Brand consistency is a trigger word you’ve probably heard of, one that is thrown around a lot in the retail industry. Providing customers with a stable and steady idea of your brand has benefits; however, knowing the real power behind consistent branding can be tough.
Regardless, being aware of brand consistency is imperative when manufacturing retail fixtures that are going to generate the results a business needs to thrive. That’s why the team at Ripple have put their expertise to work and has all the information you need to make the right decisions for your business:
- Defining branding consistency
- Creating brand consistency with retail displays
- Why is brand consistency important?
- What are the challenges of brand consistency?
- The benefits of brand consistency
Defining Branding Consistency
To begin, how do you define brand consistency? At Ripple, we break it down into three categories:
- Customer experience: Having a service or experience that is replicated time and time again instils a sense of trust in an invaluable customer.
- Values: A brand should have a distinct set of values that are clear to see and are implemented throughout all business interactions with customers.
- Brand identity values: These values should then also be translated into the imagery and identifiers, helping customers to spot you amongst a crowd and give you an identity.
Creating Brand Consistency With Retail Displays
The power of retail displays cannot be understated when it comes to furthering the impact of brand consistency. But, it doesn’t come guaranteed, and a retail display must be created with purpose and intent for it to reflect and build upon the positive impacts of a consistent brand.
Be Cautious
Rebranding a business is an exciting prospect, with so much to consider and so much potential, it can be easy to get carried away. But, to get the maximum result, you must keep the customer at the root of what you’re creating.
Earning brand recognition through consistency is done through expertly carried out processes that maintain core elements of an identity that can be communicated through branding. That’s why remaining cautious throughout the creative process is crucial – if the end product is confusing or convoluted, the customer may not resonate with it, or be able to recognise it in the future.
Be Boring
Brand recognition is achieved by replicating the same style, tone and messaging throughout all aspects of design. For the right result, you should be looking at the same visuals and aesthetics throughout the finalisation of all branding and designs. If there are differences across the board, you may be compromising the overall consistency.
Be Familiar
Familiarity is well-known to be a strong factor in building any kind of brand consistency. Having customers feel reassured that your brand is what they’re used to can increase their sense of security, putting more trust in their experience and potential purchase. Retail design can be familiar by ensuring that all aspects of the design are tied closely together. This includes the shape of specific displays, the colour palette of the brand and even window displays.
This can range from making sure that your products are well presented, sized and maintained, to creating a standard for how products are presented/shelved, to ensuring that signage/graphics are properly coordinated; in all cases, by implementing the right visual merchandising strategy, you can build up brand loyalty.
Be Predictable
Branding consistency within the retail design should also be predictable. From the customer’s perspective, they should be able to walk into your store and know exactly where the things they need are located, along with any potential sale items or service points. This strengthens the reliability and trusts the customer will associate with your brand and further any other consistency efforts.
This can be seen in Apple stores, as their aesthetic, design and locations of products are almost the same across the world. This predictability also speeds up the design process if more branches are opening elsewhere, as the design is pre-determined and more straightforward to replicate.
Be Reliable
When a customer shops at a store that they’ve been to before, they want to feel confident and assured of their decision. They will expect the products they saw last time to still be there and in the same spot. Be reliable in your store design, down to the type of product and the location of them. This level of consistency builds a sense of trust and reliability that can be difficult to manufacture through other tactics and immediately puts any shoppers at ease.
Why is Brand Consistency Important?
Consistency is key in all areas of success, not just within the retail industry. Retail branding can lead to fantastic business benefits, but to what extent? Take a look at our breakdown of how important brand consistency is within the retail design space…
Customer Engagement
When a customer engages with a business, there is a level of emotional interaction that will shape the future interpretation of the brand going forward. If it’s positive, it will only serve to benefit the business in its sales, reputation and overall perception. By keeping this engagement consistently positive, the benefits can be the beginning of successful brands, highlighting the real importance of brand consistency.
Brand Marketing
Brand marketing is a process that cannot be overlooked when creating branding-consistent retail displays. It establishes and maintains the relationships between the business and the customer and incorporates all aspects of the brand, rather than just the services being provided, something that can be difficult to do with other tactics.
Consistency
Having a consistent brand builds familiarity with everyone who interacts with it. When a customer knows what standard of service they’ll receive, they’re more likely to return to the brand. This builds trust and loyalty that is otherwise hard to secure without an already dedicated customer base. Your retail design and overall space should replicate this consistency to further this stable and trustworthy interpretation of your brand, down to the tone and feel of your POP/POS displays and signage.
Brand Identity
Clever design allows a business to develop an identity that is essential for customers to be able to build a perception and understanding of a brand. This understanding leads to confidence, trust and a sense of reliability which will increase the likelihood of a customer parting with more of their cash more often. But, this perception must be positive and it must be replicable, so the visual identity of your brand through brand marketing must be thought through carefully. Its importance cannot be understated, and having expert retail designers handling the tangible aspects will make this much more consistent and impactful.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is an obvious, yet crucial aspect of consistent branding. Having people know about your brand, what it offers, and the unique selling points is how people begin to recognise the voice and message you’re trying to convey. It furthers the sense of familiarity and allows a business to set itself apart from its competitors, encouraging customers to choose you over the shop next door.
What Are The Challenges of Brand Consistency?
With any positively impactful tactic comes challenges a business will need to contend with. In retail branding, success comes when these challenges are handled quickly and with a creative outlook.
Expectations of the customer will be brought into the way they interact with a store. By thinking ahead, establishing a sense of brand consistency can counteract this, but it can be difficult to replicate across the board. Instead, there needs to be a strategic approach, combined with a personalised perspective that puts the shopper at the root of the actions taken.
This results in a need to use various tactics – implementing technology, innovative solutions and creative retail space that caters to a variety of people. All of this, whilst maintaining a sense of brand consistency that recalls the messaging and tone that a customer has come to know.
How Ripple Can Help Transform Your Retail Space
Ripple not only values brand consistency, but the team behind our fantastic results are also experts in it. We know what it takes to make a business a brand, and we have decades of experience in creating impactful retail displays that resonate with your target audience.
Whether you’re looking for signage, POP/POS displays or a brand-new retail space, we have the tools and the knowledge your business needs to get to where you want to be. Our end-to-end service support means you can relax knowing we can take care of every detail, all whilst keeping what matters to you and your target customer base at the heart of our strategy.
Get In Touch Today
Get in touch with our experts today and take advantage of our fantastic history and years of experience in the retail design sector. Arrange a consultation to find out how we can support you and your business, and begin generating impressive results. If you’re looking for great shop design ideas, visit our case studies page today.
