Retail design has close ties to interface design
To define retail design we must start with the definition of retail itself: a culminating link in a supply chain that results in the sale of goods for consumption. Retail design, as the design of the environment that displays and purveys these goods, thus has “the sale” as one of its functional goals, and is dictated by short, middle, and long-term goals of profit making. Although the term usually refers to the act of designing the physical retail environment the storefront, entrance, window display, interior display, point of purchase, and storage it almost always involves less tangible aspects of branding, advertising, sales, and post sales services (Service Design) as well.
Each element in the physical design performs an integral function:
- The storefront and window display provide public visibility and attract consumers into the interior sales area; as such, they are considered of paramount importance. – The entrance acts as the initial threshold or portal that controls access to the interior retail space. It also often provides a taste of the brand identity (for example the hidden entrance for L’Eclaireur, Paris indicating the brand’s exclusivity). – The interior display is composed of fixtures that is, items that are intended to support sales but not intended for sale themselves. Common retail fixtures include items such as shelves, platforms, lighting, vitrines, niches, hanging racks, face-outs, and mannequins. Visual merchandising is the term for interior or window display placement and styling. – The point of sale or cash wrap is the point of transaction where the goods and payment are transacted.
Examples include serviced and self-service checkout stations. – Storage or stock rooms are often needed to carry inventory reflected in the displayed merchandise. Since this area is typically not trafficked by the consumer public, the design generally emphasizes ease of access as opposed to the consumer perspective. Various other interior components will be integrated as needed, depending on the goods sold, the typical duration of the retail experience, and the target consumer demographics (Target Group).
Bathrooms, waiting areas, fitting rooms, daycare facilities and so on, will ideally reflect the design elements of the main retail area, even while providing their own specific functions. While the goods may vary, the experience of purchasing with the intent of consumption has several common typologies, and within those typologies, common design components. These typologies include monobrand stores, multibrand stores, and temporary markets.
Monobrand retail design involves the display and sale of goods that are of a single brand. Since a singular brand identity informs the design of monobrand retail environments, stores in the same brand chain or franchise will typically look very similar. However, differences certainly exist. For instance, “shop-inshops” located within department stores or malls typically are smaller than freestanding stores, and the retail design usually requires reconciling the department store’s overall design standards and rules with those of the brand.
On the other hand, the main purpose of freestanding flagships stores is to create a high impact brand environment that increases visibility, a long-term goal that takes priority over immediate or shortterm sales quotas. These flagships are typically located in highly trafficked and visible urban environments, with large expanses of expensive real estate devoted to intensifying the brand image. Merchandise is therefore carefully displayed in order to highlight the iconic character of each product as opposed to the volume of stock.
A related sub-category, the showroom, is a sales environment that displays goods (furniture, automobiles, audiovisual equipment) primarily for demonstration purposes. Models are available for customers to experience, yet the actual product to be purchased is picked up or shipped separately. Since the function and eventual sale of the product takes priority in these environments, an emphasis is often placed on sales and service staff.
Multibrand retail design involves the display and sale of goods from multiple brands. Most modern-day retail experiences can be traced back the first multibrand department stores in latenineteenth- century Paris and London, an innovation that changed the culture of consumption and made the activity of shopping into a performative and branded experience.
Typical department stores today sell a wide range of merchandise and organize their goods according to broad categories of use, such as menswear, appliances, tableware, and so on. Within each category, products may be further grouped according to brand, use, morphology, or combined in a “lifestyle” format. Since the appeal of the department store is the convenience of “one-stop-shopping,” a clearly defined and easily navigable retail space is key.
Of course, different multibrand retail environments emphasize different display priorities depending on their targeted audience; upscale department stores like Printemps in Paris, Harvey Nicols in London, and Barney’s in NYC generally highlight a select number of highend brand-name items in product display, while “big box” stores (or superstores) like Home Depot, Costco, and Walmart tend to use volume as a key factor in sales.
Indeed, the displayto- stock ratio is usually directly related to the value of the goods to be sold: rarer, more expensive goods are often displayed more iconically, while goods intended for mass consumption are often displayed in large quantities, with ease of access in mind. Big box store displays and fixturing therefore often prioritize the efficiency of stocking and purchasing over display and service. An interesting phenomenon occurs when multibrand department stores become powerful brands unto themselves, with an umbrella brand identity that supercedes the identities of the individual brands that comprise it.
Target in the United States and Colette in Paris are two examples of multibrand companies that have developed their own lifestyle visual merchandising. Most permanent retail environments are monobrand, multibrand, or a complex combination of both. However, retail design can also happen on a more individual ad hoc basis. For instance, temporary flea markets, craft fairs, and bazaars, constructed around circulation routes and dismantled after a set duration, often highlight the goods of a single producer, artist, or artisan over those of any corporate brand. The design of these spaces is typically limited to fixtures that are easily assembled and disassembled (in mobile retail, a related category, retail spaces are either self-propelled or towed vehicles).
Another prominent contemporary example of temporary retail design is the art fair, where booths or stands are set up by individual galleries to showcase their artists and shows. In contrast to galleries (which may be categorized as freestanding retail stores) and auction houses (which are similar to showrooms), art fairs allow collectors and museums to view a great variety of works at one time.
The contemporary art fair is an interesting example since it presents a marked departure from the norm in terms of display/supply ratios in the conscious effort to create more affordable, accessible art (Exhibition Design). Guerilla and street retail are the most temporal forms of retail.
Because they are not sanctioned by the government, the speed with which the goods may be installed and de-installed for display is prioritized. These forms of retail therefore often reuse an environment’s existing features or involve an intentionally minimal number of easily disassembled fixtures brought in specifically for the sale.