High street retail has a number of potential advantages that e-commerce platforms do not. Following an extended period of closures and lockdowns, these advantages, such experience-focused store design, have been prioritised with retailers seeking to do whatever they can to ensure that the appeal of brick and mortar shopping continues to draw people to their store.
Some of these advantages are not new, however. And one such example is that of the traditional shop display, spaces in-store that are dedicated to promoting certain products and, through their creative arrangement, the lifestyle and brand of the retailer too. Window displays are those that most will be familiar with, the first port of call for attention, eye-grabbing tableaus that outshine nearby competitors, but internal displays, those that help to immerse and impress customers as they shop are just as important.
Displays are used and valued for a number of reasons. They promote specific products, showcasing items, typically most recent arrivals to a store’s product range, as well as offers and sales, promoting the stock that customers can find for a temporarily or newly low price. Furthermore, they can help customers to navigate without the need for directions of maps to be written. This asset can be utilised by style-conscious retailers who want to minimise the amount of information they present to their customers and instead create an intuitive shopping experience through their design.
Perhaps most importantly, however, is the ability for displays to communicate the message of a brand. Retail displays, whether constructed from arranged mannequins or bespoke retail furniture, can communicate to a customer far more effectively and efficiently than what could be done through the written word.
For example, sustainability has become an important topic for many retailers and they want to ensure customers are aware of the strides being made toward a more ecologically friendly operation and the offering of guilt-free products. This can be done through raw information, with carbon costs and ethically sourced materials written either on the product itself or nearby displays. However, not only is this less aesthetically pleasing, it is also less effective than a visual alternative.
A store display can either replace this effort or complement it, placing the products amid designs that demonstrate sustainability. Upcycled or organic materials can be used for shop shelving and furniture, omitting any plastics or materials that are associated with wastefulness. Natural lighting can be incorporated where possible, replacing the need for sterile artificial lighting. These changes, while only somewhat beneficial to the environment themselves, impress upon the customer the efforts behind made behind the scenes.
Even colours can make a difference to how customers perceive a brand. Greens are directly linked to the environment, along with other earthen colours, whereas less natural tones will suggest a modernity and separation from the wild environment. Some, however, will want to emphasise their modernity, promoting a sense of technological advancement, for example, and in this scenario, they would want to embrace the opposite while still using the displays they create to communicate the core values of their business.
We believe that displays remain an important asset to high street retail and, if you’d like to discuss your own retail displays or enquire about the shop furniture that we offer, as well as our custom design process, please reach out to our team by calling 0800 587 5880 or, alternatively, emailing sales@crowndisplay.co.uk.
