First impressions

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A great brand experience is essential for repeat business. Samantha Docherty asks how store design can impact brand perception and identity.

Fashion retail has become more competitive. Consumers are more aware, particular and discerning in terms of where they want to spend their time and money. Store design is essential in forging that all-important connection with customers.

So much more than just merchandise, through sights, colours, sounds, textures and movement fashion stores can offer a three dimensional shopping experience that leaves a lasting memory.

Consumers want to visit a store where they can experience the brand and feel a connection with the brand's philosophy.
Eliminating doubt of where the customer is, many retailers feel they need to create an attention-grabbing and distinctive brand presentation when designing a store. But architect Matthew Herbert argues to stand out is not necessarily the right approach in communicating a brand identity.

"This may be the reason as to why retailers have a hard time expressing what their brand and identity is about. Consumers are also not always looking for this image in a brand. Retail design is about leaving behind branding methods and about focusing on a culture and identity behind a brand. It's about finding what's unique to a brand in order to establish its own identity and expression in the market place."

Co-director of Melbourne-based architectural and design practice Herbert and Mason, Herbert says the company sees its retail interiors as a collaborative process.

"As architects and interior designers it's important to understand a brand's identity inside and out in order to create the very best in retail environments. At the same time it's equally important that we realise and implement our own identity, ethos and principles as designers." For O.M.A Shopfitting Systems designer Mark Judd brand identity pivots around design.

"There are so many elements of design that come together in the retail industry. Be it logos and corporate branding, signage, store planning, fashion design, graphic design (i.e. swing tags and product labels) and merchandising. Store design forms an integral role in pulling together all of these elements to portray the right image and target the right market."

Economic influences and an abundance of shopping options have caused consumers to be more educated in their buying, adds Judd.

"Retailers need to have attractive displays to entice people to part with their diminishing disposable incomes."
A given in retail, flexibility is also important. If one thing is guaranteed about the future of retail it's that it's going to change. The offer changes, the brand position may change, the customer's reaction to a store will change and by its very nature fashion changes.

Only very flexible design solutions can respond to these changes. Moving walls, moving graphics, mobile furniture and modular lighting can all be used to support this ideal.

Storeworks fit-out sales manager Katrina Cowling says the ability to make smaller changes with flexible systems will be important in the future.

"Economic uncertainty will impact on the total cost retailers will be prepared to spend on design and fit-out. Flexible systems that incorporate interchangeable panels and signage options for regular quick 'facelifts' are growing in popularity to meet this demand. Retailers that understand their clients' needs and incorporate detail into [store] design that caters to them will stand out."

Catering to mature women after quality and sophisticated design, retailer Silva Guanta has a great understanding of her clients needs according to Cowling. Successfully incorporating them into the design of her three Sydney stores, all are housed in different styles of buildings but a universal brand identity is cemented through interior design. 

Decorated with identical ceiling to floor silk curtains, fitting and racking systems and mannequins it is important to Guanta that the stores are inviting and comfortable. Designing the interior of eight stores over the years, Guanta says she has had to compromise with some things but never lighting and mirrors.

"Good quality mirrors are very important. Never compromise on the quality of a mirror. A better quality one will give you a true view. Cheap mirrors are not very thick so they can give a distorted view." Lighting is also extremely important, adds Guanta.

"It should not be stark. It needs to have a warm glow as it's more appealing to the eye. The right lights can evoke a warm inviting feel that is luxurious without being intimidating."

One of the key areas in shopfitting today, lighting ranks above all else as the area of highest investment priority. Not only used to make products clearly visible and sufficiently illuminate sales areas, lighting creates an atmosphere, evokes moods, influences purchasing decisions and highlights the individual identity of a retail company.

Making a statement with light fittings is also en vogue, large pendant light fixtures and chandeliers take on a decorative function. Reflecting domestic trends, store design is swinging toward lifestyle/interior living inspired accents.
Display Design marketing manager Annie House has observed the trend more amongst mid to high-end apparel stores.

Cosy seating areas, subdued lighting with large feature lamps and merchandising systems adapted to suit a specific look are becoming a common theme.

More white space as a rest for the eye is another important point to note in regard to [store] design trends adds House.
"Wider aisles, better site lines and flexible fixtures are all pre-requisites in the planning and design process of functional retail environments. Streamlined, tidy and uncomplicated are some of the buzzwords that will define design in coming years."

Display and Rack Systems marketing and IT manager Rohan Dimmock feels retailers have to grab the customer's attention to compete with the immense choice in the market.

"Electronic display is developing quite rapidly. LCD screens are just one way retailers are grabbing the customer's attention. Video footage of a model wearing an outfit will quickly give the customer a better idea of how it looks and it can promote in-store messaging."

With the growth in internet shopping, the act of going to a bricks and mortar store needs to be about an experience. But people are becoming increasingly more critical of brands, and in turn the shopping experience.

As the internet becomes more and more important as a place to shop, retailers need to be aware of the critical impacts they make on our local and global environment in financial terms as well as environmental and infrastructural.
Environmental design is having a strong impact on the retail sector according to Herbert.

"This is primarily because the customer is increasingly valuing and demanding it, which they should. Environmentally sustainable design is becoming more and more important. Not only are shoppers more conscious and careful about the product they buy, but they also want to be assured that brands have followed through with a commitment to sustainability in their store designs."

But when designing to a budget, environmental impact poses a challenge adds Judd. "Materials with low environmental impact are generally much more expensive. It's not difficult to specify these materials, but it's difficult to justify to a retailer why their store is going to cost 30 per cent more!"

Still in its early stages according to Cowling, the impact of environmental design will be greater as it becomes either a draw card for customers, legislation or a lower cost alternative for retailers. "Greener materials, recycling and economic use of lighting will play a key role in store design in the coming years."

By Samantha Docherty

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