#retaildecor

Retail interior design is the perfect culmination of aesthetics and ergonomics. Both of these aspects have to work in harmony if you want to achieve the perfect atmosphere – one that buys and potential clients will instantly fall in love with. In achieving this implacable conundrum, you might have to face the dilemma of allocating the space according to merchandise quantity instead of quality.

When you try to do that, you’ll find that your retail outlet either becomes too cluttered or too unidentifiable. Both of these outcomes have some severe consequences, the worst of which is driving the customers away. But most importantly, they’re the Launchpad for the ‘Butt Brush’ effect. This effect basically entails that the customers have to walk through narrow aisle where their backs might brush. This is infinitely undesirable as far as shopping experience is concerned, so here’s how you can avoid the Butt Brush effect in your retail outlets.

Never underestimate quality

It is important to understand that when it comes to retail interior design, the most important thing to consider is the quality instead of the quantity. In case where the latter trumps the former, you should make sure you have an outlet large enough to accommodate all of the products you want features in a feasible, ergonomically efficient space. Only when the outlet is large enough can you manage to avoid the Butt Brush effect for your retail interior designs.

Defy the minimum standards

The minimum aisle width for any retail interior design is at least 4 feet. This difference needs to be carefully implemented, but many times even this can fall short. Therefore, you should always need to account for one or two extra feet between any two parallel aisles in order for the customers to walk around smoothly. The formula is basically this; you have to make sure that any two people standing back to back or side to side do not brush against each other and always maintain a respectable distance.

Alternate aisles

An easy way to spice up your retail interior design while avoiding the Butt Brush effect at the same time is by designing alternate aisles. You can simply make sure that the design of your aisles does not correspond in a parallel fashion. It can simply be side-by-side, adjacent, or even corresponding. This will lend a unique look to your layout while avoiding visual and bodily clutter at the same time.

Create small decompression zones

A decompression zone is basically a feature display area on which you can display some of the major merchandise in an outlet. These may consist of mannequins or other unique furniture and display items. You can create small decompression zones in between every two or three display aisles to break away the monotony and avoid the Butt Brush effect at the same time.

Retail interior design is a tricky and challenging genre to tackle. There are so many things going on at once that it can be quite hard to focus on a single thing. But you have to understand that overlooking ever one aspect – be it ergonomics or even the aesthetic – can end up driving potential customers away from the outlet.

One of the most important aspects to consider while designing a retail outlet is the decompression zone. This is basically the first few feet of the shop where the customer is acclimatizing themselves to their new surroundings and deciding whether to venture any further or not. Therefore, it is crucial that this part of the outlet be especially welcoming and attractive. Here are 5 ways you can better the decompression zone in your retail interiors.

Allocate a lot of space

First and foremost, the decompression zone should be adequately welcoming. This means that it should never be cramped, otherwise, the potential customers will unconsciously disassociate with the shop and automatically move on to the next place. So you should always allocate at least the first ten to fifteen feet of your shop to the decompression zone and make sure it features a lot of circulation space.

The rule of right & the power wall

Did you know that 99% of people tend to turn right during a shopping experience? It’s quite an interesting and well-known fact that can help determine the path-paving of a successful retail interior design. You can use this concept to better your decompression zone and create an efficient circulation path throughout your outlet. You can even situate your ‘power wall’ – the wall that features your best products, your outlet logo, or your brand identity – to the right of your decompression zone in order to fully utilize this concept.

Feature you star products here

The decompression zone is basically used to attract potential customers to survey your outlet and invite them further inside. Therefore, you should always feature the best products in the outlet in the major decompression zone. In case the outlet has more than one entrances, you should create a decompression zone for each one in order to attract potential customers from all sides.

Make it a major attraction

The decompression zone in any retail interior design has to be a major attraction. This means that you can go all-out with the aesthetics. You might install a hydroponic wall as a backdrop, or you might have a temporary art installation to highlight your products. You can use a smart mannequin arrangement – rotating posteriors have been making successful rounds in casual wear outlets these days.

Use specialized lighting

Many would say that lighting is the fourth dimension, and most of the time that is absolutely right. This is especially relevant to retail interior design, where lighting is used to highlight the products on display. Specialized lighting in the decompression zone can definitely spruce up the ambience of the decompression zone.