Avoid These Common Display Mistakes
While there isn't a strict right or wrong approach to retail displays, a well-designed display is crucial in driving sales. Weak displays can turn shoppers away rather than sparking interest in your product, but a well-considered and appealing alternative can help draw in customers and boost conversions.
If you think your retail displays may need a refresh then this next article will steer you away from five common pitfalls to help improve customer experience and maximise sales.
1. Don't clutter the shop floor
It's easy to overdo it with your displays and this can be overwhelming for shoppers. It's important to keep in mind that today's consumers don't have a lot of patience. Customers visiting your store often have a clear intention and if it takes them too long to find what's on their list you run the risk of them giving up in frustration.
For your staff and regular shoppers who know their way around your store it's easy to find what they're looking for but it's useful to look at your displays from a new customer's perspective. Is your layout, flow and signage up to scratch? Do shoppers frequently ask where certain products are? If so, then this suggests that it's time to rethink your retail displays.
Using products that aren't for sale as props can enhance display and help demonstrate products, but too many can add to the clutter and distract shoppers from the products you are actually trying to sell. Use props sparingly on table tops and counters.
Sometimes less is more when it comes to visual merchandising. Overfilled retail display stands and busy counter-tops can make it hard to differentiate products. To prevent this, try narrowing the focus of your display to a key product or message that you want every passing shopper to see and design your display around it.
There are various ways to use retail displays to increase footfall into your store and boost sales - keep reading to learn how to utilise retail display stands, wicker display baskets, point-of-sale and counter-top stands to optimise your selling space.
2. Clear fonts & pricing
One common mistake that retailers make is hiding product information like price, promotions and ingredients.
Making prices difficult to spot means your customers have to work harder to find the information they need to make a buying decision. The concealed price tactic is a turn-off for customers and adds barriers to purchase and degrades the shopping experience.
Give customers the best shopping experience with open and transparent pricing. There are a huge amount of different point of sale accessories and chalkboards to help you do so.
- Hanging chalkboards are eye-catching without taking up floor or counter-top space and are available in a variety of shapes and sizes.
- Freestanding chalkboards are a great add-on for wooden display stands and counter-top stands as well as being effective as stand-alone signage.
- Display clips and chalkboards are fun, quick and an easy way to 'create and clip' signs for point of sale and promotions.
You want to make sure customers see your signs from their eye-level. When creating your chalkboards and signage it can be tempting to go for decorative fonts and fancy details but these aren't always the most practical styles as some customers may find them a challenge to read. Instead go for a simple font to ensure your labels and signs are legible. Check out our handy step-by-step guide to help you master chalkboard lettering.
3. Displays lack depth and height
One-dimensional displays can make your products and your store look dull and unappealing. To help encourage shoppers to explore your displays, inject life into them by playing around with the height and depth of your products. Using retail props such as risers or upturned wooden display crates to showcase products at varying heights and highlight promotions or hero products will keep your displays interesting.
Our tiered floor display stands can be strategically placed to be seen or interacted with from any angle. They're not only a great opportunity to get creative with how you display your products, they also positively represent your product and brand style in the right way to shoppers.
Wall mounted retail shelving is great for utilising space and elevating products to a position that can be seen by all eyes from any position around your store - shoppers entering can easily identify and navigate to the products and departments that take their interest.
Well-designed window displays and merchandising stands consist of different materials, textures, colours and lighting to create layers and depth. Try using different materials such as wooden crates for a rustic decor or metal piping for an industrial feel. Don't be afraid to mix and match styles to create an individual display, this will set you apart from your competitors.
4. There's no interactivity
Shoppers want to experience your product, not just look at it. Giving customers the opportunity to smell, taste and touch items before they commit to buying can create more confidence in your products. Shoppers are more likely to be drawn to an interactive display than to something passive.
One way to encourage customer engagement if you're a Farm Shop or Deli is to create an on-the-spot tasting station where customers can taste different food and drink samples. Fashion and clothing retailers can also increase beauty sales by creating a sample counter for fragrances and make-up testing.
Product sampling is a great conversation starter and a fun way for staff to interact with customers. Inviting people to try a product is a less pushy way of a sales pitch and lets the product do most of the talking. Your staff's enthusiasm and knowledge of the product is also important so let them try the product too and teach the key selling points. Food presentation is also important here; make tasters look irresistible by serving on wooden boards, bamboo platters or slate boards, these make a great natural base for nibbles.
Grocery shopping won't be the weekly grind customers are used to with the introduction of Gravity Bins. With these food dispensers customers can choose the exact quantity they require while reducing the prevalence of single-use plastics. With clear preferences for a more interactive shopping experience and greener ways to shop, customers will make a bee line for your store to pick up their store cupboard essentials.
5. Your displays are stale
If you are experiencing a sales slump then it could be that you're not updating your displays frequently enough. That's not to say you have to have a complete overhaul every month, there are simple changes you can make to keep your visuals fresh and keep up sales momentum.
A good tip for creating an adaptable shop floor is opting for portable etail display stands and furniture; you can use the same stands in different positions around your store to create entirely different layouts. All of our wooden floor stands are easy to reposition to take advantage of seasonal tweaks to your store.
We've designed a modular retail display system that offers endless display possibilities for a wide variety of retail settings. The interchangeable wooden crates and shelves allow you to reconfigure and extend as your requirements change and grow. Sound interesting? Have a read of our CrateWall info page and see how it would work for your retail space; you can build anything from a single display to a full refit!
Your in-store signage plays an integral role in engaging and directing customers around your store so keep these relevant and update them regularly. Chalkboards and slate signs are a sound investment for any retailer; promotional messages and product information can easily be erased and changed as and when you need to. Creativity goes a long way in retail so have some fun with them but remember to keep them on brand and legible.
