ad // I know they say you should never judge a book by it’s cover. But let’s be honest here, who doesn’t? Striking book covers instantly draw me in, make me want to pick up the book and find out what it’s about. But we’re not talking about books here – we’re talking about businesses. And I think it’s safe to say, the same concept applies.
How many times have you been in a new city or town, wandering around the high street and overlooked a TON of shops until you get to one that *looks* nice and have popped in to have a look? That’s not to say the other that you bypassed weren’t great stores, amazing businesses, with great products.
But the retail store design and aesthetic aspect of your shopping experience made you gravitate towards the shop that put more emphasis on their design. Whether that’s a website or a physical shop – there’s no doubt that design is SUPER important for the customer experience.
If you have a small business and are lucky enough to have your own store, THAT’S AMAZING. I can’t think of anything more wonderful to have grown a business to the point where you can have a physical place to sell your goods. Or if it’s something that you have in your vision for the future, then this post might come in handy for you!
Here are 5 reasons why design is important for your small store:
It makes a good first impression
Just like a nice cover does for a book. A well designed and aesthetically pleasing store just makes a good first impression. And first impressions are SUPER important for marketing your business. A good first impression attracts MORE customers, attracts the RIGHT customers, improves your chance of sales AND provides greater customer loyalty in the long run!
It shows off your branding
If you’re in the creator industry or own your own business (whether that’s online or not), you’ll be super familiar with branding. It’s all anyone talks about. But it’s SO important as a small business. From your website to your business cards, branding should be the forefront of your mind. And a strong branding should also continue into physical shops too.
Think of your colour palette of your brand; is your shop representative of that? Is your logo on your business cards on the counter? Does the essence of your shop represent your brand? All important things to think about!
It invites people in
Aesthetically pleasing places attracts people. It makes people interested and intrigued and they WANT to come in and see what you’re all about. And that’s exactly what you want – because it increases your chance of sales. Of course not everyone in your shop is going to buy from you but the more chances, the better.
And attracts your ideal customers
Which leads me on nicely to this point. No matter how beautiful your store is, not everyone is going to be your ideal customer. And that’s okay. But a super strong branding will help you stand out to your ideal customer. For example, I like a lot of pink, flowery and girlie things. So if I saw a shop window with that sort of branding, I’d be STRIGHT in there!
It helps you stand out from the competition
A great store design can improve market position in relation to your competitors. There are lots of shops that sell very similar products on the market. That’s always going to be the case. But the branding and impression you give out from yours, if your design is up to scratch, can help you tower above your competitors.
This will help you when people say, “I want to buy a [insert your product type here], do you have any recommendations?” and their friend will recommend you first, before anyone else.
If you have your own store for your own business, I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas! How did you design your store? What was most important to you?
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