If you’re the owner of a street-facing store, you’ll know all too well how important it is to create a great storefront. It’s through this window that potential customers get a taste of what your business is all about, whether this is retail, hospitality, or another service provider, allowing them to decide whether to enter your store and look around.
When consumers are walking down the high street, there’s no guarantee that they will choose your store above the others, even if you are confident that your service is superior to your competitors. Much like choosing a book from a bookstore, it’s the cover that catches the eye, before the real story is discovered inside, but it’s up to businesses to ensure that this cover is as appealing as possible.
Especially now that many countries are living through a cost-of-living crisis, with increased prices and rising bills across the board, it’s more important than ever that your store’s storefront is as captivating as it can be, as consumers, in general, are far less eager to spend their money than in previous times and will need extra intrigue to consider parting with their hard-earned cash.
Read on to find out more about creating a great storefront, and how nailing your aesthetic could give your business the boost it needs.
Dynamic Signage
Signs have always been a crucial part of creating the ideal storefront. Historically, buildings and facades would be adorned with large advertisements or branding, while even in the modern day, signs placed out on the street can give consumers a welcome insight as to what awaits them if they enter the store.
As well as this, all brands rely on creating a captivating badge/ logo, which can help bring some character to the name of your business, using creative aspects such as font, color, and dynamics.
With the wonders of electricity, signs that glow, move, and change color help to catch the eye even more effectively, although you will need to be careful to tailor this to your brand, as something too bright or dynamic could come across as tacky in some trades and industries.
Putting business signage in place is all about sending the correct message to the correct people.
Easy-to-Read Fonts
Depending on the trade in which your business operates, the font you decide to use for your storefront could be wildly different. For some traders, it could be appropriate to attempt faux-handwriting signage, while for others it could be far more appropriate to stick with bold, clear text that gets the message across effectively.
When choosing the fonts, you will use in your storefront’s branding and signage, it’s a case of not losing sight of the primary purpose of your signage – to send a clear message, that gives potential consumers and returning customers alike a great idea of what they will find when they enter the store.
However, it’s not a case of going to the clearest, most boring font you can find, as even if consumers can read the message clearly and concisely, they may find the lack of imagination uninspiring, or it could seem out of place compared to the rest of the branding.
Engaging Window Displays
Having an engaging window display at the front of your store is a fantastic way of not only grabbing a potential customer’s attention for a moment but potentially captivating them for much longer, which far increases the likelihood of them choosing to spend their money in your store.
Not only can window displays give consumers a detailed insight into the kind of products that are instore or on offer, but it can be a great opportunity to expand on your business’s branding and express the personality of those working at the store.
Knowing your customer base well is an important factor in creating a successful window display. It’s a chance to tap into your branding and make stronger connections with consumers, improving brand loyalty and revenue as a result.
Maintain Consistent Branding
For your storefront display to succeed, it’s important to stay true to your branding.
Especially if you have built up a customer base who identifies strongly with your branding, it could be seen as sloppy or a mistake by your customer base to either change up branding on a whim or have displays that are confused in their branding and messaging.
Furthermore, if the business has caught the eye of potential customers, and then changes branding, it could mean that the potential customer forgets as they are no longer reminded of their previous interest.