By Chron Contributor Updated October 18, 2021
Beyond just creating a good-looking store with aesthetically pleasing displays, retail store design is a well-thought-out strategy to set up a store in a certain way to optimize space and sales. The way a store is set up can help establish brand identity as well as serve a practical purpose, such as protecting against shoplifting.
Aspects of Retail Store Design
Retail store design is a branch of marketing and considered part of the overall brand of the store. Retail store design and display factors into window displays, furnishings, lighting, flooring, music and store layout to create a brand or specific appeal. Part of the design intends to direct traffic to get customers to "flow" to see more items and make impulse purchases.
Store Layout Basics
Stores are usually laid out with new merchandise up front to entice shoppers into the store. The front of the store also creates a sense of the store's identity with displays of trademark products. For example, having a centrally located checkout counter stocked with accessories to encourage impulse item purchases. Even an exterior retail storefront design can entice shoppers inside.
Aesthetic Branding Aspects
Many stores take great pains to create a specific aesthetic with their catalogs, graphic design and their store mood. A strong example of this kind of aesthetic branding is the clothing retailer Anthropologie. Anthropologie's stores generally echo the style of its products.
Just as its products feature quirky, rustic and artsy features, the Anthropologie stores use installations of old "found" pieces and rustic hardwood flooring to create a French flea-market kind of feel. Meanwhile, other retailers, such as the Apple store, use clean lines and simple gray and white furniture to emulate the look of its clean laptops. In this way these stores connect the look of their products with their stores.
Retail Design Work
Store designers are either hired by a company or consult for several different stores. Top designers have studied consumer psychology to understand what motivates shoppers to buy more and what causes them to spend less.
Some stores or retail chains also hire store design interns to create the displays from season to season. For many stores, these interns help lay out and build the designs implemented by the corporation. They may be given a look book from season to season and build similar-looking displays in their own store.
Other Design Purposes
Beyond helping to establish a brand identity or help sales, store design can help curb shoplifting. The setup of specific stores can make sight lines more clear for store employees. If shoplifting is a concern, setting up a store with few blocked-off corners and easy-to-view spaces is one step toward reducing the incidence of shoplifting.
Retail layouts also put children's items on lower shelves where they can see them, put similar items (like shirts and pants) near each other to stimulate more buying. Signs near one type of good can direct shoppers to the location of related goods, such as a coupon offering a discount on leaf bags near the rakes in a hardware store.
