When it comes to retail, first impressions really count. Since potential customers are overwhelmed by visual stimuli all day anyway, it’s important that your store design sticks firmly in their minds. And, if anything, the product display shelves are one of the best ways to turn heads toward your products.
Suitable display shelves will convert a passer-by into a customer. They will impact customer purchase decisions and will increase sales for the store. But with so many things to take into consideration, creating attention-grabbing retail display shelves may sound daunting.
Fear not! In this post, we’ll share five key tips for making sure your retail display shelves enthuse your audience so that lookers become paying customers.
1. Understand Your Target Audience
Before you design the shelves, think about the target audience you want to attract to your shelf designs. Who are they after? What do they need? Once you understand this well, you can then design the shelves appropriately.
For instance, if your target is the youth, you can use a more fashionable and trendy look. The same goes if you’re targeting people belonging to the high class or luxury range; you’ll probably opt for an advanced, high-end look
A few other questions to consider are:
- What is their age?
- What is their gender?
- What is their income?
- What is their shopping style (impulse buyers or bargain hunters)?
Knowing your audience helps you come up with a display shelf that speaks to them and gets them interested in your products.
2. Prioritize Product Visibility
A retail display shelf is basically there to display your product. So, by using common sense, you would guess that you would want to make sure the display shelf really ‘puts your best products forward’. Here are some ideas for doing this:
- Enough Space: Do not over clutter your shelves. Ensure that you have given enough space to all your products so that the customers can visually assess and evaluate them.
- Shelf Heights: You can have the shelf at different heights for visual display to avoid monotony. This will also help in displaying products of different sizes.
- Placement Strategy: Your most important or profitable products should be placed at the point where the customer first sees them that is at eye levels.
3. Visual Hierarchy
This refers to the arrangement of elements on a page or display so that the viewer’s eye will follow them. In a retail shelf, this can be used to draw focus onto specific products or promotions.
- Color Contrast: Utilize contrasting colors to draw attention to your distinct products. For instance, you can place a highly colored product against a neutral background.
- Signage: Incorporate clear and concise signs to grab eyes onto certain items or promotions.
- Lighting: Strategic lighting usage can help improve the visual appeal of the store. Use spotlights on specific products or create a dramatic effect.
Proper use of visual hierarchy can control where your customers look first and take them on a journey through your display shelves.
4. Incorporate Storytelling
People like stories. You can use your retail display shelves to tell a story about your brand and your products. This will help you create a much more emotional connection with your customers and make the product better remembered.
Here are the ways of bringing a story to your display shelves:
- Themed Displays: There are thematic displays where products are put together according to a story. For instance, summer fashion during summer, in winter or fall, and so forth.
- Props and Backdrops: Use props and backdrops to create a more immersive experience for customers.
- Use mannequins: Use mannequins to showcase how your products can be worn or used in real life.
Storytelling is a way of creating that much-needed engaging and memorable shopping experience when incorporated into your display shelves.
5. Don’t Forget About Functionality
Display shelves should still serve a purpose alongside their alluring nature. Shelves must be strong enough to carry product weight and easy to use.
Following are a few things to consider when thinking about the functionality of your display shelves:
- Material: Use a material that is fairly durable, and easy to be cleaned.
- Weight: Make sure your display shelves can take the weight of whatever products you are going to display.
- Accessibility: Ensure that all of your products placed on the shelves are accessible to customers of every height and ability.
By weighing equal attention to both forms and functions, you could have retail display shelves that are also functional.
Conclusion
Designing attractive retail display shelves is an art. The five tips above serve as a guideline to creating shelves that will surely promote your products and allure new customers. Remember, the essence is in offering your customers a holistic and thus memorable experience.
Additional Tips
- Measure your space: Before designing your shelves, be sure to have measurements of the location.
- Lighting: The lighting can significantly beautify and enhance your display shelves.
- Experiment: Try different layouts and designs until you find one that you like.
- Get feedback: Ask your workforce and customers what they think about your display shelves.
With these tips and your creativity, you will definitely come up with retail display shelves that would bring success to your business.
JF Fixtures & Designs is a company that helps design remarkable retail environments. With more than 40 years of experience in the industry, we have provided our clients with expert knowledge and sufficient resources to design and implement custom retail display shelves that satisfy their specific needs. We interact with our clients to fully understand their unique goals and vision in every project so we strive to deliver beyond expectations. We distinguish ourselves from start to finish by providing satisfactory customer and quality output. Contact us now!