) at getting things done on the cheap.

If you can’t spend too much you should have a plan (and also plan on not sticking to it) but the key things are agility, adaptability, a lot of imagination and some craftiness.

These are the parts of it that, even with hindsight and a lot more experience, I’d still recommend: FIND A PLACE THAT WILL WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS Bear in mind that if a landlord can sign a stable, long-term lease then a property will likely never get near the pop up market. So, by nature, most pop up premises will have something wrong with them. Awkward location, awkward neighbours, the awkward matter of the building being in total dilapidation. It could be any number of things but the fact of the matter is that you’re paying bottom dollar for a short-term lease, so it won’t be perfect. Accept this and make the best decision for your needs, time and money. After this, it’s your job to think around the problems and turn them to your advantage!

For rock bottom prices, your ideal location is somewhere that’s been empty for a while and needs a bit of work. These two things are negotiating points. For really short-term projects you can use these things to negotiate a totally free use of the space. Spend a few days tidying the place up and a landlord will often let you use it for a couple of weeks free of charge.

For longer term stuff, money will need to exchange hands at some point but how much, and at what point, is open for negotiation. Be prepared to walk away, as mentioned before, this building you’ve found isn’t going to be ideal; so you shouldn’t want it that bad. If you’ve managed to find a scruffy place that’s been empty a while the landlord really has two choices, work with you or continue sitting on an empty building.

Negotiate three key things: Free rent while you make the place fit for purpose. In the case of my café I negotiated up to three months free or until I started trading.

A short lease. I negotiated a six month rolling contract with the only deposit being the last month’s rent paid upfront. This meant that my only contracted risk was that three months of rent.

Cheap ongoing rent. This is the toughest point to negotiate. Remember the landlord needs to make money here, that’s why they’re doing this, so don’t expect the world. At the same time, you’ve got to bear in mind that they’re not doing that right now (if you’ve found an empty building, which you should). Do what you can, ideally the asking price should be in your budget anyway, but tell the owner the exact opposite and see where you get to.

YOU’VE GOT THE SPACE It’s free or it’s cheap. It’s also a total wreck. On top being a total wreck it’s a property that belongs to someone else. Do not, under any circumstances, spend your life-savings adding value to something you’ve only signed a six-month lease for. At this point, prepare to get dirty, frustrated and exhausted about how long this all takes. If you’re doing this yourself and on your own this will be cheap, but slow.

Remember, you’re not renovating this place, you’re tidying it up. Don’t go overboard, it’s rough edges will have to become features and add to its charm.

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FITTING OUT YOUR POP UP SHOP ON A BUDGET: FIND A PLACE THAT WILL WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS

By Bowen Revill

The basics of your pop up store design shopping list is: 1 x sturdy brush 1 x mop and bucket (lots) x mop heads 1 x set of paint brushes (lots) x white paint You’ll may need some more stuff, depending on the place, but it shouldn’t be much more.

IT’S CLEAN, PAINTED AND EMPTY Now you’ve got to fill it with your products.

The main principle is this – Freecycle is your friend. Plus, the Friday Ads, Gumtree and any others. For example, as I write this, in the free to collector section of Friday Ad there’s a John Lewis leather arm chair, a collapsible table, a sofa, a shelving unit, and lots more.

Fittings and furnishings don’t have to cost you a penny. I furnished an entire café for free. It will look quirky and eclectic in a way you could never have designed. Even if a piece of furniture offends good taste to a point the senses just can’t tolerate, just change it, sand it paint it, re-cover it. Figure out the DIY skills as you go. I used this same method for white goods, every fridge and freezer in my storage room was free. Pickup up, cleaned up, no cost.

Decorations. Again, this can be totally free. Use free-ads and social media to offer free exhibition space to local artists, you’ll have a free and ever-changing array of interesting art on your walls all the time.

POP UP STORE DESIGN: WHAT TO ACTUALLY INVEST IN The answer is simple and should be obvious but when working with other people’s property the lines can become blurred. The only things you should invest in are things that you are going to own.

I invested in two big things, the biggest one is where the craftiness came in: I bought a small burger van. The property described above had neither a kitchen nor licensing to sell hot food and drinks. What it did have was enormous doors for vehicle access. So, my fully licenced kitchen was my burger van, which I parked inside the café space. This cost around £1700, it was run down and the same principles applied: renovate it, only with more care and attention, as this investment belonged to me.

My other investment was to trade in my hatchback for a battered old Volvo estate. An endlessly useful vehicle when it came to moving furniture and burger vans.

And that’s really it for Pop Up store design on a budget.

Pop Up store design is never going to be simple and the 4 steps covered above are a vast simplification of a mighty fun and enormously laborious task. Every Pop Up store design is unique and full of infinite nuances, so this sort of list can’t ever be fully comprehensive.

But excluding those things, if you broadly follow the above, you’ll have yourself a shop for very cheap. Your job is to be ruthless with money, spend nothing or very little, do the work yourself and enjoy the fruits of your labour of your Pop Up store design.

Bowenis a member of Modern Retail’s Editorial Board. Bowen owns a unique independent store https://ambidress.com/ which is about changing a sizing system that doesn't make sense and doesn't cater for real body shapes

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RETAIL STORES: USING DISPLAY FOR INCREASING SALES

By John Evans

Retail stores all have a key objective- to sell as much of their product as possible and they all have different ways of achieving this dependant on the product, the price point, and customer demographic. The store display is geared to target their identified consumer.

Furniture stores all have the same objective: to sell as much of the product as possible, and the way this is approached is something we have spent the last thirty-five years refining.

Customer demographic is an important starting point, who are you aiming your product at?

What type of consumer is your likely customer base?

Store Display To Increase Sales For many of our clients, the demographic is wide as they would like to appeal to as wide a group of consumers as possible and their store display is geared to reflect this.

DFS Furniture Stores widened their appeal by buying other furniture retailers (Sofa Workshop, Dwell and Sofology) with different demographics to their own. Sofa Workshop appeals to a quality buyer, less interested in price and more interested in having the ability to choose the fabrics and styles to obtain a distinct look tailored for them. Dwell appeals to a younger, more design minded customer, and recently acquired Sofology broadens its appeal even further.

With this in mind, we design the stores in a way that plays to their core customer base without alienating customers that don’t fit into a particular category.

DFS stores have traditionally been out of town sites of between 10,000.00 -15,000.00 square feet and have been able to display a wide range of sofas and groups of varying styles and price points.

This means that the presentation and planning of the stores is crucial to their success. The first and most important stage of any project is a knowledge of the product. We like to have as much information as possible to enable us to correctly place items within the store so that the customer journey works in a sequence that flows and allows all of the sofas and groups on offer to be viewed.

I always feel that initial impressions are very important, more so nowadays than ever before, as most people when shopping for a large ticket item such as furniture, will have looked online and formed opinions of the retailers and their offering, prior to arriving at the store. Retailers online can and do, present their furniture in a very attractive way using the right room settings and accessories to make the product look as attractive as possible.

To me, it is important that the store display can carry on this design level, so as not to disappoint the customer. If a product is not presented in a way that enhances its appeal and reflects what customers have seen on the website it can confuse and at worst, the sale is not made.

We always try to impress as soon as the customer walks through the front door, in fact even before because as soon as they drive into the car park we want our stores to stand out.

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RETAIL STORES: USING DISPLAY FOR INCREASING SALES

By John Evans

We want the customer to form the opinion that this is a brand they can trust, that they will find what they are looking for at a price that they are happy to pay.

We want the products on sale to look as appealing as possible, to this end we match the back drops and room settings to the specifics ranges. The ceiling details are designed to enhance and the lighting is chosen to bring out the best in terms of colour rendition and impact.

Floor coverings have a dual purpose, they are there to display the product of course but they also have another role which is a little less obvious, we use them to guide the customer around the store and make them pause and look at specific items. The way we achieve this is to change colour or material so that they define areas. We have found that by changing a floor finish in a specific way we can make the customer stop and look around creating a pause in their journey around the store, which allows for considered positioning of point of sale, promoted items or interactive screens.

Technology has been a large part of the development of store display as it has allowed stores to showcase more ranges without physically having all the products on display. An example of this is at DFS. By the movement of a hand on an Ipad, a life size image of a sofa in the colour and style required by the customer can appear. Meaning that the store can be smaller with less stock and still be able to display all the ranges.

This has led the retailer to open smaller stores in shopping centres such as the Westfield Centre in London. I don’t think these would have been as successful as they have without the current technology available.

I am really excited to see what advantages technology has to offer us in the future as I really feel it will alter the landscape of retail, in fact I think it already has.

je+1 specialises in retail and commercial interiors, je+1 (a trading name of John Evans Interior Architecture & Design) are a dedicated team of designers, experienced in the creation and delivery of innovative retail and commercial spaces. http://www.jeplus1.com/

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