If you have ever walked through a shopping district of any large city, you’ve likely been allured by the 12-ft windows featuring colourful eye-popping displays. Whether you’ve acknowledged it or not, consumer psychologists have carefully researched the behavioural influence of exterior atmospheres, and the results are quite positive for businesses that implement them!
So how can you, as a small business, compete with such luxurious displays and thousand square foot store displays? It’s not as hard as you would think. With a little creativity and inexpensive materials, you too can win big with your storefront window display.
Colour Shouts!!!!
If you’re looking to make your window display, you’ll want to give yourself a refresher on visual merchandising foundations. And on top of that list is everyone’s favourite – Colour!
Colours have a unique ability to affect our emotions. Reds often represent excitement, arousal and love. Greens can effectively communicate environmental consciousness. Blues cool our souls and relax our minds. It’s a wild world out there, so experiment with colours to see what shouts at your audience.
To start, we recommend using warm and exciting colours. Not only do they work to create a welcoming atmosphere, but warm colours are also usually brighter in appearance and more noticeable from a distance. Just make sure they match your greater theme. A bright orange just doesn’t feel right in a winter wonderland, does it?
Lighting a Stage
Think of your window display like a stage. We want to focus our lights on the stars! So whether you are having a summer blow-out sale, or you’re celebrating the start to pumpkin spice season, make sure the product you want to be featured is amply lit.
We recommend small business owners to practice “safe lighting”. Unless you’re a professional photographer, setting up lights can get complicated, really quickly. Try keeping your light sources at the front or to the side of your focal point. Light coming from extreme angles, such as directly above, creates harsh shadows on your subject. While harshness can be a great stylistic choice, it is often easier (and faster) to find appealing lighting with a simple setup.
Focal Points
Speaking of focal points – you should have one! Your store’s front window is meant to represent your business. If consumers can’t determine your industry by looking through your Bayview window, you’re doing something wrong.
Large retailers already have brand awareness and notoriety on their hands. So, while they can get by with vague visual intrigue, small business owners should take a more utilitarian approach to window displays. Feature products or brands that are desirable, or celebrate a sale promotion.
Choosing a focal point will also help you determine what is important within your window display. Too much clutter can be distracting to onlookers.
Tell a Story
When developing a window display, you might find it easier to get creative by using a theme or story. A very important aspect of marketing; storytelling helps your consumers relate emotions to products or stores without having to make a purchase.
TIP: Take advantage of our relationship forming brains by expanding your theme/story past “Summertime” to “Days at the beach”. This will also help create clearer communication with your customers.
Be Yourself
Storefront window designs should reflect your business. With marketing initiatives becoming more accessible to the average business, being yourself can help separate you from advertising “noise”. So, when in doubt, put a little bit of your life in your display. In doing so, your business will come across genuinely, while developing a more personal relationship with your customers.
Measure Your Successes
Before you complete your window display, make sure that you have been tracking foot traffic, point-of-sale purchases, and sale effectiveness. The more data you have, the better chance you have to evaluate the effectiveness of your effort.
In Need of a Business Facelift?
Still having trouble intriguing your customers with your storefront displays? The problem might be more than just a window design.
Did you know that the atmosphere in the first 5 feet of your store can influences how long and how much your customers shop for? So, even if your window display is a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, if the rest of your store doesn’t Wow, you might not be reaching your business’ true potential.
The Reset Team is a group of retail experts who have helped 100s of businesses achieve success with store resets and remodels. Aimed to increase profitability, inventory turnover, and customer satisfaction, let our specialists work with you hand-in-hand to help you achieve your goals.
Contact us now to book your consultation.
