How to Renovate Your Workplace or Store: Top Design Tips for 2022

Just as homes can become outdated and tacky, so can stores and offices. If you think your business idea is evergreen or there isn’t much value in redesigning your store for modern audiences, think again. Competition is fierce, and not only do you need to keep up with the look and feel of your street (or else risk becoming an eyesore) you also need to consider how to bring in new customers all the time. Your old loyal customers may move, new generations will come in, and you need to continually consider how you can improve the look of your store and the business model as a whole.

 

This is particularly important for mid-to-luxury businesses, whose customers expect an elevated experience from the moment they walk through the door. However, just because your business may not fall into that category does not mean you are immune. If you haven’t updated your design in decades, now is the time to make the investment. This is particularly true if the street you are on has gentrified, and your business has started to stick out like a sore thumb.

 

When it comes to upgrades, you are almost always going to be better off hiring office fit out contractors who can help you design and bring to life your office or shop fit-out goals. Use professional services to bring your office, restaurant, or shop back to life, and consider these top trends for 2022 to get your creative ideas flowing:

 

Brand Storytelling

Connecting with customers means more than letting your products speak for themselves. If your brand has a unique ethos or approach (particularly towards sustainability or originality), then it’s time to put that front and center.

 

Overall, there are three key characteristics when it comes to brand storytelling. You’ll need the following:

  1. Authenticity
  2. To connect with your audience
  3. A unique narrative that helps you stand out

While most of your brand storytelling efforts will typically be from a marketing standpoint, you should never forget to bring that brand identity into your physical spaces. From using the same color scheme to even integrating design concepts that work with your overall values. If you pride yourself on your flexibility, for example, carry that design into your workspace with flowing lines and organic features rather than hard, rigid design details.

 

Use Technology (and When Not To)

Technology can immediately help modernize the shopping experience, but it’s important to consider how you add technology before you jump in. The costs of adding new tools and toys can be very expensive, and the payoff may not be worth it overall. Unless you’re a big brand looking for new ways to stay at the front of the back, keeping a hybrid approach to any tech investments you make is best.

 

One way to make your business properly hybrid is to let customers flip between the online and brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Let them reserve pieces to try on in store for a few hours, for example, or let them easily save items they try on and like, but may not have the money for at the moment online.

 

It’s also becoming increasingly popular to let shoppers buy items on credit. Rather than make one large payment upfront, they can instead use a system that lets them spread out payments to make shopping more accessible.

 

Be Sustainable

Sustainability is a must for every company, and it’s not just for the sake of public perception, either. Going green can help you prepare your company for future changes to regulation, can help prevent issues if there’s another hold-up like the pandemic caused, and can also reduce your utility costs.

 

The best part is that you can use these money-saving and future-proofing efforts to then market your business to your customers. Examples of how you can do this in-store include using sustainable materials in your refit, having a second-hand section, a renting model, or even a recycling program. Add in simple but effective snippets that assure your customers your company is a good choice to support.

 

Add in comfortable, beautiful designs with these green initiatives, and you have a trending store design that helps you bring in more customers through various business models.

 

Give Customers Space

Don’t overload customers with too many products on the floor, small aisles, and camped design. If you run a small shop, it’s almost always better to put a sample style on the floor and sign that the sizes are all in the back. Shoe stores have used this model for decades to great effect. What this means for small stores is that you can focus on design. Aim to create a balanced space that brings customers naturally through the store and gives them a beautiful space to try things on (or wait).

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
CAPTCHA
This question is for preventing automated spam submissions.