Your store’s design should be both attractive and functional. As one walks in, the visual cues should guide them to the most important sections of the store. Before opening your doors to the public, have some people come in, walk through the shelves, and then ask them to give their honest feedback.

Watch them as they walk and pause at various points. What is attracting their attention? What appears to repel them? Notice which way they turn immediately they enter into your store.

You know it is time to redesign your store if you notice the following:

1. Your Branding Is Blurry

If your storage space does not create an immersive experience for your customers, something needs to be fixed. The branding should tell your story in bold letters and striking colours that leave no guesswork as to who you are. Have everything synchronized to project a consistent, forceful look and feel. You can use window displays to brand your store by incorporating elements that new customers can relate with, and which returning customers will find relevant. For impact, immediately a customer walks in, seek to delight, appeal and surprise all at once.

2. Your Store Looks Bland

If your store still has old fixtures that have since gone stale, it’s time to change them. Buying store fixtures to change the design of your store can instantly lift its appearance to a completely new level. The fixtures could include new shelves, furniture, counters, improved displays, etc. If everything at your store looks the same as it has been for years, you need to redesign.

3. The Flow Is Muddled

The focus of your store should be to provide customers with a seamless experience that endlessly flows from one space to another. This will involve constant tweaking and re-tweaking your design until you get the perfect flow. The overriding aim of your store design should be to make the customer journey throughout your store as immersive and memorable as possible.

4. Merchandise Displays Are Outdated

If your displays have been in the same place for months on end, it’s time to shake them up and move them around until you get that refreshing look. Since 80% of your sales are likely to come from the first third of your store, make sure all the “wants” are in front and the “needs” at the back together with items on sale. You might have to do a bit of repair or buy special store fixtures to accommodate the new changes.

5. Customers Have No Space

Customers love their personal space. They don’t consider it cool when they keep on butt-brushing other customers due to the limited space. You may not be able to do much in terms of expanding your current space, but you can redesign it to allow more space in between shelves and minimize, if not entirely eliminate, the “butt-brush effect”, a term that was introduced by Paco Underhill, a consumer behaviour expert. If your products are on shelves where customers are likely to butt-brush, those items will stay on the shelves for quite some time.

6. Your Store Does Not Look the Part

While this may have a lot to do with poor branding, unless it is an antique or a retro store that has to look the part, your retail space should reflect current trends. Adopt modern technology and use special signage to attract positive customer behaviour towards your store. The retail space should always have one eye into the future; because that is where your customers have their sights trained on. Get there before they do.

If traffic to your store has been declining, chances are your customers no longer find your store design as compelling as they used to. To bring them and back and attract new ones as well, consider redesigning your store space in line with modern trends and convenience.