A Few Changes To Your Consignment Store Design Can Make All The Difference

A fresh look. Sometimes that’s all it takes. By making a few quick changes to your consignment store design, you could increase sales.

Minimalism Should Be A Resale Trend

Often resale and consignment store design errs on the side of cluttered and overwhelming. Because you receive one of every item, displays tend to look jumbled and disorganized. People’s lives are filled with noise and distraction. Don’t overload their senses with your consignment store design. Group merchandise by color, style or category to simplify the overall look of your store. To make items appear more exclusive and curated, limit merchandise on racks and shelves. Make sure there’s plenty of room within the aisles. Read Avoid the “butt-brush” effect with these store layout designs.

Signage Needs To Talk

Barbara Crowhurst from Retail Makeover asks a key question, “Can prospective customers look at your store’s signage and tell exactly what you sell?” She added that changing the name of your shop isn’t what’s necessary. If shoppers can’t tell what you sell by your name, add a 5 – 7 word tagline that quickly identifies you. Never write signs by hand. Don’t make some signs in color and others in black and white. Be sure your signage is consistent on the inside and outside of your store. Read How to make the most of your signage – Infographic.

Shopping Involves All 5 Senses

It’s one thing to minimize inventory and easily guide shoppers through your store. Are you engaging all 5 of their senses in the shopping experience? Just as grocery stores use brightly colored produce in the front of their stores, you need to engage shoppers through pops of color and special lighting. Use a simple, familiar scent that matches your store’s surroundings and branding. Play ambient music geared to your target demographic to keep them in the store longer. Plus, brick & mortar stores survive because they let shoppers easily touch items. Whenever possible, let your customers enjoy a treat from you too.

Lighting Is The #1 Sales Influencer

Want to make more sales? Improve your store lighting:

• Illuminate every corner of your shop
• Create focal points. Repsly encourages use of incandescent lamps because “they’re sharper and brighter.” Dim the areas around the merchandise you’re highlighting to focus attention. If you’re using colored lights, “match the colors of your packaging or product to a light in the same color family.”
• Light each shelf carefully
• Brighten your cash wrap
• Pay particular attention to your front window. A dedicated light track is perfect for drawing attention to your displays.

A Hidden Branding Spot

​Don’t let the wall behind your cash counter be underutilized. Change the color of the wall to draw greater attention. If you’re renting, add color by buying canvasses or canvas drop cloths from your local discount or dollar store and paint them the latest popular color. For better branding, enlarge your logo image and place it on the wall behind your POS. Read 13 ways to improve your consignment shop cash wrap. Use this area as a focal point for impulse buying or marketing purposes. Most importantly, the register should never be a place for the staff to “just hang out.”

Be Sure To Look Up And Down

Believe it or not, your floor and ceiling speak volumes about the safety of your shop and your professionalism. Is your carpet worn and dirty? Does it lay flat? Is the ceiling clean and fresh or are you missing ceiling tiles? If so, negotiations with the landlord are a must for your success. Read 3 steps to avoid “Consignment Tunnel Vision.”

For more design tips:

How To Design Your Resale Store To Attract The Next Generation
6 Quick And Easy Changes That Will Improve Store Design
Choose One Of These 4 Store Layout Designs

Don’t you love funny signs? When a business shows their sense of humor by putting up a funny sign, it always makes me think, “I like these folks already.” I’m drawn to their cleverness and in some sense, fearlessness, when it comes to signage. Your store’s signs tell more about you than just your name. They convey your overall image (brand). Make sure your signs convey the message you want them to.

How important is it?

Before we go much further, let’s take a look at what the sign industry has to say about the importance of your signage. Statistics clearly show your signage is as important as your location, merchandising and marketing. The number that amazes me is “76% of shoppers entered a store for the first time based simply on the store’s sign.” Imagine, over 3/4 of first-time shoppers walked in strictly because they noticed your sign! Once inside, 67% indicated they purchased a product because a sign “caught their eye.” Conversely, 60% of shoppers said the absence of a sign deters them from even entering a store.

Your 24-hour salesperson

Your day has a start time and an end time, but your outdoor signage sells for you 24/7.  It serves as the main connection between you and your customers. If you have an existing shop, the issue of your sign has already been decided. New shop owners will have a lot of questions regarding zoning restrictions in your area. Can it be placed above your building? Is it only displayed over your shop’s door? Can it be lit? What about in front of my shop? Read Increase store traffic with these holiday ideas to find out how you can use a sandwich board sign to draw shoppers in. If you are renting your location, read your lease agreement carefully about restrictions and discuss your options with your landlord.

Another 24/7 sign is a car wrap. A car wrap covers your entire car with a custom design. It’s a mobile billboard. You can have the entire car wrapped or just a small portion. The price is determined by the type of wrap, the size of the car and how much you want covered by your design.

Why you should never, ever use handwritten signs

Always keep your customers and the type of store you own in mind when considering your in-store signage. Never, ever put up a handwritten sign. A handwritten sign immediately conveys there was a problem somewhere and now you’re trying to fix it with a band aid.  Fix the problem so you won’t need a sign explaining why the problem exists. Always consider your message from your customers point of view. If a sign written by an employee appears at the register and says, “We no longer accept checks” it clearly conveys the shop had a problem with bounced checks or high fees. To the shopper, it says you are unwilling to deal with the problem to make purchases easier for them.

Build your brand with signage

As a part of your overall visual communication, the signs in front and inside your store should reinforce your shop’s branding. You want the look and feel of your signage to match that of your shop. Color is extremely important in defining your brand. Studies have shown the majority of brand recognition comes from the color of the logo. Think Coke red or McDonald’s yellow arches. Do you have a high end furniture or clothing shop? Then, make sure the color and design of your signage conveys a feeling of elegance. Burgundy red, deep purple and black are colors associated with sophistication. If the brand or mood you want to convey is youthful, your signs should be colorful, bright and definitely fun. Use the same typeface (font) you use in your logo or use your logo itself.

Signs should be visual cues to shoppers

There should never be a time when a customer is wandering aimlessly. Your signs should tell them exactly what they’re seeing and what’s to come down the aisles. Draw attention with your signs to special promotions, events and sales. Make sure they give clear instructions for the location of restrooms, dressing rooms and checkout. Something as simple as changing your in-store signage can give a fresh, new feel to your shop and build curiosity in customers. Try creating a special holiday promotion and change your in-store signage to tie in with the theme.

However you choose to do it, building your brand with your signage reinforces what consumers expect from you. Don’t think it doesn’t matter.