Creating the Perfect Shop Front for Your Business
First impressions are perhaps never more important than when you are trying to entice customers into your shop. The perfect shop front can be the difference between success and failure.
It’s rare that you open a shop that has no competitors in your area, so you need to find a way to stand out immediately. Perhaps the best way to separate yourself from your competition is with a stunning looking shop front.
You have to see the outside of a shop before seeing what lies inside, so having a catchy shop front that perfectly represents what you sell is one of the most vital parts of running a successful retail business.
Why is it Important?
The branding of your business starts with your shop front, and having a clear and unique identity will appeal to more customers.
When you think of shops, the likelihood is that some big name retailers pop into your mind. But what it is that you think of first? Is it what they sell?
A large percentage of the time the main association you have with a shop is its branding, logo and colour scheme, and it is the success of this brand identity that leads to the popularity that these big names enjoy.
If you want to put yourself up towards the top of the list, you need a design that people will notice, and that they will remember.
Banners
When it comes to putting together the perfect shop front, nothing is more important than your banner. Your banner is the first thing people will look at, and their decision as to whether or not to walk into your shop will be based heavily on their reaction to it.
There is a lot of creative freedom when it comes to creating the perfect banner, but there are some things that have to be included if it’s going to work.
Firstly, and obviously, you need to include your shop name, but you also need to pay careful attention to the font and colours that you use for this.
A font that is difficult to read, or colours in the shop name and background that are too close together or clash, will make the name of your shop harder to read, which will, clearly, affect your branding.
When it comes to style, you need to find something that matches what you sell. If you are selling antiques, for example, then perhaps a modern, flashy design is not what you are looking for, however if you have opened a quirky, arty coffee shop, then such a design would be perfect, whereas a more traditional, classic style would not match as well.
Finding the right banner is incredibly important, so ensure that you choose wisely and find the right provider.
Brand Matching
Once you have selected your banner, you should then follow the style, font, and tone through in all other aspects of your branding.
Websites, business cards, and other marketing tools are all incredibly useful, but if your branding is not consistent across all of these mediums, then it is likely to cause confusion.
To create the perfect shop front, all you really need is your shop name to be legible, and the branding to match what you sell, after that you are free to be as creative as you want to produce the shop front that will best suit your business, and attract the most interest from your prospective customers.
Lee Reeves is the Managing Director of Signs & Print, who provide signage for shop fascias, interior branding, window graphics, vehicle livery, PVC banners and much more.