The role of the high street store has changed, instead of all efforts being put into selling products and driving revenue, retailers are putting more and more time into creating immersive customer-orientated experiences to build a stronger relationship with their audience. Online purchasing has become a primary channel for sales and as such, the overall ambition for retail stores has also adapted.
Many brick-and-mortar retailers are making a comeback by offering their customers something a little different, using new techniques and technology to showcase their brand, driving awareness and bringing more traffic through the door. In this blog, we will cover our top 3 favourite approaches to creating an immersive customer experience and how you can apply them.
Connecting with Customers
At the heart of retail theatre is the enhanced customer experience, providing a space that doesn’t focus entirely on getting products off the shelf but on creating a shop to immerse your audience in your brand.
Inviting potential customers to get a better understanding of your brand character and enabling them to interact and get closer to your offering can leave a strong impression on those who do see and engage with your brand, resulting in long-lasting and valuable relationships.
A straightforward solution to directly engaging with your audience could be to encourage guests to share their time in your store using a branded “selfie wall”. This is a designated area with an eyecatching backdrop for customers to take photos and share on their social platforms.
For a more digital approach, a multimedia display can provide a heap of entertainment opportunities from digital content like images, films and graphics. Also provides the ability for the customer to interact with what’s on-screen, opening opportunities to display online catalogues, applications and even games.
Eye-catching Window Displays
To provide the greatest experiential retail space you need to first grab the attention of potential customers who are passing by and attract them into your store. Your front of house display is often what current and prospective customers see first so creating a tangible offering or display has the potential to hook attention immediately.
Just like in-store, adding animation or video to your window display with digital screens allows you to tell a story and inform the public of your brand. Make a bold statement with the application of illuminated displays and hanging lightboxes, or be playful with your design and branding by using illuminated letters and shapes.
Decisive Retail Layout
With a winning window display and emerging opportunities in-store to interact with customers, the same train of thought should be applied to your store layout. Thinking about where visitors frequently travel, the direction they move to browse products or even where most customers head to first.
Creating a hassle-free and interesting display of what you have to offer, using a variety of floor-standing display units, shelving and counter-top units to inform potential customers what your brand provides and for your current consumers to find what they love.
Displays can draw attention to your products, as well as continue to showcase your brand identity. Finding a retail display that is perfect for your requirements can be difficult if you have something really unique in mind, luckily, our in-house design and manufacturing team can help create your perfect bespoke display for your store.
Online Shopping has become the most popular purchasing channel because of convenience and speed, but this just opens a new opportunity for the high street to improve the customers’ relationship with their favourite brands, creating a retail theatre experience that is bold, playful and even daring is a surefire way to connect with your customers and create engagement which will last.
If you wish to check out any of the products mentioned in this blog, be sure to view Luminati’s full range of standard products on our website or get in touch with our sales team on 01752 698720
