Shop fitting Tips: How To Keep Your Customer Engaged
These days, making retail sales is all about having respect for the customer experience and that is why these shop fitting tips are so important to remember.
A professional shop fitting will help guide and encourage your customer’s journey through your shop. At first, you might wonder if this is just trendy talk. After-all, if you have quality products and a great sales team, then why should you have to worry about how your displays are laid out? The fact of the matter is that the difference between a sale and a loss often comes down to a simple case of whether the shop environment keeps your clientele engaged.
There are some easy ways to do this, a couple of which you’ve already implemented without realising it. Read on to find out what they are, how you can improve on them and most importantly how to get the most out of your retail floor space.
7 Shop Fitting Tips To Keep Your Customer Engaged
Keep it Tidy
Let’s get things started with a dose of common sense: Nobody wants to spend time in a shop that’s cluttered, confusing to navigate, and an absolute nightmare to find anything in.
If a person is faced with having to dig through sales baskets to find anything of value, they’ll get bored and walk to the shop next door. Some people might take one look at the state of a crowded shop and run a mile the other direction.
The first thing you need to do to engage your customer is draw them in. That leads us into our next shop fitting tip…
Get your customers attention before they come inside
To a certain degree, your business will thrive on regular customers and people who already know your brand. But if you want to ensure your sales are constantly increasing, it’s critical to capture the attention of people who just happen to be walking by.
After all, thousands of shoppers go by your shop every single day. Your entire shop fitting plan can change when you realise each one of them is a potential sale.
Compelling signage, a beautiful window display, and wide open, inviting doors will act as an incentive that no amount of salesmen could match.
Guide your customers on which way to go
Once a customer is in your shop, you want them to stay there. Your shelves should be arranged so there’s an obvious direction for them to follow. A good shop fitting will be set up in such a way that the outward flow of people doesn’t run into the inward.
Think of it like a river – Water will find the easiest and most natural route to get from a mountain to the sea. Your layout of counters and instore signage can encourage a crowd to do the same.
Implement design that speaks to your customer base
One thing that can separate your shop fitting from all the other stores on your street is the type of customer you’re trying to capture.
If your products appeal to a younger demographic, then you might play loud instore music that matches a bright, in-your-face window display, while a shop that caters to an older crowd will probably be much more toned down.
Make sure you know who your customer is so you can attract their attention and keep it once they’re in your shop.
Make sure your staff are easy to interact with
If a customer is confused about something, or can’t find a product they’d like to buy, the first thing they’ll want to do is track down a member of staff.
The obvious place to find one of your employees is at a till. But this isn’t necessarily as convenient as it should be – long queues, cluttered workspace and a badly arranged floor are all obstacles that will prevent a customer tracking down a staff member to complete a sale.
Make sure your till is easy to access. Allow a point of communication that doesn’t require cutting in line. And allow as much space as possible in the shop for staff to walk around – if a customer sees you employees are ready to talk, they’ll feel engaged even when it isn’t required.
Express your brand
Shop fitting is the best opportunity you’ll have to showcase your brand, but what does that have to do with keeping your customers engaged?
Your brand is a personality. More than anything else, it will tell your customers who you are and what you’re about, so make sure to express it with design throughout your shop. Colour, display and even your staff uniforms are how people will figure you out.
If they like what they see then you can be sure they’ll be back again.
Use bespoke design and photography in your shop fitting
When you approach your shop fitting, you might be tempted to use stock photography and other out-of-the-box elements to get the job done cheap and quick.
However, it is well worth your time investing in bespoke elements such as custom Irish photography, original graphic design, and furniture that is distinct from any other shop in Ireland today.
If you want to speak directly to your customers with your store design, create a plan that takes advantage of local trends and that is different from anything anybody else is doing.
Our shop fitting experts at Storebest are always ready to talk about how to make your shop unique to you, so make sure to talk to us today.