The Retail Designer

Brand Salience

Professional Retail Designers, like most professionals, have a specific vocabulary that they use when describing elements of their work. To outsiders, it often makes as much sense as ancient Aramaic, and even many professional will work for years without a completely knowledge of every word in the lexicon. To make sure that we are all on the same page moving forward, we’ll be running a few posts defining and explaining some of the “terms of the trade.”

Today’s term is: Brand Salience Continue reading “Brand Salience” »

To Theme or not to Theme

A visually strong theme created by a designer creates huge differentiation between stores that have them and the competition that doesn’t. The Theme creates both the Top of Mind and the Recall Value which hopefully will reinforce the Brand Salience.

This is extremely important as it results in higher sales and that is the ultimate purpose of a retailer being in business. Continue reading “To Theme or not to Theme” »

Why Have a Theme? Here are some Examples.

Even when we understand what a theme is, it can be a little confusing without specific examples to clarify when and how they can be used. Think of the Theme as the answer to a question:

Why does my customer want to be here?

For example:

Continue reading “Why Have a Theme? Here are some Examples.” »

What is a Theme in Visual Merchandising?

“Theme” is essentially, a presentation that tells a story, almost as if it starts with “Once upon a time …” and ends with “… and they lived happily ever after.” For example the theme for leisure/vacation clothing could be  Caribbean Cruising, African Safari or Explore the Orient. Any brief statement that could be used to describe your merchandise in such a way that it is instantly linkable and recognizable as a collection.

Why select a theme? When we want to imprint a longer lasting memory in the consumer’s brain, we need to create a story. Stories are always likely to be remembered – it’s a human characteristic to store knowledge in this way. A Display that demonstrates a more complete story, for example one with props and accessories will attract more interest from clients, and that, in turn will lead to more sales.

A theme can also be a display of similar items, or categories or similar price-point merchandise. For example small kitchen appliances such as mixers and toaster, when we can see the versatility, the color availability and the added-value elements of one model all within a spectrum a mid-priced value price range. Why is this a theme? The retailer has chosen to illustrate to the consumer that his store has a big selection of a type of merchandise, with plenty of options at the mid-range price category. In doing so the retailer states:  “We have the vast choice for you to buy what you need at a price you can afford.”   Because of the theme, that message will be understood consciously or unconsciously by the consumer.

A good theme will lure the consumer that has the slightest “shopping mood” to make a purchase. Instead of seeing a series of mannequins sporting raincoats a retailer can “theme” the display with a series of mannequins in various poses waiting for the bus, one with and umbrella, one reading a book, the other talking on the cellular phone, etc. All elements of a story involving the viewer and the product.  Don’t you think this latter themed display will capture the imagination of the shopper?

Yes indeed it will. And it will translate into more raincoats sold.

3 Things to Do While Designing Your Lighting System

In a previous post we went over the importance of lighting and the different effects that have to be considered. Now, it’s time to go over some of the important issues that come up when creating a lighting design.

Continue reading “3 Things to Do While Designing Your Lighting System” »

Cutting Edge Technology in Lighting Design: LEDS

Retail lighting started out as being nothing me than a method by which to illuminate indoor space. Over the years it has evolved into a sophisticated branch of retail science. And it’s a fast moving science! In the years post-2010 one could expect a novelty in roughly every 3 month period. With the emergence of the LED lighting (Light Emitting Diode), in particular, the challenge is just to keep up with the novelty items flooding the market yearly.

But before we get into describing the different available goodies, we should take a look at what, exactly, LED lighting is.

LED Lighting is currently used in almost every electrical and electronic product on the market, from a tiny on/off light to digital readouts, flashlights, traffic lights and perimeter lighting. LEDs are also used as the light source in multimode fibers, optical mice and laser-class printers.

The systems are comprised of a series of small bulbs (some of them not bigger than a 3mm size – roughly 3/16th of an inch) that are clustered together either in round, square or strip lengths that emit a certain quantity of light. Because each miniscule bulb can contain a different mix of conductors they can contain one or more colors of the spectrum and can be programmed by a computer to create the sequence of lighting changing moods we desire. Red, green and blue lights can be mixed in different combinations to achieve a wide variety of colours. Furthermore we can create different “temperatures” of colored light by manipulating the amount of “white” light that is emitted. White light is extracted from LEDs by mixing white amber and blue lights in varying degrees.  All white LED’s are the most expensive, red LEDs are the least.

LEDs are also incredibly energy efficient, which makes them of enormous benefit to retailers. Imagine saving up to half of your energy bill each month. What kind of impact would that have on your bottom line?

Make sure to subscribe for updates so that you don’t miss any of the coming tips on how to best use lighting in your restaurant or store.

Elements of Lighting Design

Some beautiful, inviting lighting in Jewerlry Store Europa.

How you design the lighting displays in your restaurant or retail store will depend largely on how you have your merchandise arranged and the path the customer will take as they travel through your store.

You can probably think of at least one major retailer who still uses brutal fluorescent lighting throughout their location, regardless of what they’re selling or where it’s placed. This is something that you want to avoid if at all possible. A small change to your lighting plan can be very inexpensive, and can yield huge results in terms of increased customer spending or the time spent in store.

This post will detail some of the fundamentals of lighting and how you can use them in your business.

Lighting serves six purposes:

1) First and foremost attract consumers into the store

2) Guide the consumer to navigate the store and stop where the merchant want

3) Create the proper mood

4) Permit the consumers to examine the merchandise properly

5) Present the merchandise in its best light (ha!)

6) Help the retailer complete the sale.

Here are some examples to get your brain working:

Spotlighting

Is when a beam of light is shone directly on an item or a few items. This is great for directing the eye right where you want it in terms of merchandise. You have to make sure that each item is placed carefully and is scrupulously clean, as nothing is hidden under a spotlight.  Any items you want to emphasize should be treated thusly.

High Lighting

Very similar to spotlighting, but broader in its approach. High Lighting is when a brighter light is directed at an entire area of your store or restaurant, as opposed to at a specific item or two. This is useful as a means of directing traffic in the store, as clients will naturally veer towards the brighter areas as moths to flames.

Low Lighting or Back Lighting

This is a strategy that will illuminate the background of where the merchandise it displayed, so to detach it from the background and avoid shadows which can distort the shape and color of the exposed merchandise.

More and more, merchants are realizing the importance of lighting in their overall presentation in the quest to increase sales, and in the coming weeks, we’ll look at different ways you can do just that!

Which types of lighting can you identify in this picture? Let me know in the comments.

The Senses in Retail – A Perfect Balance

Finding the right balance of the senses is essential.

Now that we have a good understanding of how each of the five senses work in terms of your retail location, we need to look at how to bring it all together to create one unified, stunning customer experience.

To review by order of importance we have learned about the use of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting. However it is easy to fall in the trap of believing that these sensorial experiences can be created using “off-the-shelf” solutions and implementing them haphazardly in the hope of seeing instantaneous results. That is not the way it works.

Yes, you can achieve some notable progress by making adjustments like un-cluttering the Visual Presentation of your store so that a customer can better navigate it and be attracted by specific focal points. We can use the proper color scheme for the general store areas, select the right accent colors and judiciously combine color combinations to achieve the desired result.

And certainly we can be more sensitive about the type of sounds we filter in the store by better marrying the music with the product, and we can also avoid the low quality of sound emanating from a few speakers here and there.

We can integrate the possibility for a customer to touch a product and feel the difference of our better quality offering, encouraged by punctual signage and suggestive messages, and add different scents at strategic locations of the store to influence our customers’ emotions

We can even offer a select, high quality tasting experience to our clients in the form of a well-chosen food or beverage treat.

However for the best results, the kind you can really take to the bank, you must plan your multi-sensorial presentation strategy down to the smallest detail with the help of a well trained and experienced professional. The chances for dissonance between the different sensory stimuli is high and the last thing you want to do is jolt your customer out of their “ready-to-spend” attitude and into surprise or distaste. The different senses you employ must work together to be effective, or you will find that your efforts backfire.

Sweet, Sweet Success

It is only natural to assume that food purveyors have long understood the importance of taste when it comes to generating sales. Sliced cubes of a tasty ripe fruit, a cheese or a freshly baked bread as well as samples of on the spot cooked ham or any other food ingredient has been a smart way to promote products. When we like what we are tasting, it will trigger a positive emotion which can be joy, humour or pride, and can be strongly related to memories we have. When we feel that kind of contentment it can lead to creativity and playfulness as well as to the exploration of the environment which translates directly into increased sales. These positive emotions will create a tendency to purchase what we have tasted much more frequently than if we have negative emotions.

Major retailers have discovered that by integrating taste in their stores, they provide an added experience, always using the very highest quality of food items, of course.

International brands such as Giorgio Armani, Pierre Cardin, and Roberto Cavalli, have extended their offerings to include products that would require the use of the sense of taste. So when shopping at these selective retails stores and according to season or product association you are offered Champagne, the best of coffees, wines, sweets, chocolates, or even certain fashionable “strong” drinks such as high end vodkas.

This usage of the Tasting is not reserved for the big players only. We see many smaller retailers now have new instant “cannot-do-it-wrong” espresso and coffee machines making amazingly good quality beverages which they can offer to shoppers. Have you ever been offered a refreshing drink in a retail store? How did it make you feel?

Taste can be the final touch that lulls your customer into strong positive feelings towards your brand and products. In our next post, we’ll be talking about how to bring all of these senses together, and create a “whole-mind-and-body” experience that will leave your customers reaching for their wallets.

Taste Coffee, Make Money

If you’re anything at all like me, you cherish that first (and sometimes second or third) hot, steaming cup of coffee in the morning. The aroma delights you, the heat warms you and the taste thrills you. We all have our favourite shops where we go to get the perfect cup, and there is a different blend of coffee for everyone. Coffee makers and sellers have developed a vocabulary all their own, much like sommeliers and cheese aficionados have done, to describe the different taste experiences of their coffees.  To the uninitiated, they can seem a little baffling at first.

You remember from the last post the four categories of taste sweet, salty, sour and bitter. From these basic four categories and with the evolution of the food and drink industry there are numerous other interpretations and definitions that relate to what each taste reminds us with. Here is a short example of some flavours as compiled by the Coffee industry:

• Bitter: This is the basic taste most associated with coffee. Bitterness is the reason that many add sugar. Coffee that is too bitter will be unpleasant and disagreeable. Many people associate bitterness with a dark roast, especially since the Starbucks coffees are dark-roasted and contain a strong bitterness meant for the coffee-lover. Roast and bitterness however are not closely correlated.
• Chocolaty: Sometimes described as a ‘burnt chocolate’ by those who are used to the milk variety, this is an accent to coffee that comes out in the aftertaste like unsweetened chocolate.
• Bright, sharp, snappy, dry These are derived from the quality of acidity, and describe the peaks of what makes coffee taste like coffee.
• Earthy: While it doesn’t sound as pleasant as it is, the sense of soil flavour in your coffee. A hint of earthy flavour is just how it sounds, although too much of it is obviously overpowering and leads to the coffee tasting “dirty”.
• Fragrant: This is derived from aroma, and describes a sweet or floral taste.
• Fruity: Just like it sounds, although obviously for as fruity as a flavour could not survive in a strong coffee.
• Mellow: A smooth taste, usually if the coffee is low in acidity but obviously not so low that the coffee is flat.
• Nutty: A hint of nut in the cup. Never to be confused with pre-flavoured coffees!
• Spicy: This is a relatively subjective word because there is a broad range of spices (more so than nuts or chocolate), but there is also a common enough use of this word to describe a coffee.
• Sweet: A light tart in the flavour not artificially added by sugar.

This is just the beginning. Baristas and other coffee makers around the world learn these and a host of other flavour descriptors to use when describing their warm dark brew. You may be wondering at this point what all this tasting hocus-pocus could have to do with retail design.  When you think about it in a large scale, the enthusiasm, the culture that has been built around the coffee industry, you begin to see. Developing a vocabulary that personalizes your specific brand (Venti Latte anyone?) and that fits in seamlessly with the more obvious design elements such as colour and lighting will immerse your customer in the retail experience you provide.

I’m not suggesting you try to re-invent the English language, but determining what type of words your customers will use to talk about you and then re-enforcing those ideas is a powerful loyalty-building technique.

Next time I’ll be talking about the sweet, sweet success that is possible when you effectively use taste in your overall retail design, so make sure you don’t miss it!