The efficacy of a shop’s operation is supported by a number of internal factors, one of the most important of which is design. The layout and styling of a retail space, from its floor plan to shelving arrangement, has the potential to inhibit or enhance crucial factors, from minimising risk to ensuring a positive customer experience.
Some high street retailers have found designs that work for them and, as a result, established successful operations. Others remain held back by their shop design, often not realising that simple adjustments to floorplans and retail furniture can have significant improvements. This, however, is a forgivable oversight as retail design is continuously changing, modernising alongside stylistic and technological developments.
The only mistake a retailer could truly make is to neglect such developments, persisting with designs that are neither suitable for their operational success nor the expectations of a modern customer.
Dynamic Checkout
Technology is often centralised around the checkout experience. As advances are made, such as contactless payments, shoppers become accustomed to the ease of transactions and begin to expect them from other retailers too.
Dynamic checkouts are contactless payments that can be taken anywhere in the shop space, using mobile devices, such as tablets, to allow customers to pay. As this service becomes more widely adopted, retailers are realising their checkout counters can be designed with greater flexibility, no longer having to accommodate large computers.
At Crown Display, we’re seeing an increase in demand for handmade counters, with retailers wanting to create custom and bespoke designs that meet the needs of their modern checkout services.
Modular Displays
The quality and design of shop furniture and shelving continue to improve too, with an increasing demand for modular assets. This is because having flexibility in a retail space, allowing for stores to adapt to different levels of demand and more appropriately display different products, is a significant advantage.
Slatwall, stand offs, and gondola bays are each available with modular design elements or in a variety of colours and styles, so as to meet the needs of a changing retail space. High street retailers, with these assets, are able to change their shop layout and aesthetic depending on demand and season.
Modular retail assets also allow for creative displays. Retailers are less inhibited by their store design and, instead, can use it to their advantage by adjusting or entirely removing certain furniture and shelves.
Biophilic Design
There is a growing demand for sustainable retail design, leading to a rise in organic and natural aesthetics. Retailers are increasingly looking to demonstrate their own ethical practices, something that can effectively be done through design.
Biophilic design is a modern trend that encapsulates the pursuit of biological design, which is adopting aesthetics that mimic nature. This means a departure from industrial designs and, instead, a move toward oak finishes and handmade furniture, each of which creates a sense of natural environment.
By emphasising such natural elements within a shop’s design, retailers are able to communicate their own environmental efforts with customers, complementing their brand.
