April 12, 2022
A beautifully decked-out store ready for the Christmas season gets a lot of media attention and is also a hot spot for Christmas shoppers. Finding the right gift for your loved ones during the holiday season is so important, and if you can tie in that task with a good heaping of yuletide spirit, you’ll be well on your way to boosting your end-of-year profits.
Of course, how well you design and update your store for the season depends on what you have to work with. If you’ve already invested in your store’s design and refitted it with new furniture and design features, you’ll have a lot less work ahead of you than if you have an outdated look.
If you have that nailed down, then it’s time to design the ultimate Christmas shopping experience using this guide:
Upgrading your retail store so that it is beautiful, functional, and easy to understand is a must. The base bones of your store need to be in order before you get started on developing a Christmas store design. There are five key principles of retail store design. These principles include great display windows, a smart layout, and how you can maximise your space so that customers have an enjoyable experience from the moment you step in the door.
Your store’s exterior is your biggest opportunity to bring in customers and get some media action all at once. The biggest brands have massive kits that will completely transform the exterior of their building entirely, but smaller stores aren’t left in the dust. Hire someone to come and give your windows a magical treatment for the season (remember to have them paint the inside of your windows). Another way to make your exterior pop is to invest in heavy or hard-to-move décor pieces. For example, a giant nutcracker soldier can sit outside your store welcoming people in. You can also get garland, wreaths, and more.
How much you decorate your interior depends on your budget and what you sell. A clothes retailer will benefit more from minimal Christmas design elements like garland, ribbons, and maybe a tree. However, those that sell little knick-knacks and gifts can go all out – and make more. Rather than have all the Christmas decorations you have available for sale on shelves, use them to decorate. Have a sign that lets customers know all decorations they see inside the store are for sale, and you can not only wow your guests, but also increase your sales.
There are so many Christmas songs out there, but you don’t need to play the top ten for your customers to get into the spirit. If you want to give your customers a more whimsical shopping experience, for example, find instrumental renditions of Christmas songs. A piano or jazz cover of top hits can be a great option. Alternatively, looking for new Christmas songs or covers is a great way to add variety. More often than not, shoppers will hear the same Christmas songs, again and again, so adding some variety can help you improve their experience in your store.
Christmas is all about tradition, which means you can reuse décor. Sure, some things should change. If you have someone paint a mural on your window, for example, you can change it up yearly. However, the big investments you make for your own personal décor can and should be reused. This is particularly a good tip for classic and timeless pieces that could have been used a hundred years ago, just as they are today.
People love tradition around Christmas, especially if it brings them back to a timeless setting. That’s why it’s better to invest in your Christmas décor, even if you can only afford to buy one big piece per year. Your store will improve consistently, and you’ll give customers reasons to return (or write about you) repeatedly.
If you want to capitalise on social media efforts, you’ll want to start by creating social media accounts or at least refreshing them. You’ll then want to work on your photography skills to start taking great stock photos of your store dressed up for Christmas. From there, you’ll want to use outreach. Get in touch with local travel accounts or even city-wide travel accounts and input your store in the running for Christmas-themed content.
You can even encourage visitors to share your store. You can do this by having a photo wall, for example, where customers can come and take photos next to a great backdrop and then post (and tag you) on social media.
