Store Design
Retail Design

RETAIL DESIGN

Being brand savvy in a crowded and ever-adapting retail marketplace is vital. Aylott+Van Tromp’s expansive cross-sector knowledge allows us to cross-utilise retail market trends to maximum effect, creating retail brands that entertain and entice while building brand loyalty and retention.

We believe unequivocally in the power of ‘brand’, combining well-considered design with a strategic, story-led approach.

Unlike the majority of designers & agencies who design for the trends, we design for your business goals. We possess a large amount of cross-sector knowledge which we use to elevate and position your brand exactly where you wish it to be. In this respect, we consider ourselves consultants before designers.

A sector at the forefront of brand awareness. Retail owners are all too aware of the effect that brand has on attracting and keeping customers. Being brand savvy makes a business stand out in a very crowded and ever- adapting marketplace. Our expansive cross-sector knowledge allows us to cross-utilise various market trends to full use.

Store Design by Aylott + Van Tromp

WHO WE ARE

We’re a group of like-minded individuals who love to wear other people's coats, metaphorically speaking of course. We are design chameleons, there are no egos here. We take on your brand as if it were our own.

Directors Nathan Aylott + James Van Tromp lead each and every project, supported by experts, artists, designers and contractors.

The experience of Aylott + Van Tromp's founders is unique. With a cross sector background in brand activation, retail, fashion, architecture, aeronautical + automotive design, we are able to predict the ebbs and flows of popular culture and the changing needs of the modern traveller.

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UNITED KINGDOM
STUDIO 2.3
24 GREVILLE STREET
LONDON
EC1N 8SS

PORTUGAL
ALAMEDA SALGUEIRO MAIA LOTE 4
1 ANDAR, GABINETE 6
2660 329
SANTO ANTONIO DOS CAVALEIROS
LOURES 

info@aylottandvantromp.com

+44 (0)20 3488 2310

There are a huge number of different retail stores out there in the world, and a vast array of different companies running those stores — all with their own particular approach to branding and presentation.

Despite the differences between various retail stores, however, one key point remains consistent between them: they all want to maximise the number of customers who are enticed inside, and who are ultimately convinced to make a purchase. To this end, different companies have utilised all sorts of interesting techniques to try and entice shoppers inside. Some perfume the air in and directly outside of their stores. Others go for carefully selected musical arrangements.

Ultimately, the way you design your retail store can be absolutely make-or-break when it comes to your overall ability to succeed. Fundamentally, there are 7 core principles that everyone should keep in mind when they are running or redesigning a retail store. 

Here are those 7 principles.

1. Eye-catching window design and arrangement

First things first: most shoppers are not going to just wander into a store that has a completely bland or uninteresting facade, in order to see whether what’s inside is more interesting than what they can see from the window. The first principle in good retail store design is to ensure that your window design and arrangement is as eye-catching and enticing as possible. Don’t be afraid to use specially created window displays to tell a story about your company, or to craft a narrative that your customer will want to be part of. Highlight your most appealing items, and use visually striking motifs.

2. Interactive, creative, and daring store design

In recent times, e-commerce has exploded in popularity and is increasingly the “go-to” means by which many different people choose to source their products and weigh up their consumer options. Combined with an increase in competition across many different industries, it’s important that you do whatever you can to make a visit to your in-person store a captivating experience, in and of itself. The retail store of today can generally afford to have somewhat less stock on site, and to place a greater emphasis on design motifs and branding. To really stand out and to make a visit to the store worthwhile for your prospective customers, you should look into things like interactive features, and highly creative displays that are as much about art and storytelling as they are about shelves of goods.

3. A slowed-down customer journey through the store

In today’s world, people are notoriously busy and are chronically in a hurry — and there’s evidence that we all have lower attention spans by and large than in the recent past. One of the most important things that your store design and layout should achieve, is to slow the customers down and to give them more time to properly consider what they are seeing. A savvy retail designer can employ techniques such as a circular store layout and large, attention-grabbing presentations near the front of the store to get visitors to pause and consider for a while. The size of your retail space will of course influence the speed of the customer journey, but good shop design can play a very substantial role, too. Without generating excessive frustrating obstacles for your customers, take steps to grab their attention along the way and to slow down their journey through the store.

4. A guided path through the store

Following on from the last point; it’s very important to ensure that you design your store in a way that offers a guided path for visitors. If your shop design is very open-ended and undirected, people will likely wander and browse for a bit and then leave. Instead, create a clear path through the store and be very mindful of where you place different items. Grocery stores, for example, famously tend to place staple foods such as eggs and milk at the back of the shop so that customers have to journey through the entire store to pick them up. Airports, also, famously tend to lead travellers through different store sections before they arrive in the waiting area. Be mindful of the way you are arranging goods in your store, and of the journey you are guiding your customers on.

5. A right-hand-centric store arrangement

Although it may not seem like a very big deal up front, simply steering customers towards the right of your store can actually have a notable impact on their behaviour and likelihood of making a purchase. This is born out by research on retail interior design and shopping habits. When you consider the fact that the overwhelming majority of people are right handed, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Most people will be more likely to reach out with their right hand to items that are closer by. Use this knowledge to create a right-hand-centric store arrangement that places Point of Sale displays and visually appealing signs on the right of the shop. This will encourage a counter-clockwise journey through the store.

6. A properly spaced-out and uncrowded store environment

Store environments that are overcrowded can lead to the unfortunate impression that the goods on display are of lower quality, while simultaneously causing shoppers to feel overwhelmed. Creating a properly spaced-out store environment that feels uncrowded and high-end is very important. Simply adding features such as standing plants and open floor and wall space can help to have this effect.

7. A store environment tailored to the available space

Store environments of different sizes will benefit from emphasising different things, to different degrees. Young brands, for example, are more likely to find themselves in smaller store spaces, and maybe even pop up stores. Generally speaking, the smaller the store space the more you need to emphasise striking visual elements and presentation directly. Tailor your store environment to the amount of space you have available.

Store Design by Aylott + Van Tromp