Despite rumours to the contrary, many of us still love shopping in person rather than online. While there’s still plenty of competition on the high street, standing out from the crowd has never been so important.
One way your retail store can achieve this is by having strong signage and lighting inside and out.
Create Great Window Displays
One of the first places customers notice, of course, is your shop window. You want this to be as compelling as possible and good signage can certainly help. Essentially, you don’t want someone to walk on by, you want them to come inside.
While that means putting the right messages and displays in your window, it also involves regularly updating this area to make sure it remains fresh and relevant to your customers. You can use this area to highlight new deals, special offers, the latest fashions and innovative products and really bring your front of house to life.
Get Your Customers Where They Need to Go
While your customers may want to simply come in and browse, most have a specific need when they walk through your shop door. Having internal signage that neatly points to the right location in store is important. That means your customer isn’t desperately searching around for the product they want and can easily find the aisle or section they are looking for.
Keep It Short and Helpful
Long, over worded signs can be confusing as well as take up way to much space. When you’re thinking about your signage, both indoors and out, it pays to keep your message simple and straight to the point. Keep your message focused on one idea for each sign and it will resonate more with your customers.
Avoid Bizarre Fonts
There are literally thousands of different fonts available and one mistake retail store owners often make is trying to find one that stands out from the crowd. What you really need to be focused on, however, is how readable that font is.
If the letters all seem to be jumbled together, it’s going to be hard to read and, in some cases, illegible. Keep away from exotic fonts and stick to simple lines and shapes that are easy to discern.
Mix Lighting to Create Atmosphere
It’s not just signage that can make a big difference to your retail store. The use of strategic lighting has always been really important. You can use it to highlight signs in some areas and create different patches of ambience that customers will naturally gravitate towards.
Too Many Signs
Finally, you can have too much signage and it may be difficult to get the right balance in your retail store. For each sign you have up or are considering, you should be sure of its purpose and how it will impact on your store. If you have too many signs, essentially customers will stop seeing them. The same goes for your display window as it does for the various sections in your store.
It makes sense to think about your signage at regular intervals and make changes if they are needed. Branding your signs can make a big difference to how customers feel about your store once they step through the door. And they can help customers make important buying decisions if you get your approach right.
