What is the purpose of the exterior design of a retail location? It is to attract passersby and get them to enter the store whether they are potential customers or actual existing customers. But what about the inside of a retail location? The favorable retail interior design actually welcomes the customer into the location, making it equally or more important than the outside of a location.
To the consumer, a significant amount of retailer information is communicated through the design and layout of a store. Customer satisfaction and sales must be maximized while operational expenses minimized. That is the fundamental interior design objective of retailers.
For each consumer, the inside of the store must be convenient, comfortable, and inviting. Effective and efficient use of interior space must be achieved. To make the most of the retail store interior design, we put together a few basic elements to consider.
Shelves
The overall image you desire for your retail setting and your merchandise strategy must be compatible with the design and the material used for shelving. For example, painted wood cubes would create an entirely different effect than would stainless steel shelving. Elegance can be created by glass shelving with a wood frame while, in a general merchandise store, metal shelving is typical.
Floors
For flooring, reduced maintenance expenses and greater durability are worth a slight increase in cost for many firms. The price tag on installation and materials can be a direct reflection on how well the flooring material will strengthen the image of the store, muffle noise, separate departments, etc. In different settings, consider using the following:
- Vinyl
- Quarry tile
- Terrazzo
- Wood
- Carpeting
Ceilings
The 9 to 10-foot range is replacing the 12 to 16-foot ceiling range of old retail settings. Among other things, this can help with heating bills.
Light up Your Life and Your Store
In retail design, one of the most important considerations is proper lighting. In both exterior and interior design, it is an integral part. Rather than detracting from the merchandise, lighting should complement it. Consider the mood you’re trying to create.
Colors
To highlight departments or merchandise, bold colors can be used. To draw customers further into the store, reds, yellows, and other warm colors can be put to good use. To help calm customers, greens, blues, and other cool colors can be utilized.
Retail Store Displays
To help ensure the effectiveness of displays, here are some principal rules:
- Keep it simple.
- Show the best you have to offer in displays for good sales appeal.
- To encourage the eyes of your customers to focus on precise products, group items rather than creating long display lines.
- At the eye level of the customer, place the merchandise that has the greatest effect.
- Create an appealing illusion and harmony by putting large items at the rear, medium items toward the middle, and small items at the front of a display.
- Rather than encouraging the eyes of your customer to sporadically jump from one end to the other, their eyes should be directed in a systematic fashion away from the point of dominance.
- The viewer’s eyes should be attracted to a central point. A bright scarf with dramatic colors, for example. Or a diamond pendant that is a prominent piece of merchandise.
- The viewer must see each display as being balanced. Informal or formal balance can be used, as long as, in a systematic manner, products are arranged.
Materials for the Interior Design of Retail Spaces
Interior design elements can create a better-rounded retail interior atmosphere and image. Additionally, surfaces that are easy to clean and require little maintenance should be used whenever possible.
For the materials needed to create the best and most effective interior design for your retail location, count on Materials Inc. Click here to examine, for yourself, some of the retail projects to which we have contributed.