Updating a workplace to incorporate the latest design trends can provide multiple benefits to just about any business – including retailers, writes Southern Office Furniture …
Whether it's a fashion retail store or a home furniture store, smart and modern interior design choices can help transform the shopping experience for customers.
There are many businesses now that are making brave and bold design choices when it comes to their retail stores – updated colour schemes, rebranding, and even changing up floor layout plans are just some ways companies are competing to make their stores more appealing to customers. And in order for retailers to provide an interesting and memorable shopping experience for customers, more attention needs to be paid to the interior design of the shopfloor – so here are some modern workplace designs that are trending right now in the retail industry …
Transforming customer experience
Over time, the interior design of retail spaces has transformed, allowing for more modern and creative designs to be incorporated. There are many more shops and department stores that are aiming to transform the ways in which customers shop.
Some of the current retail design trends changing the shopper experience include adding more emphasis to customer browsing, rather than buying. In the past, customer transactions used to be the primary focus, but now customer experience seems to be just as important. One of the main aims is to provide a satisfying experience for customers so they're more likely to return in the future. Through better product presentation and store layouts, retailers can provide a good shopping experience that customers will remember.
Incorporating biophilic designs
Another growing trend in the retail industry is the use of biophilic designs in interior spaces. Biophilic design is an interior design concept in the building industry that aims to increase the connectivity between indoor spaces and the natural environment. Many companies are transforming their interiors to include more natural elements such as wood, stone and plants, to help enhance shopper experience. And while retail spaces often use bright fluorescent lighting, more are starting to use glass features and skylights to help add more natural light to the shopfloor.
In today’s modern workspaces, more and more retail companies are adopting a more environmentally-friendly design to their shop environment to not only appeal to shoppers, but to employees as well. Plenty of shopfloors now incorporate more indoor plants and natural lighting to help create a better work environment for employees.
With a lighter and more environmentally-friendly workspace, employees can start to feel the benefits of this on their productivity and motivation at work. According to a workplace design survey we carried out, 70.2% of 25-34 year-olds feel that workplace design plays an important role in engagement and satisfaction levels at work.
Workplace designs inspired by nature have also started to take this concept to a whole new level with flooring, colours and decor mimicking the outdoors. Using biophilic designs in retail interiors can help to create not just a functional and aesthetic retail space, but also a space that can improve the mental wellbeing of customers and employees.
Making bolder design choices
Retail companies are now also taking brave steps towards creating eye-catching displays and product layouts for customers. To make the retail experience more memorable, many companies are now incorporating bolder designs, colours, and patterns in their interiors.
For example, recently the Louis Vuitton store renovation in West London had a bold and impressive makeover, courtesy of American architect Peter Marino. The renovation included bold design choices including bright furnishings, creative artwork and even impressive flooring designs such as checkerboard-pattern rugs. By incorporating trendy artwork and eye-catching designs, customers are more likely to spend more time in-store, and are likely to tell others about it, too.
While using bold colours and patterns in retail might be a brave move, doing it the right way can lead to an impressive and modern retail space that customers will enjoy.
