How to Use Store Design to Improve Your Brand Image

By Romeo Cliff Richards

Why Do You Need to Apply Image Selling?

The retail business is showbiz. It is all about image, brand and style. It is about customer's perception of your brand and what it represents. The Body Shop in most people's mind represents ethics, Harrods represents class and Victoria Secret represents love.

When people enter a Body Shop store, they do so because they want to feel ethical. Products in the store were not tested on animals therefore certain individuals feel that by using products from there they are swaying their conscience.

Many of the products found on Harrods shop floor can be found in many other stores in the UK. However, people shop at Harrods even though it might be two or three times the price of other stores because it gives them the feeling of elegance.

When women want to go for a special date or when they want to surprise their significant other they shop for their special bedroom lingerie at Victoria Secret. Wearing lingerie from Victoria Secret gives them confidence.

These retailers have carved a place for themselves in the hearts of shoppers making them to associate their brand with those images. The images cultivated by those brands have been responsible for their phenomenal success in the retail industry.

Image selling is very essential for the success of any retail venture without which most retail businesses struggle.

What is Image Selling?

Image selling is basically selling the identity of your product or retail organization. Take for example Home Depot; the familiar name gives you a very simple idea of the quality of service and product. Image selling is the ability to market an idea that people cling onto which in the end creates a positive perception in their mind about a particular retail organization.

How to Apply Image Selling:

Image selling is required from the start as retail organizations needs to identify what they stand for or against. Are they going to be like The Body Shop and represent ethics, or like Harrods and represent class?

The image that is projected could be that of the philosophy of the founder. Maybe your retail store could represent fun, love or passion for life - it really does not matter but it is important that your brand is associated with something. To maintain that image, your store design should reflect that.

If the image you want to project is that of a fun-loving retailer, your stores need to be bright coloured and designed in a trendy and funky manner. If you want to project the image of an environmentally conscious retailer, then your store needs to be designed with green colour and all your fixtures need to be made from recyclable materials.

How to Implement Image Selling?

Follow the steps below to effectively market your image:

Step 1- Identify the image you want to be known for. It can either be the philosophy of the founder or the organization as a whole. It first needs to be identified along with an explanation of why you will want to be associated with a particular image.

Step 2- Communicate that image to your store designers in order for it to be incorporated into the store design blueprint.

Step 3- Design the store to reflect that image and every fixture, lighting and décor in the store needs to be congruent with that image.

Step 4- Ensure store managers and store associates are educated on your brand image. Their uniforms, actions and interactions with customers need to reflect your projected image.