12 Tips to Use Store Display Fixtures for a Seamless Customer Journey

Our brain is lazy, and it usually needs some kind of motivation to grab attention. For example, an entertaining experience can be a common form of motivator that grabs our attention.

That’s what makes visual merchandising really an important thing, because it creates visual focal points right upfront at the eye level.

With the right placement of display fixtures, your only job is to guide eye movement as your customers move through the transition zone. The feet always follow the eyes, and creating a visual experience that piques the interest of the customer is a must. 

Making every focal point an opportunity for transaction is the main goal here for every business displaying its products!

So if you map out your customer movement throughout the store, you can identify if your store layout will work or not. How you lay out your store pretty much tells a lot about how people will shop your store. Below are some practical tips to aid your customer journey.

How Fixtures in your Store have a Positive Impact on Customers’ Experience

The following are some ways through which fixtures make the overall customer experience extremely pleasant and engaging. Let’s have a look.

1- Space planning on the Blank Canvas

Before you buy a single piece of furniture for your newly launched store, design a space plan on a blank canvas.

On a blank canvas, you don’t have any limitations. You can take into account your given space, and then you put fixtures accordingly that fit perfectly, instead of overcrowding the space.

But if you have already bought fixtures, it becomes quite a challenge to make them look good while being strategic about how to allocate the categories in the right places for a smoother customer experience.

You have to be very strategic, intentional, and relevant about it. With this approach, you will know where to put the fixture that doesn’t take too much space, where to put the table, where to hang the pegboard, what the next category will be, what fixtures go there, and so on.

So the first thing will always be a blank canvas space plan.

2- If you don’t have a blank space, start with a floor plan

If you already have a running store and can’t start with a blank slate, look at the things you can move. Refresh your store display with the right placement of fixtures. For this, you can take two routes:

1. If your display plan is already working, take a picture or sketch to keep the measurements intact and use it as a template for future usage.
2. If the plan can be improved, sketch with the right measurements of the store to see where the already available fixtures can sit well. For sketching, you can use different digital tools like:

• Illustrator
• CAD
• SketchUp
• PowerPoint
• Grid paper

Anything that works well and suits your requirements to redesign your floor plans.

3- Premium placement position

Clean, simple, and organized should be your motto when it comes to placement.
The placement of your fixtures primarily depends on the type of products that will be displayed.
We mostly put items in 3 main categories:

1. Frequently bought items
2. Destination items
3. Impulse items

Depending upon your floor plan, you can adjust each category in a way that could get the most traction.

Like, you can place gondola shelving near the checkout counter and put impulse goods there. Or you can place a pegboard on the right side of your store to put your destination items. Or place a table in the middle of your store where you put your frequently bought items.

Again, it all depends on how strategically you place your fixtures, which could take less space but give the most visibility to your products and help customers decide.

4. Uniform Fixture

Remember, customers today do not want their brains to experience sensory overload as they already have a lot on their minds. For this, your fixtures should be uniform instead of being visually a mess and chaotic.

If you have randomly placed fixtures, you can place them in order, like a color order or thematic order, or use context to create a story with your display (we will discuss this in a later section).

That’s how you can make a visually appealing journey for your customer to get interested and follow the floor plan accordingly.

5. Departmentalize your products

Put all your products in certain categories based on either color or function. Then create a story, a context, with all the items that really belong together in one place.

That’s how it not only helps you with the fixture placement but also helps customers wandering around between aisles trying to find the right product.

For example, if I am buying a shirt, I should be able to find a matching hat in the given space as well.

Another way is to create a color story. For example, if Christmas is coming up, you can create a story by showcasing all the white and red to create a fine gift basket. That’s how departmentalization and categorization work well to create a cohesive shopping experience for the customers.

6- Subtraction Method

Customers will see more of your product line if you take some of it off.

In simpler words, Be minimalist with your display.

If you have limited floor space, don’t try to accumulate too many fixtures that take up floor space.

Try to use boards, slatwalls, gridwalls, or standing racks to reduce visual friction and keep maximum space for patron movement. If there is too much to absorb for the customers, it will overwhelm them. Studies also favor minimalist displays, as an average customer sees only 40% of your product display.

7- Power Wall

Studies show that about 90% of customers move to the right when they come into the store. That’s where your power wall should be. It highly depends on the type of your retail store.

On your power wall, you can adjust fixtures that allow maximum display of the products you want your customers to be most interested in.

For example, if you are a grocery store, you might place impulse goods on your power wall so when customers are done with their shopping and line up for checkout, they can take one or more goods off the wall.

8. Try to create a story

If you can, try to create a very cohesive story.
Use similar colors, themes, or functions to put context behind the placement of fixtures and the products displayed.
Play with different shades of color. If there is a festival coming, use that theme to create relevance and more traction. That’s how people will be more inclined to interact with the setup because you are aiding their imagination, and they would love to buy.

9. Environmental Psychology

By environmental psychology, we mean how people react to certain things in an environment. To engage your customers with the products, you should be very well aware of your store environment. For that, you need to audit it every few months to see:

• If the floor plan is still working.
• If there is any friction between the aisles.
• If we have a cohesive fixture placement.
• If we can tell a story with our display.
• Does my brain have to work more or less as I step inside the store?
• If there is any dirt on my fixtures.
• If my fixtures are relevant to the type of product displayed on them.

If you can answer these basic questions, you can keep your store environment in check.

10. Backdrops/Wall Coverings 

It may sound shallow, but backdrops and pop-up colors can really grab attention. You can use a catchy color scheme or backdrop at the back of your store to attract customers. Why the back of the store? Because that’s the area where fewer customers go.
So with popping shades, you can intrigue their curiosity to check out or engage.

11. Style your mannequins

A very subtle thing to do, but it can create a lot of impact. Instead of just putting clothes on the mannequins, try to accessorize them. It helps customers see the potential and visualize how it’s going to look with the matching accessories.

12. Refresh your design 

And lastly, every now and then, try to refresh your display by moving fixtures. For this, instead of installing hard-wired fixtures, use movable and temporarily attached ones that you can rearrange. Ultimately, this will give your store a new look and your customers a unique experience.

Visual Merchandising for Small Businesses

What big brands do that small retailers implement immediately? I’ve listed a few things you can do as a small business to instantly boost your store visually.

Little tweaks you can implement today in your store

If you don’t want to make big changes in your already set store, you can do some small tweaks.

1. Look at your Standards 

Customers put a label on your store the moment they walk in. Is it a premium store? Am I going to buy from them? Is it worth spending my time in?
So always keep your standards high.

• Invest in cleaning your store every day.
• Fix your fixtures every few months.
• Don’t use fixtures that don’t align with the overall look of your store.
• Use a signature scent or music to create relevance every time a person steps into your store.

2. Rezone your Sections 

Set categories and group your products that fall in that category.

Categories can be of two types.

A. Product Type/Commodity Merchandising

When you curate a grouping, try to create new types of groups. For example, instead of putting all the products on a single table, place a mannequin beside it to display one of the folded products on it.

B- Lifestyle Merchandising

When you create context with your products. 

For example, you can create a whole dedicated section for formal clothing on one side. 

Incorporate technology

You cannot predict when your customer is going to purchase. Although they might be looking at your product, they are planning to buy it later. And that’s where e-commerce comes in.

Now, customer experience isn’t just confined to stores; it is stretched online. A customer visiting your store could have made up their mind, but instead of buying on the spot, they could buy online because they liked your product. 

Put QR codes beside your products on the fixtures to make sure that if a person intends to buy online, they have a way to do it instantly.

Collaborations

Another way to create an engaging customer experience is by collaborating with other stores for pop-ups or pop-ins. Also, you can collaborate with your local floral store and attract their audience as well.

Or you can decorate a single portion of your store to capture the most attention. During the festive season, you can partner with stores that handle decorations and light up your store while giving them credit.

Let’s Wrap

Now you are ready to give your store a fresh look.

Using the right store display fixtures is a simple yet effective way to improve the overall customer experience throughout the journey.

Different retail display fixtures, such as slatwall panels and cigarette racks, must be strategically placed for product accessibility.

Therefore, customizing display units can make a significant impact on the store’s layout and the customer’s shopping journey.