Retail Store Design in India : Needles in Mallstacks

20Feb08

With the emergence of malls and large shopping complexes, retail store design has acquired new dimensions. The most important aspect is creating an identity in a space that is filled with a lot of other distinct identities. Yes, it always helps to have a great product :) but in a place where there are many great products, a retailer needs to find ways to trigger interest and footfalls.

Great window design is essential as is an efective signage. Essentially, there are five ways you can reach out to a prospective consumer. The first, is using the visual—-colour and space would define the visual to a large extent. Thereafter, you can focus on light and creating spaces that have a language in light,rather than a halogenous monotone !

Sound is an equally essential component of store design. Make sure you reach out the consumer’s ears as well–even if you aren’t selling music or hi-fi systems. The path of movement within a store, would take consumers on a journey.A journey you need to entice them to embark on. Whether they stay with you on that journey would be dictated by how you handle movement in a retail space.

The last and most effective way to ensure a consumer finds a ’sticky’ factor in your store is to have a dialogue with their imagination. Find a creative way to appeal to their right brain. Keep the journey on the right for as long as possible. In this way, the left usually only makes an entrance to validate the right brain experience.

When all this is incorporated in the design of a store, you can then focus on what will keep you on your toes the rest of the time. Maintaining the product in a manner that the illusion created by design does not get slammed by the brutal inspection of reality. Because no matter what rose-tinted glasses you try to give the consumer, be assured they will take it off at some stage.

Essentially, no matter what creative license one uses in the design of a store, it has to lock fingers with the reality of the brand/product. Lock it firmly


Filed under: Articles, Retail Design   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: