A retailer’s presence on the high street is not without its challenges. By their very design, high streets are built around competition, with geographic proximity pitting retailers against each other for customers’ attention. Outshining potential competition, establishing brand presence locally, and increasing customer footfall are the key goals for any successful shop.
Alongside this immediate competition is the presence of internet sales, which has steered retailers to reinvent and revitalise their place on the high street. While many initially supposed that an online alternative to the high street might spell the end for brick-and-mortar retail, e-commerce has actually become a part of many high street concepts, with retailers integrating digital services into their operations, increasing sales as a result.
We’re sharing four tips to demonstrate the variety of ways in which retailers can find success on the high street, driving an even greater number of customers into their shop spaces.
Window Displays
A long-standing and effective asset of high street retail is the window display. These intermediary spaces between exterior and interior spaces offer brilliant potential to retailers, giving them a space to intrigue and impress customers who pass by.
The specifics of an effective window display, one that demonstrates quality and confidence, are dependent on the retailer, with some brands finding an eye-catching colour scheme coupled with stand-out mannequins to be effective while others conjure an impression of decadence with understated minimalism.
Social Media
Social media is one example of how digital tools can greatly benefit high street retailers and there are a number of ways in which advertising campaigns can be formulated, such as through specific media platforms or collaborations with influencers. Even ensuring that your shop and essential information are both accessible online is a significant benefit.
A shop’s design, however, can also be an effective way to entice customers in store. Bold designs, such as statement interiors and shop furniture, can encourage customers to take and share photographs, celebrating products and retail spaces on their timelines. As such, by investing in creative retail design, brands can find customers actively advertising a brand each time they visit.
Signage
Effective visual merchandising and advertising has always been an important part of a retailer’s presence on the high street. Both inside and outside, each aspect of a display, from its visual content to the quality of stand offs, plays an important role in communicating a brand to customers.
Retailers who ensure that their signage accurately and effectively describes their brand and products to customers are more likely to find success, especially as nearby competitors will be actively attempting to achieve the same with their own designs.
Experience & Services
We previously alluded to the way in which merging a shop’s physical and digital services can be beneficial. In recent years, many retailers have discovered, for example, that offering click and collect services drives customers who shop online in-store, capitalising on customer preferences for the immediacy of purchase and absence of delivery costs over alternative options.
