How to Make Shopping an Easier Experience: Brick & Mortar to Online – Part I: Brick & Mortar Stores
As soon as a customer enters a brick & mortar store, the retailer must decide how best to engage and guide their shopping experience. One of the best ways to inspire a pleasurable shopping experience is to effectively communicate a stores’ unique identity through effective signage, up to date display fixtures and shelf lighting.
One challenge with retail stores, as opposed to online ones, is that people physically have to find what they need. While it would be nice to have a friendly, designated guide to walk each customer through the store, it is unrealistic.
The best way is to create an environment that is very easy to navigate through effective display shelving and signage.
Shelving category signage directs the customer to the right shelving aisle. When creating category signage, keep the wants and needs of your customers in mind. For example, even though peanut butter is made of peanuts, you would not merchandise peanuts next to peanut butter in the same category. It makes more sense to place the peanut butter with jams and jellies (where its use is reflected), and the peanuts with other snacks like chips and crackers.
Once a category is located, shelf signage adds information about a product to help customers understand it better; it will also increase the likelihood they will buy it. Using the right sign holder, the shelf sign must grab customer attention to engage them to consider a specific product.
For example, if two bottles of wine are on display, and one has a sign that describes its taste and shares a review from a major publication, a shopper may be more likely to choose it.
Customers welcome and appreciate added information and will feel they are not buying blind, especially products not purchased before.
In addition to providing the customer with subtle guidance through signage, you can also create a more attractive and pleasing atmosphere by getting creative with your retail shelving and the way that it highlights products.
Try changing the color of your fixtures to fit the mood of the items they showcase.
Install shelf lighting to highlight and accentuate products in unique and profound ways.
Customers will appreciate the enhanced atmosphere and be more likely to make a purchase.
No customer should feel lost when they are browsing your retail store. They want to feel in control of their experience. You will sell more products and encourage repeat business when retail shelving, signage, and shelf lighting is used creatively to match a customers’ expectation.
In an age when people can order just about anything in the world to their front door, you need to focus on making shopping at a physical location a truly delightful experience.
Midwest Retail Services provides solutions for retail stores to improve customer experience. Visit our website to learn more. Call us today at 800-573-7577, or use this contact link.
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