What rules play the biggest role in the world of retail interior design? Traffic control? Product display guidelines? While some of these are quite important for the creation of the perfect customer experience, numerous outdated notions are still playing a role in the world of retail interior design today.
Your Singapore retail venue can look perfect without succumbing to these outdated décor and functionality notions. Here are some of the biggest retail interior design myths and the reasons why they’ve been debunked.
To Highlight Products, Choose Neutral Décors
Many retail interior design projects feature neutral wall and ceiling colours.
The notion here is simple – a neutral colour like beige or white allows the products to stand out and to be the star of the show.
This approach, however, is problematic. The venue lacks personality and vibrancy, which can be a problem when you’re trying to set your brand apart from the competition.
Bolder décors can work perfectly well with your product selection if your interior design team does a bit of colour coordination. Colours like yellow and orange create a warm, welcoming ambiance. People will be drawn to a retail venue that exudes charm and positivism through such colour selections.
Purple and deep, saturated blue are aristocratic colours. They will make a retail venue look much more sophisticated than a neutral selection that will quickly fade in the background.
Use Mirrors to Make the Venue Look Bigger
Using mirrors to create the illusion of more space is a prominent interior design rule. It applies to both residential interior design and commercial developments and when done correctly, the approach can deliver spectacular results.
The problem is that the use of reflective surfaces isn’t always going to produce the illusion of more space.
A mirror has to be placed correctly to reflect space.
When a mirror is placed incorrectly in a small retail venue, it will create the illusion of clutter and chaos. Furthermore, poor mirror placement could confuse consumers and interfere with the traffic flow. You should be very strategic with the mirrors – they don’t need to appear everywhere. Also, it’s a good idea to let a professional Singapore interior designer handle the placement.
Customised Displays Are the Way to Go
While customised displays look great and they can help your branding efforts, they’re not a prerequisite for a retail interior that speaks to the right audience and increases customer engagement.
A generic display, however, can be easily “dressed up” and it will cost a fraction of the custom development. Some creativity can go a long way, even when your budget is tight. Don’t think that custom is the only way to go.
The addition of colours, props, even a bit of beautiful fabric to a standard display could transform it completely. You can also print brand identity elements on high quality paper to ensure recognition.
Big Retailers Always Get It Right, Copy Their Design
When you’re out of ideas, you should look at the work of others for inspiration, right? Big retailers and their interior design teams invest a lot in the creation of the ideal commercial space. If you borrow some of their ideas, you’ll build a store décor that amazes.
This isn’t necessarily the case.
For a start, an interior design solution that works for a large venue isn’t necessarily a good choice for a smaller space. Your store could look cramped and too busy if you adopt the same approach.
Big retailers aren’t immune to mistakes, either. Some notions and interior design concepts that look good on paper could prove to be a complete fail in the real life. It’s always best to stick to your knowledge of the brand and your respective audience when choosing an interior design solution. The more focused you are on your unique characteristics, the better the outcome is going to be.
Natural Light Is Always Best
Anyone who knows something about interior design is aware of the fact that natural light is considered best.
This may very well be the case for residential interior design and for office interior design in Singapore but retail venues have different needs.
Natural light cannot be controlled. It will be bright during certain parts of the day and insufficient at other times. You also don’t have control over the weather, when it’s going to be cloudy or rainy.
Using lights, projectors and targeted illumination solutions gives you control over the brightness, intensity and colour. Thus, you can highlight products in a consistent way, regardless of the weather conditions outside your shop.
Lights can also create an overall mood inside the store you can easily control through the flip of a switch.
Hiring a Retail Interior Designer Is Too Expensive
Owners of small retail venues often adopt a DIY approach because they worry that hiring a design team is going to be too expensive.
Working on a commercial project on your own will cost you a lot more if you make a mistake than hiring a professional. You will have to do a redesign to rectify the error, which will increase the overall cost of the retail interior design execution.
An interior designer will work on understanding your brands, your customers and the specifics of the venue before suggesting a specific décor execution. The project will be custom-made for you and it will reflect all of your preferences, the strengths of the location and the ideal ways in which customers can be encouraged to spend more time at the store.
Companies like Home Guide offer an array of retail solutions. Regardless of the size of your shop or the industry you operate in, the team has the knowledge and the background to create a décor that will work with your products and help you meet your goals.
Contact Home Guide today to get started on the execution of a fresh, innovative and exciting retail interior design project.
