Considering how much energy and research you put into selecting the merchandise for your store, it’s surprising how often store owners make serious mistakes when it comes to retail design. Even small missteps can put off potential shoppers instead of attracting them. Here are six retail design mistakes you should avoid:1. Not being uniquely you in every regard.

The fixtures you choose (or custom design), the colors you use, the way you display your merchandise, and every other detail must consistently reflect your store’s unique brand. If they don’t, customers will have a tough time figuring out who you are as a store. Confusion kills sales.

And speaking of confusion, failure to create a floor plan that makes navigation easy and engaging will also kill sales. If customers can’t quickly find what they want, they’ll leave. And if you don’t lead them past tempting displays, customers will never discover that unplanned “find.”

2. Getting the lighting wrong.

We all intuitively know when a store’s atmosphere feels “off.” Often, that happens when the wrong type of lighting is used. Warehouse-style stores require different light levels and color than an intimate boutique. Light that makes you want to check out that row of lawn mowers is not the same as light that makes you want to examine those gorgeous rings up close.

Lighting can make or break your store, because you use it to set an overall tone, highlight displays and individual items, decorate your store, and provide signage.

3. Not having enough storage – in the right place.

Having a stock room is not enough (even assuming it can easily accommodate the amount of inventory you need to store.) Sales floor fixtures that display fast-moving items should have built-in storage, so restocking is fast and easy. Your cash wrap serves as a work station, so it needs space to store supplies. Economy of movement increases convenience for customers as well as employees.

4. Not building in flexibility.

New merchandise requires new displays, sometimes even a different fixture arrangement. Newness keeps customers interested, but without modular mix-and-match fixture design, it will be hard to make your store look new.

5. Not giving them a 5-star send-off at your cash wrap counter.

What a mistake, thinking the point of your checkout counter is to hold up your cash register! Yet far too many store owners make this critical mistake. Done right, your cash wrap counter puts the finishing touches on a great in-store experience. It should be:

• Uncluttered, with plenty of room to set items.
• Inviting, with a few carefully-selected impulse-buy opportunities at hand.
• Well-branded, so customers make no mistake as they leave about where they found such great purchases.

6. Not consulting a professional retail design expert before you make decisions.

Even seasoned retailers often need advice when it comes to store design. Here at Palmer Retail Solutions, we can help you transform your ideas into reality or help you dream up some new ideas for your store. Learning from our almost 30 years’ experience is a pretty smart way to avoid those silly mistakes.