ASB Magazine

Even though there are many influences at work in the shopping experience, the look of a store holds the most sway in enticing us through the doors. We even tend to sum up that initial in-store encounter in visual terms...

Even though there are many influences at work in the shopping experience, the look of a store holds the most sway in enticing us through the doors. We even tend to sum up that initial in-store encounter in visual terms: a store is exciting, clean or well-organized or, at the other end of the scale, boring, messy, or overwhelming.

This is particularly true when it comes to adult stores. Adult retail outlets run the gambit from well lit and spacious edifices to falling down shacks with sun faded signage. Adult store owners looking to attract foot traffic from multiple demographics, especially single women and couples, need to create an inviting atmosphere for their stores, inside and out.

Store owner Lou Vega, owner of the sleekly designed adult store Pleasures in Colorado couldn’t agree more. “It is not enough anymore for a store to just look good from a merchandising or display standpoint. Who can afford to spend lots of time or money on improving a store’s look without being assured of a healthy return on investment?” Vega went on to say, “Today, a store not only must perform by exciting and encouraging the customer to buy, but from the retailer’s point of view, it must perform profitably.”

Visual merchandising is comprised of six components: image, layout, presentation, signing, display and events. Everything you do within the store — how you develop your layout, your presentation, your signing, your displays and your events must fit into the image you choose to create. Even if you are a current store owner, and since you are reading ASB Magazine, you probably are, these tips are valuable in improving your current locations and for implementation in future ventures.

Why Is Store Image So Important?

Image can be described as the overall look of a store and the series of mental pictures and feelings it evokes within the beholder. For the retailer, developing a powerful image provides the opportunity to stand out from the competition and be remembered.

As a rule, image is the foundation of all retailing efforts. While store layout, presentation, signing, displays and events can all change to reflect newness and excitement from week to week, season to season, they must always remain true to the underlying store image.
Studies indicate that a retailer has roughly seven seconds to capture the attention of a passing customer. The following elements combine to form a distinctive image that not only reaches out and grabs the customer’s attention, but makes a positive impression within those precious few seconds.

The Image-makers:

1. An Identifiable Store Name

2. A Powerful Visual Trademark

3. An Unmistakable Storefront

4. An Inviting Entrance

5. A Consistent and Compelling Store Look and Hook

1. Identifiable Store Names

What’s in a Name?

An effective store name sets the tone and provides a store’s identification by conjuring up an image in the customer’s mind. In the adult industry, often times the store name will be a play on something sexual. These can be effective, but make sure they are in good taste.

Your store name should be easy to say and remember and unlikely to sound dated in a few years.

2. Powerful Visual

Trademarks On Your Mark

A good logo can be more important than your name in identifying your business. We all know a can of Coca-Cola lying on the ground from 20 feet away. When you are designing your logo, don’t phone it in.

3. Unmistakable Storefronts

Traffic-Stoppers

Customers simply don’t have the time to “read” into the store, so just as your store name and trademark — the title of your ‘book’— must provide instant recognition and recall, your exterior storefront — the cover of your ‘book’ — must project a welcoming, clear and concise image of what’s in-store.

Exterior Architecture

A store’s exterior look is often referred to as the architecture, and comprises aspects such as building materials, architectural style and detail, colors and textures.

If your exterior architecture is not projecting the right image, consider painting or re-facing the storefront, adding or removing some architectural elements in keeping with your image, or when in doubt, sometimes it’s as easy as a fresh coat of paint.

Bill Johnson, owner of You-Nique Xperiences, verifies the importance of store image. “We used to have the standard storefront – our building looked like a barn. We cleaned up the parking lot, added some flood lighting, a nice coat of paint and an awning over the front door, and immediately we increased our foot traffic and class of clientele.”

The Store Sign

The store sign is a vital element of the storefront, identifying your store and beckoning the customer to take notice and stop.

If your storefront sign is losing the battle for visual dominance among neighboring stores, consider re-painting it or adding more color, making it bigger and bolder, incorporating your trademark, using new, more contemporary materials to create your sign, and/or adding motion or lighting.

The Customer’s Vantage Point

In planning your storefront, utmost consideration must be given to the customer’s vantage point. Often, plans that look good on paper fail miserably because they are developed from the retailer’s vantage point, not the customer’s. Many retailers plan their storefronts based on a “head-on” perspective, which entails a direct 90 degree-angle approach.

But is that the customer’s vantage? Not typically. Usually, the direction of customer traffic flow is influenced “by the location of a parking lot, a public transportation terminus or some other physical feature...displays canted or slanted to that dominant direction of traffic will get more serious attention.” (Display and Design Ideas, Making First Impressions Count, by Paco Underhill )

4. The Store Entrance

Rolling Out the Red Carpet

The entrance to the store is the division between the outside and inside environments. Mall retailers have an easier chance of luring customers into the store with a wide, open entrance, creating a seamless entry from the mall to the store. If you could open adult stores inside of a mall, we’d all be golden!
Until then, your store entrances need to give the customer the impression that they will be comfortable and welcome. Obstacle courses, visual clutter and “Do Not” signs on the doors are negative turn-offs that often result in a negative first impression and a lost customer.

5. By Look or by Hook

Getting the Customer In

Getting a customer through the door is indeed a victory!

In most instances, customers are either on a mission to make a planned purchase (the seekers), or are shopping for amusement, entertainment or ideas (the browsers).

Seekers may plan a trip to your store to make a premeditated purchase or may decide to enter because they are comparison shopping for something specific. For the seeker, a deeper look into the store must reinforce their confidence that the store will have what they are seeking and that they can get in and out easily and quickly.

Browsers are more inclined to enter a store impulsively, drawn by the overall impression that a store has something they should check out. For the browser, a further look into the store must plant a seed of interest and hook them in.
For seekers and browsers, the deeper glance into the store and the resulting decision — to enter, or not — is often attributed to the overall store look and a compelling hook.

A Visual Look

An inviting entrance is crucial in stopping the customer and establishing a positive first impression, but if the inside store messages create feelings of inconsistency or confusion, all is lost. For example, a clear and well-articulated store entrance that is followed up with a barrage of inconsistent aisle patterns, sloppy merchandising and confusing signs signals to the customer that the exterior image will not be fulfilled on the inside. Truly impressive stores are consistent in all efforts from the storefront right through to the stock room.

A Visual Hook

Visual hooks are a call to action that diverts a customer’s attention to your store with a “Stop — there’s something here for you!” Powerful visual hooks are created by marrying other visual merchandising components for a more memorable first impression. An exciting entrance presentation, an effectively signed promotional offering, a powerful interior display, in-store animation or events all serve as magnets to draw the customer in.

Audio Appeal

When effectively delivered, music can have an audible effect on creating the desired mood and image, putting customers in a buying mood and providing a stimulating environment. In fact, extensive studies on the affects of environmental music in the retail industry reveal that when stores play music customers perceive that time in line ups is shorter, customer service is perceived to be friendlier and customers spend more time shopping in the store.

“A positive and persuasive first impression is formed in a few brief seconds,” says Vega. He goes on to say, “The combined efforts of store name, exterior signing, architecture, window displays and the entrance to the store set the tone and create an image of mental pictures in the customer’s subconscious.”

Whether the customer is on a mission to buy — the seeker —or just look — the browser — the store image is the welcome mat.