Most high-street shops are feeling the effects of the online marketplace. These days shoppers are turning away from traditional walk-in stores and towards the internet when it comes to almost every retail industry, from groceries to pet supplies to clothing, books, music and shoes. Football clubs are just one of the many retailers putting a great deal of thought into how to keep offline stores competing with online ones.

Doug Barber, one of our top retail designers, recently spoke out about the challenges faced by the official retail outlets owned by football clubs and how to best overcome them. His call to make football club shops more attractive and higher performance was published in the well-respected FC Business Magazine.

Doug is an expert in retail design across many industries and he has thought long and hard about how to help football clubs get the best possible profit out of their stores. His ideas range from using state-of-the-art static and moving displays, regular updating of really outstanding window displays to keep fans coming back, and allowing ample space for changing rooms. The latter is often neglected but it’s an essential point for any shop that sells athletic clothing.

He also pointed out that a point of display sale can work with a retail website, not in competition with it. Using the web address on in-store materials is one way to ensure that if football fans are going to buy online, they buy online for the official store rather than from a different source.

Retail design, retail designers, point of sale display

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Retail design is mostly about appealing to the customer’s visual sensibilities and making sure they can find what they want quickly and easily. Special offers and flagship products should be prominently displayed in an eye-catching way, and the space should feel open and unconstricted. However, there is more to it than that. Good designs may be all about the customer but really great ones consider the needs of staff too.

If staff work in an environment that is easy to keep clean and simple to organise they will be more likely to stay on top of everyday tasks even in the busiest periods. They’ll be more likely to take pride in a shop that looks superbly tidy from the outset, and keep it looking that way. And of course, cleaning and tidying will take up less staff time. That means more hours spent with customers. It also means happier staff, and happier staff are friendlier and more effective as salespeople.

Staff should also be able to see what’s going on across the shop. If a poorly-placed retail display blocks the view, it will make it harder to spot shoplifters and customers that need a helping hand. With the right layout and design features it should be very easy for your workforce to identify and deal with potential problems and make sure no customer ever feels like they are receiving poor service. Security is a particularly important design feature in pop-up shops, where there tends to be less of a perimeter and fewer barriers to shoplifting.

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The last leaf may not have fallen yet but nonetheless, the time has come to start planning for the Christmas shopping rush. Smart companies get their point of sale display plan arranged early for a smooth, timely roll-out. As soon as new stock for the Autumn-Winter season starts arriving you can start thinking about how those products will be best displayed over the busy period.

Now is also the time to plan and order pop-up shops. The right location is absolutely crucial to the success of a pop-up retail point and as Christmas gets closer, competition for the best spots will hot up. Get in early and your company has the best chance of securing a good one and enjoying the benefits that greater exposure and high traffic bring.

A well-placed pop-up shop can act as a second retail location, as a way of moving sale products or overstock, or simply direct customers to your main store. Whatever the intention, they must be eye-catching, easy to run with only a few staff, and secure enough that losses don’t become a problem.

The months leading up to Christmas are a very busy time for top retail designers. Although we do try our best to help all companies with their design needs no matter how close to the big day it is, starting the process off early ensures that you’ll get a superb display ready well before the customers start hunting for Christmas gifts. Get in touch today and see how we could make this Christmas your best ever.

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