As we reopen post pandemic, we are seeing plenty of retail mushrooming. It seems like everyone of us, consumers or business owners are eager to step and stay out of the house more often than not nowadays. Then again, some of these new business owners are expanding into brick and mortar retails from their online ventures due to the economy uptakes. Furthermore, SMEs are known as the bloodline of the economy and government incentives are in abundance.
Well, we are not going to talk about SME financing. We obviously have no place and expertise in that field, but we have been mentioned as awesome designers in the past since we’ve won several titles to be proud of. So, our article this week is about retail interior and set up that’s making up the colourful retailers in shopping malls, plazas and even event spaces. Most of them seem to be on the bandwagon of unique offerings.
Difference Between Uniformity and Uniqueness
For the layman, you can see the stark difference between this one-of-a-kind unique retailer and the chain retailers. In terms of retail interior, the chain retail store will have a common look. So, when we visit any of their outlets nationwide or worldwide, we are naturally familiar with its offering and service.
But, it’s a different case altogether for these unique retailers. Some of them may have a singular theme and all of its interior design has a similar basis. But some may have more than one theme in a retail shop, that may seem like it is simply filling up a void. Some retailers may have a cosy corner to cater to specific customer needs.
From the outside, such retailer may seem like it stands out compared to its counterparts in the same row. But, do these unique stores be using suitable retail and spatial design standards? Standards are developed to ensure clever and effective use of space. Effective spatial standards does not only feature products, but also keeps tab on visitor browsing and lingering to have them stay in the store longer.
Sticking To Rules and Regulations of Malls
For easy maintenance of the building, malls nowadays have stricter rules and regulations for retail stores in terms of interior, facade and window display design. For example, some malls restrict any large promotional or design on store window, even if it does not intefere with visitor walkway. This uniformity is purely the rights of the malls and one shall avoid to contest whatsoever with them. On another note, it helps visitors see the contents of the shop better even from across the mall.
Other instances you get to see the external part of a store looks like a garden. Such environment may deemed necessary if its a cafe that offers a garden dining experience. Thus, it fits just nice as the environment is pretty relaxed and casual. Nevertheless, if the cafe claims to be family friendly, it must accommodate to the really young patrons who will naturally pick at the garden atmosphere and run around the premise.
Hence, it is common to see families preferring the chain stores which may be in the inner parts of the malls, but it is safer for the children, as compared to unique stores which may be located near the external parts of the malls.
Strictly As Desired
However, no matter how strict some store rules are, some retail owners are adamant to featured their store the way they want it. For the sake of realising their dreams of having a retail outlet with specific unique offering and displaying it as they desire it, could be the very downfall of their business. They may have forked out so much on displays that they have to forgo the spatial design of their store. There are such a thing called retail interior designer that helps you plan on how you want your store to look like while ensuring it is accordance with design standards or mall rules.
Some school of thought are saying that these retail store interior designers cost a bomb simply to arrange where the cashier is, the display and the product placement. For experts in this field, they are better informed that each aspect of the store plays an important role that all adds up to the overall experience for every visitor.
DDEC Offers Expertise in Retail Interior
As the preferred one-stop design centre by Malaysia entrepreneurs, DDEC offers expertise in this field. Our experts do not only design a retail’s interior in terms of visitor pathways, cashier and product feature placements, we also design product kiosks that is suited to the business. For more information, visit www.ddec.my/perkhidmatan or follow our social media pages on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, ddecmalaysia.