Shop fitting, or retail fitout, is a process of designing, constructing, installing the interior, and optimizing the overall retail space to create an attractive, appealing atmosphere for the customers. The retail world is ever-evolving, and innovation is vital at every step. Strategic retail fitout does not only take aesthetics into account, but it blends visual appeal with practicality that ultimately results in revenue generation.
In this blog, we aim to explore the art of retail fitout and how retail businesses can create stunning spaces that drive sales and boost their profitability.
Table of Contents
Trending Retail Fitout Designs
How Does a Retail Fitout Increase Sales?
The Benefits of Fitouts for Retail Businesses
Maximizing Visual Impact with Lighting Design
Your Partner in Retail Space Transformation
Trending Retail Fitout Designs
Every retail business today wants to craft an experience – a place that is not just for shopping but for spending quality time. This phenomenon gives birth to a vast variety of retail fitout designs. Let’s explore some trending ones.
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Minimalist and Modern
Minimalism is a popular trend in modern retail fitout. The minimalist design keeps the overall design clean, simple, and sophisticated, creating an environment that focuses more on the products than other store elements. Minimalistic designs also allow customers to get a full view of the space without the clutter and navigate their journey inside the store more easily.
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Bold and Bright
Retails who want to make a grand statement often go for bold and bright designs. These designs usually play with bright colors, such as yellow, orange, and red to evoke excitement and energy. Some retailers divide their space by using vibrant colors only in specific places where they want to draw customers’ attention, such as discounted areas or new arrivals.
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Inspired by Nature
Another popular trend in retail fitouts is nature-inspired designs. These spaces incorporate “natural” elements into the retail design by using materials like wood, stone, and greenery. This works beautifully for retail stores that only deal in organic or handmade products, but it can really work for any store. Nature-inspired designs also create a calm and peaceful atmosphere for the customers.
How Does a Retail Fitout Increase Sales?
Retail fitout can be transformative for your sales and customer retention. Let’s look at it with the help of two scenarios.
Scenario 1: You enter a store and it looks like a maze – the products aren’t clearly organized, aisles aren’t marked, there are no signs, shelves have clutter, and you end up asking the sales staff about what you need instead of exploring the store on your own. Sure, you might shop at this store once or twice. But when it’s time to really enjoy the shopping experience, you won’t go to this place.
Scenario 2: Now imagine a store where you enter and clearly see the trending and popular products displayed right in front of you. If the store is large, it’s properly marked and each aisle and corner has proper signs. This store is clean, has great colors, the ambiance is refreshing, and the lighting is just ideal. You have strategic furniture placement in this store as well, such as waiting zones and attached cafes. Now this is a store that you would definitely go to shop and have a good time.
When your store is built with brand values in mind, you are able to communicate your brand’s mission and vision to the customers. You step into the customers’ shoes and offer them the most functional space as well as an appealing one. As a result, the customers’ retention rate increases, and sales boosts up.
The Benefits of Fitouts for Retail Businesses
Retail fitout for businesses results in many crucial benefits that provide long-term customer loyalty, increased sales, and opportunities to scale. Let’s dive into each benefit individually.
- Repeat Sales: Every store wants the customer to NEVER return empty-handed. If you return empty-handed from the store because you couldn’t figure out the layout, it means the store has suffered the loss of your sale. Retail fitout allows space optimization in the most functional and attractive way, which keeps the customers coming back.
- Maximum Product Exposure: Retail fitout allows for shelves and display spaces to be built strategically, which allows maximum product exposure. The best-selling products are placed on the eye-ball level and at the entrance, while small, convenience items are placed at the exit. The perfect exposure translates into more sales.
- Customer Experience: The perfect combination of lighting, color, material, and space utilization creates an ideal customer experience for retail stores. From foot traffic to strategic positioning of displays, each element speaks volumes about what your store stands for.
- Word of Mouth: People talk about and show off the things they like. They recommend places to their friends and family and take mirror selfies in cozy spots to post them on social media. A store with the perfect interior design and consistent themes creates an atmosphere that everyone notices and shares, which results in more potential customers.
Maximizing Visual Impact with Lighting Design
When we talk about retail fitout, we talk about colors, materials, and design layouts. One of the key elements that many people miss out on is lighting design. Strategic lighting design maximizes the visual impact of your place in many ways, including:
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Highlights Key Display Areas
Spots and track lights, when placed strategically, can create a perfect pathway for customers, leading them to key display areas and promotional spaces.
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Creates Appeal
Lighting is an indirect way to form an appeal to a product category in the eyes of customers. Luxurious places often have dim lighting with an expensive product range, while stores that prioritize mass customers have bright lighting with a lot of discounts going on. The kind of appeal you want to create is directly reflected by your lighting choices.
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Brings Customers Inside
Lighting, particularly bright lighting, is one of the many reasons why customers think of entering a retail store. Either that or there’s something entirely amazing displayed on the window, accentuated by task lights, that creates an appeal for the customers. Either way, lighting plays a role in bringing customers inside the store.
Your Partner in Retail Space Transformation
Exotic Interiors understands how crucial retail fitout can be for growing retail brands and outlets. We are your ideal partner in retail space transformation. We understand your brand’s vision, mission, and values, and dive deep into design planning and execution to intricately create a retail space of your dreams that drives sales. Transform your retail store with us – Book an Appointment now.
FAQs
How much does a retail fitout cost?
The cost of retail fitout depends on several factors, including the size of the space, unique needs and requirements of the project, exact location, and project timeline. After going through the details with you, we will give you an upfront quote for the retail fitout. Book a free consultation today.
How long does the store design process take?
It depends on how vast and complex the design requirements are. The typical range of the design phase is 3 to 5 months, but there’s no exact timeline that we can promise before knowing the details.
What is the scope of work for my retail fitout?
The scope of work includes each and every detail about the project that needs to be implemented and executed in the project. The scope of work outlines everything that the project will be tallied against when it’s completed.
Will a new store layout increase sales?
Yes, the new store layout is directly related to better visibility, better product exposure, optimized space utilization, and enhanced customer experiences, all of which contribute toward increased sales.
