Get answers to frequently asked questions about retail design and installation
We want to help you move beyond an ordinary retail store and create an engaging, interesting, and welcoming space that stands out.
This comes down to retail design and installation—leveraging millwork, fixtures, graphics, lighting, store layout, and more to create a store environment that inspires and drives sales.
In this blog we answer the most frequently asked questions about retail design, retail installation, visual merchandising, and product merchandising.
Q. What is retail installation?
A. Retail installation is the planning, design, construction, and installation of fixtures, millwork, graphics, and signage to ensure easy customer flow and clear product awareness and brand image.
The goal of every retail installation is to create a space where customers and employees feel at ease, relaxed, and supported as they browse, shop, and connect with your products and brand.
A positive customer experience is tied directly to your retail installation.
Q. What questions should I ask to create the best retail installation possible for my brand?
A. Use these four questions to help you create the best retail installation possible for your brand:
- How do your customers perceive your brand? Make sure your retail design and installation aligns with how your customers see you or want to see you.
Remember, for most people, brands symbolize aspirations–more athletic, rugged, wealthy, Zen, natural, outdoorsy, etc. How does your store design communicate these aspirations? - Why are people visiting my store? It’s important to understand what compels people to visit your store. Are they looking for specific products? Are they interested in product demonstrations and workshops? Pay attention to how people move around in and use your store.
- Who are your customers? How old are they, what are they interested in, what is their income range, why do they shop in brick-and-mortar stores? This information is vital to creating a retail design and installation that meets the needs of your customers.
- What are your competitors doing? Do your research and learn what they’re doing, what’s working (and not), and who is visiting their stores.
Q. What are the four rules of retail design and installation?
A. The four rules of retail design and installation are:
- People shop with their senses.
- Retail fixtures are part of your sales team.
- Your store is for your customers – not you.
- Great products cannot compensate for poor retail design.
Q. What is the retail display installation process?
A. The retail display installation process includes planning, researching, designing, building, installing, finessing, and maintaining your entire brick-and-mortar retail store.
- Site Survey and Space Planning: Site surveys and space planning help you optimize your physical layout by documenting existing infrastructure and analyzing customer traffic patterns to maximize sales potential.
This enables you to strategically arrange merchandise, fixtures, and displays to create an engaging shopping experience that guides customers through the store and increases product visibility. - Planning and Research: Our team learns about your brand, store ethos, customers and market, and vision for your brick-and-mortar location. We want to know the who, what, how, and why behind your products and brand.
- Design: Rely on our expertise and guidance to choose the best millwork, fixtures, lighting, signage, graphics, and store layout for your brand and products.
- Assembly and Install: Our local team of project managers and store display installers receive, assemble, and install your retail displays, fixtures, millwork, lighting, window displays, and signage – bringing your vision to life.
- Merchandising and Finessing: It’s time to display your products and make any final tweaks to retail fixture placement and store layout.
- Maintenance and Logistics: Keep your retail store looking good with preventive and reactive maintenance and take advantage of our logistics expertise for your seasonal fixtures and store inventory.
Q. How should I choose retail displays for my store?
A. To choose retail displays for your store, think about your customers, products, retail space, sales team, and why people shop:
- Think of your customers. Who are they? What do they want from your store? Why are they choosing your store?
- Think of your products. What are you selling? How can you showcase product features? How can you make your products appealing?
- Think of the five senses. How can your store design connect your products with your customers? Consider how sight, touch, smell, sound, and taste can foster brand loyalty, increase awareness, and spark customer desire.
- Think of your retail space. What is the best way for people to move through it? What did you learn from the site survey? What are your retail goals?
- Think of your sales team. What are their biggest challenges? How can you make it easier for them to do their jobs?
Q. What is retail millwork?
A. Retail millwork includes shelving, display cabinets and cases, cabinets, point-of-sale systems, signage, slatwalls, furniture, molding, and trim—all essential for shaping your store’s vibe and brand identity.
Millwork is how you communicate your ethos, brand, and mission. This is what draws people to your store and your brand.
Q. What should I expect from my retail millwork?
A. You should expect your retail millwork to help you connect with your customers, delivering:
- Brand Identity: The texture, finish, materials, and overall style of your millwork tells your customers who you are and what you mean to them. Think of luxury brands using dark mahogany shelving, plush leather seating, and the latest technology.
- Aesthetic Appeal: Compare the stark shelving used in Costco to how shelving, display cases, racks, and more are used in LEGO stores. As soon as people walk in, they expect a specific experience and level of service.
- Functional Design: Your millwork has one job – to promote and sell your products. Great millwork can help sell less-than-great products but sub-par millwork and retail design will let down even the best products.
- Visual Merchandising: From the decompression zone, through the store and to the cash, your millwork should guide customers to your featured products, making it easy for them to browse and buy.
- Personalization: When choosing and installing your millwork remember your customers choose to shop in brick-and-mortar because they want to do more than buy a thing – they want community, identity, support, communication, and everything in between.
Q. How can I incorporate my brand identity into my retail store design?
A. To incorporate your brand identity into your retail store design, focus on the 7 core elements of retail store design:
- Window Displays
The first thing people see is your window display. You have about 2 seconds to grab the attention of someone walking by. Put your brand identity and story on full show in your window display. - Graphics
Graphic installations and signage including banners, films, floor graphics, 3D lettering, wallpapers, murals, and cut letters are key to expressing your brand identity and making it easy for people to relax and spend time in your store. - Color
Quick – what color is the Ikea logo? Blue and yellow. You know this because Ikea stands out for how well they incorporate these colors into their retail stores and all their marketing and merchandising. - Millwork
Creative use of millwork and fixtures allows you to show off your message, personality, vibe, and value through-out your store. Remember your story and what customers expect and want from your story – it’s important your millwork communicates this. - Lighting
Walk into any LEGO store and you feel inspired, curious, and drawn to displays – all thanks to the lighting. And while there is a lot happening in LEGO stores, the stores do not feel hectic or busy. This is due to the light – it’s transparent, simple, and subtle. Giving you a feeling of space and calm amidst the energy of lots of little kids (and big ones) rushing to their favorite LEGO sets and interactive displays. - Space and Store Layout
Space and store layout are key visual merchandising tools for guiding people through your story and directing them to key sales areas. Think of how you position millwork and use design strategies like curves, sharp angles, interactive displays, and relaxation zones.
Your store layout needs to suit the shopping style and mood of your customers and products. A loop store layout gives shoppers a guided and supported shopping experience. A grid layout makes it easy for people to pick and choose their aisles and shop for specific products. A free-flow layout encourages discovery, browsing, and serendipity. A fixed path layout with showrooms, shop-in-shops, and hands-on displays encourages impulse shopping. - Consistency
Nike. Apple. Ikea. LEGO. Patagonia. Decathlon. Uniqlo. Starbucks. They are all consistent. While each store has a unique personality, you know what you will get.
Every aspect of your retail store design is part of a thread connecting your marketing, sales, customer service, and products into a cohesive brand experience. You need to consistently remind people why they feel connected to your brand and why you are the right (and only) choice for them.
Q. What are some sustainable retail design strategies I can use in my store?
A. Here are some sustainable retail design strategies that you can use in your store:
- Recycled and recyclable retail fixtures
- Environmentally friendly and sustainable building materials
- LED lighting and climate control
- Make it easy to recycle in-store
- Encourage customers to drop off their gently used products so they can be repurposed, donated, and reused
- LEED certification to enhance your store’s environmental sustainability
Q. What is product merchandising?
A. Product merchandising is the strategic planning and presentation of products within a store to encourage sales and create a positive shopping experience.
A significant aspect of product merchandising is visual merchandising, which involves the use of color, space, lighting, sound, store layout, commercial fixtures, window displays, and graphic displays.
Together these key retail design and installation components create an environment that is welcoming, engaging, supportive, and creates a feeling of ease and comfort.
Dynamic Knows Retail Design and Installation
No one understands retail design and installation better than Dynamic. Here’s a look at some of our projects:
- Aston Martin – Driven To New Heights: We completed the millwork and fixture installation for the very first “ultra-luxury” Aston Martin Flagship Showroom, “Q New York” on Park Avenue in New York City.
- Drunk Elephant – An Intoxicating Experience: This highly Instagrammable five-day pop-up in Paris was produced for Drunk Elephant, a major skincare brand. This pop-up, House of Drunk, was a two-story space dressed in the brand’s colorful and playful motifs, featuring unique and immersive experiences and activities, a cocktail bar, and live DJs.
- Joe & The Juice – A Refreshing Experience: Partnering with their internal team, Dynamic worked with Joe & The Juice to provide an entire store build out in Stanstead Airport, London. This included the construction of all walls, lighting, finishing, and the installation of the bar and all appliances, in addition to managing multiple subcontractors.
- Nike – Together We Just Do It: For 17 plus years, Dynamic has provided Nike with everything from large construction management to shop-in-shop installations, graphic change outs, and custom one-off initiatives for special events and product launches.
At Dynamic, our unique combination of IN-HOUSE offerings makes us your single source provider for all your retail design, planning, installation, and construction needs. No one understands retail installation better than we do.
Contact us to learn how we handle any aspect of your business–from an individual retail store to a global roll out. We are here for you.