Tips for creating an attractive storefront for small business
Although digital retail has been growing steadily in the last decade, brick and mortar stores are still playing the dominant role in the sales universe. Younger audiences prefer online shopping, but the fact remains that eCommerce currently controls less than 15% of the total retail market share.
Owners of physical retail businesses should not worry about digital competitors, but they should certainly focus on their stores and find ways to make them more attractive. After all, the competition in traditional retail is harsh and you must try hard to convince customers to enter your store instead of someone else’s.
This is where storefronts step into play as one of the fundamental aspects of the retail business. In our post, we will share with you eight tips for creating an eye-pleasing storefront for small businesses. Let’s take a look!
- Keep It Clean 365 Days a Year
You’ve probably heard already that the first impression is the best impression, especially in physical retail. This is why you absolutely have to keep the storefront neat and clean, not allowing potential customers to get the impression that your business is messy or out of order. Therefore, make sure to keep the place clean 365 days a year and encourage visitors to enter the store right away.
- Add Seasonal Window Displays
Window displays represent a critical element of every storefront, so you need to treat them with all due attention. The most important suggestion is to use seasonal displays and show the latest products. Jake Gardner, an essay writing service professional, says windows displays should match seasonal activities: “For instance, you can place an image of snow and skiing during winter in order to make a logical correlation with your products.”
- Create Signage to Stand Out
Unlike windows displays, well-designed signage is more direct and straightforward. It uses clear and simple lines of text to grab the attention of the target audience and convince them to enter the store. Digital signs are ideal for modern stores in crowded areas because they are easy to see any time of the day. That way, you can distinguish your place from similar stores in the neighborhood.
- Install Quality Lighting
Lighting is yet another detail you have to take care of when decorating the store. First of all, the whole place must be shiny and bright to ensure comfortable customer experience. Besides that, you should install storefront lighting to make it more visible in the evening hours.
- Buy a Tailored Welcome Mat
Many stores have a large front door and spacious areas in front of the entrance. In such circumstances, it would be great to buy a big welcome mat to greet the visitors with it. However, you don’t want to use a generic mat but rather buy a tailored product with your branding signs.
Michael Gardiner, a marketer who wrote the superiorpapers review, says it’s easy to customize doormats so as to fit the branding needs of any store: “You can add a well-known color scheme, abbreviations, or any other element that reveals brand identity.”
- Install an Awning
A perfect storefront cannot be complete without an awning. It’s a precious element that makes the store more attractive and visually appealing, while it also gives you more room for branding and additional promotion. Another reason we love awnings is simple but highly effective – it allows potential customers to do some good old window shopping during heavy rains. Such a detail can drastically improve user experience and make your store customer-friendly.
- Hang a Banner
Experienced retailers probably understand the value of storefront banners. It is one of the oldest on-site marketing tools, but all sorts of physical stores still rely on it nonetheless. A banner helps you to announce new collections, let the world know about special discounts, or any other kind of promo activity.
- Avoid Clutter
The last advice on our list is to avoid clutter and keep the store perfectly organized. People who take a look at your store from the outside will immediately recognize a poorly organized place, so you better take some time to plan the whole thing and ensure effortless navigation through the store.
Conclusion
The influence of online retail has been growing steadily over the last few years, but brick and mortar stores still remain dominant all over the world. If you are running a physical store, you should be more worried about nearby competitors and try to outperform them with attractive storefront solutions.
In this post, we showed you eight tips on how to make an eye-pleasing storefront for small businesses:
- Keep it clean
- Add seasonal window display
- Create signage to stand out
- Install quality lighting
- Buy a tailored welcome mat
- Place an awning
- Hang a banner
- Avoid clutter
These tips will make your storefront look fresh and smooth, but feel free to leave a comment if you have other interesting proposals to share with us!
