The perfect retail experience is heavily dependent on interior design. The layout, the lights, the colours and the way in which traffic is organised can all affect the mood and the behaviour of boutique visitors.
If you’re 100 per cent committed to making your retail business a success, you should consider hiring professional interior design company in Singapore. Otherwise, you risk committing an array of mistakes that may ruin your boutique.
The selection of the proper retail interior lighting is probably one of the biggest prerequisites for a quality retail experience. People who do not have the knowledge and the training could commit an array of serious mistakes in terms of light installation.
The first serious mistake is a failure to accent the focal points in the boutique through the use of lights. Do you have a brand new product? A certain item that you’d like to boost the sales of? If so, you have to talk to your interior designer. A trained professional in the field will use the right light placement, colour and intensity to make the respective shop section noticeable.
Poor colour balance or contrast are also issues that stem from the selection of the wrong lights or from inadequate placement. Using the same lights throughout the store is a serious mistake. There will be no contrast, no visual intensity. Something as simple as the placement of accent lights in certain areas can increase the dynamic appeal and the visual attractiveness of the entire boutique.
Finally, lights can end up costing a lot. Aesthetic considerations aren’t the only important ones. Interior design professionals should also know just how practical the proposed solutions are.
A failure to use energy efficient lights will also increase your costs in the long run. While such lights are initially more expensive than regular bulbs, they will pay themselves off through utility bill minimisation in a very short period.
Disorganised traffic flow will either make potential buyers skip important parts of the boutique, or interfere with the buyer experience – like the infamous butt-brush effect.
Your interior design comppany is going to take the layout of the venue in consideration when determining the placement of racks, shelves and display tables. This way, twisted or very narrow paths will be avoided.
If the potential buyer doesn’t experience a smooth flow of traffic, the shopping experience will be quite uncomfortable. As a result, people may not spend more time shopping, but leave your boutique without exploring or even buying.
The simplest way to avoid such a mistake is to follow a simple organisational structure. A “fast-traffic” path should be created to the checkout area and the entrance. It should be wider than the traffic areas located between the merchandise displays. Think about the floor plan, the size and the shape of the commercial venue. A good designer will know how to use the floor plan to your advantage.
Cohesiveness is probably one of the most important retail interior design characteristics.
Your brand and your corporate aesthetics should be evident in every single element – the colours, the flooring choice, the display tables, shelves and racks. The lack of consistency could be confusing and it will also take away from the visual appeal of the boutique.
Using different types of racks and shelves is pretty amateurish and tells shop visitors you don’t know what you’re doing. Different types of racks could even take the attention away from the products being displayed.
This is yet another specific you and your designer will have to work on. Let your interior design team know about the number of products you want to display, the number of racks or shelves. Based on this information, a designer will help you best utilise the available space. When you know how the boutique is going to be organised, you can stock up on a sufficient number of racks and hangers (if you are displaying clothes) to ensure consistency when your inventory increases in the future.
A single display scheme should be adopted right from the start and you should stick to it. If you plan to introduce a change, you will have to overhaul everything.
The checkout area is as important as the product displays in retail interior design. It should be planned for speed and efficiency.
A checkout area must be clean and uncluttered. There should be enough space for people to leave a pile of items. You should also consider potential returns – a sufficient storage space will have to be established as a part of the checkout area design.
The checkout area gives you a chance to promote a few final products. People could be bored while waiting in line. Give them the opportunity to explore some small items – chances are a few additional products will be placed in the shopping cart.
Your checkout area is the last part of the boutique that people will see before leaving. A failure to do some additional branding will be a huge mistake. Everything from colour selection to logo placement should be planned strategically to leave a good impression.
Retail interior design can get complicated. There’s no one size fits all solution because of the specifics of the boutique and those of the commercial venue itself. Even if you’ve owned, or you still own a boutique at another location, you will be unable to apply the same interior design formula to a new place.
To avoid mistakes that can cost you money, hire retail interior design professionals. The Home Guide team features such experts. We start with basic retail interior design concepts, and build from there to craft a tailored retail boutique experience. We have worked with multiple clients through the years, attempting to accommodate their specific needs and preferences. A good understanding of the business itself is in the heart of the interior design process.
If you’re dreaming about designing the perfect boutique, contact us today. We will help you pick the interior that will make the most sense in both practical and aesthetic terms.
