Part 1: How to draw the customer’s eye

Sight is the most stimulated sense. In fact, 80% of all information reaches human beings through their eyes. Our consumer habits and the ever-growing number of products available have increased the need to use new marketing techniques to meet the needs and demands of customers. Since the first contact with the customer is visual, it will initiate the purchase. The basic principle is that, for a product or service to be sold, it must be promoted. It’s therefore important to pay special attention to the choice of colours and the shape of the product and to the layout of the sales premises.

How to stage and promote your products

With the product design

1. Tell a story by staging your products.Creating layouts with impact, arranging your items in an appealing way and selecting the right displays are all ways to influence and trigger a purchase. Even if you don’t own the premises where your shop is located and it may be difficult to provide it with original architecture, you can act on the staging of your products and on the appeal of your shop.

2. Rather than “merely” hanging or setting down a product, try to convince your customers: why should they choose it instead of another one? Although it does meet one of their needs, telling a story will enable you:

to interest the customer in a product they may not have considered
to finish convincing them if they are considering buying
to tell a story about the product. This means explaining where it was made (Made in Belgium...), under what conditions (fairtrade, short circuits...), with what materials (organic...).

3. Separate your products according to your customers’ profile! If you sell products aimed at both women and men, or children and adults, separate departments by creating a visual barrier (clear signage), or with a physical one, such as a counter. This will save the customers’ time, and also ensure that they don't feel uncomfortable: for example, we know that some men feel out of place in the women’s wear department.

4. Find your own style, which will give your space a strong character and keep it on-trend. Kitsch, classic, eco-friendly, minimalist, boho-chic… the possibilities are endless!

2D café décors have appeared in several Asian countries (South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, etc.).

5. This also holds true for restaurants. The arrival of dishes provides an opportunity to appeal to the diners’ eyes. Original dishware, careful setting and a touch of fantasy are non-negligible assets to seduce your customers.

6. If you’re unsure, ask a professional retail outlet designer. They will know how to transcribe your personality and the positioning of your business through a tailormade design.

Explore all of these options in our guide: 27 strategies for showcasing your products.

With lighting

7. Position your lighting carefully. It’s as important as the layout and decoration of your premises. It will enable you to create a more welcoming, lighter atmosphere more in sync with the brand or products represented. Take the contrary approach! Some restaurants provide an “in the dark” experience. Lack of visibility stimulates the other senses and highlights smells, sounds, tactile sensations...

For example, the Dinner in the Dark experience offered in Brussels in 2020.

Or "Dans le Noir", a restaurant that will reopen its doors in the Warwick Hotel Thursday to Saturday evenings.

8. Adjust the lighting to the product, the type of shop, to its size, to its location and to the sales policy. All of these criteria must be taken into account during your analysis of the installation. The lighting of you retail outlet starts with your window. Did you know that 30% to 40% of your turnover depends on the appeal of your window?

Consult our guide to take the layout of your window further: 41 tricks to boost your window

9. Light the areas where your team members spend most of their time. A human presence reassures people and that’s what most buyers are looking for in brick-and-mortar shops. The fact that sales staff are not immediately available is often reported as a major pain point in the shopping experience.

10. Stimulate the customers as soon as they enter your shop. The lighting of the area where you welcome customers can be done with LED tubes which provide bright, white light.

11. Play with the light according to your dominant colours. Use warm light over red, pink, yellow and orange colours. On the other hand, use a cold, white LED projector for white and blue tones.

With video

12. Draw in your customers with video. Video is informative and convincing. It will contribute to promoting your products and services effectively. It will generate traffic in your shop or on your website. Videos will collect likes, shares and comments on social networks, which will increase your name recognition.

13. Highlight your know-how via video. This will contribute to improving your brand image and highlighting your originality.

14. Interact with your customers live: let them experience your story (Storyliving). Provide content that enables consumers to live a unique experience with you. The different types of content used most frequently include making-ofs, interviews, tutorials and original videos.

15. Highlight your shop’s strategic sections by installing displays.

With colour

16. Make colours talk to each other. Choose a dominant colour, the one that will predominate in your décor (80%). Highlight it with two other colours in smaller quantities (15% and 5%). Be careful: combining too many key colours in the same proportion will create a lack of harmony.

17. Use light colours to increase the impression of space in your premises.

18. If you sell high-end products, choose black, which evokes luxury, elegance and class. It also symbolises refinement, and even mystery.

19. White is also ideal if you sell health or hygiene products, as it symbolises cleanliness.

20. For the ceiling, choose light tones to maximise the natural light. Although the colour of your ceiling doesn’t have a direct impact with artificial lighting, it’s essential for distributing natural light to the back of your shop. Making the most of natural light also reduces your electricity consumption.

21. The use of pastel colours will make the ceiling look higher.

22. Avoid black and dark colours in your window display. They can create a mirror effect, preventing passers-by from clearly seeing the items on display. Your shop’s colour scheme should be evident before customers even set foot inside (on the shopfront and in the window). Colour coordination is a key aspect of the general atmosphere of your shop, and this includes your window.

23. Adapt your colours to the seasons.

Yellow is used quite a bit during sales seasons
Emphasise pink, red and silver for Valentine's Day
As spring arrives, switch to green, or tones/combinations which refer to nature
Of course, orange is a must for Halloween
A combination of red and green is recommended for the end of the year, as are bright colours.

Get more ideas HERE

24. Don't neglect the colour of your logo, which will elicit different emotions.

25. Wrapping items with lively, bright colours will make the products look larger. Do you sell waffles or chips? Send them in a bright wrapper and your customers will immediately think that they are larger.

Explore all of these options in our guide: 27 ideas to live life in colour

How to lay out your space

26. Design your display window so that it’s visible from far away outside.

27. Let the customers’ eye travel through the premises, ideally to the back of the shop, so that they can get a good idea of what's for sale.

28. Arrange your interior with a promotional stand updated on a regular basis. The stand should be positioned at the entrance to the point of sale so that customers have to see it.