Creating Store Fronts That Sell

In Fall and Winter the foot traffic in the mall picks up, gift season shopping is among us and your store could use a little revamping in its front window to compete with the other stores on the market. You might be wondering, what does that store window have that mine doesn’t?

Storefronts range from flashy and LED lit, to simple and minimalistic. If you are trying to sort out how to create your own attractive store front display you have a couple of different options to advertise your store. An attractive storefront will increase your sales, bring in more people, and can create more loyal customers. No matter how big your storefront is you can make it shine just as brightly and attractively. Before you run out and find a professional designer to do this, try reading through a few of these tips.

One option for the storefront is to play on a potential pre-existing narrative for your store. Do you market in a specific way that allows for customers to follow a story, perhaps your goods are made by a certain community or a charity group profits from your sales? Developing a narrative can help you brainstorm visuals to map out into an attractive and engaging storefront. Displaying your store’s logo and the organization you are profiting may bring in customers who recognize those logos. If you don’t have this type of narrative, lean on pre-set themes, is it winter time? Adding some fake snowflakes, twinkle lights, playing on holidays, can all be useful in developing a narrative. Rotate your storefront story every two weeks or monthly to get repeat customers. Before you start throwing things in the window, draw out a design, what is the focal point of your window and how are you attracting potential customers? Focus on just one product as a focal, and use other products and decorations to fill in around that single focal. A customer is presumably just walking by the storefront. Having one attractive item for the eye to focus on will help them assess what your store is selling and if they want to go in. If there are too many products on display, all competing for attention your window can seem cluttered and unattractive.

Now that you know you need to flesh out a theme, let’s talk logistics about a good store front display. Your displays should always be at eye-level. Your storefront is all about drawing customers into the store to hopefully go on a shopping spree, so you don’t want them to have to do extra work in convincing themselves to come inside. You also might be tempted to go big on your displays throwing in every item that to you, is the most important thing. If you curb this first impulse and de-clutter your window you will attract more customers. You do not need every product, nor do you need five different ways of showing your company’s logo. Having a clean store front in which you display a few important products, with a strong narrative of the season or your stores narrative, can draw in the clients you’ve been looking for. Other than your logo and a strong window display, your storefront should clearly advertise your hours, and a phone number or website in which your store can be further looked into. Customers passing by during your closed hours may come back if they can do a little online shopping on their phone while still near your store. Finally, on the logistic front, you are going to want to make sure that your colors do not clash. This may seem trivial, but a window display with loads of mismatched colors is not going to garner the kind of attention you want.  

If you are still struggling to grab the attention of your customers walking by, there are a few things to note about your display. Is it innovative? Does your marketing appeal to onlookers with something unique or unpredictable?  Ideally, you want your customers to stop at your window to see the whole story you are presenting and then choose to come into your store to spend. To get that reaction you need something in your window worth stopping for. Try having your most interesting product on display or decorating it with specialty lights. Also don’t forget that you are appealing to the human eye, which has a natural tendency to pick up on bold colors and interesting shapes. Use a variety of recognizable shapes mixed with unique ones to frame your products, logos, and special deals. Now take a step back and look at your display, can you see every aspect of it? A well-lit display is going to draw in more customers. If there are dark shadows and corners, or if the overall display seems dark, you aren’t going to be catching the eyes of passer buyers.

Having an attractive storefront is worth the time and money it costs to create a unique and interesting display. It increases the desirability of your store and also creates a stronger brand loyalty. To create loyal repeat customers, you want their experience to be excellent and memorable from start to finish. The moment they lay eyes on your store they should feel that you are offering not only the best service but also the best products. Storefronts and window displays are excellent ways of marketing deals, demonstrating your company’s narrative and providing information for customers who may not stop in today, but will later on. You want the passerby to look at the window and remember it for the product displayed, the name of your store, and it’s unique or clever design. Luckily there are heaps of companies that are there for just this reason to make purchasing logos and accessories more affordable. Your window display does not need to have a high ticket price to excel at drawing in customers if you use some of these techniques!