When it comes to standing out from the high street crowd, your retail business cannot afford to just be left to languish. You may have invested a great deal into making sure it looked good when you first opened, but as the years pass by you should not rest on your laurels.
Your business needs to be in a constant state of evolution. Look around you on the high street, or down the corridors of the shopping malls; the retail landscape is ever-changing. New stores open and some very old, well-established brands go under. Shoppers don’t have loyalty to set brands as much as they may have done in the past, and with a constantly shifting competition, you need to be changing the look and feel of your shop from time-to-time so that you do not appear tired or dated.
Refit Your Shop
One of the best ways to keep your retail business looking fresh and evolving on the high street is to invest in a refit. While this may be a costly endeavor, it should be seen as a long term investment. You will attract new business and renew your relationships with customers who may have forgotten about, or moved onto newer pastures.
Managing Your Shop Refit Process
When it comes to actually undertake the refit in your store, you will need to think about the logistics. You may need to be closed for some time, or, you may be able to do the work in stages and either close the store partially, or do the work out of hours. If you need to close, communicate it ahead of time to your customers and keep your online channels open so that you can still maintain some of your trade.
Hiring the right contractors to carry out any work that needs doing is vital as you will want to do this in a timely manner and the work needs to be of a high standard. If you are in a rented building, or within a shopping scheme you will need to ensure you have the necessary work permits and you will also need to plan appropriate waste disposal. Think about the times of the day that the work will be carried out and work out if there will be any disruption to neighboring stores.
Maintaining And Adapting Your Brand Identity
A refit is an excellent opportunity to reinvent your brand identity and your whole aesthetic. If you are already established though you should make sure that you retain some connection to any branding that you may have previously been using. You may want to keep a connection with a colour scheme, or a font set that you might have used.
Maintaining something of your existing branding is important as you should not attempt to throw away all of your hard work. If you can afford it, work with a branding consultant to find a way of bridging the link between your current and future aesthetics.
