When shopping on the high street or in your favourite stores, you will rarely find a shop front or retail display that has dull or dark colours. This, like nearly all shop design choices, is intentional and all done with the aim of drawing shoppers into the brand experience.
That’s why colour and branding are so important in retail displays and shop design – a key element to consider in any design process.
But how do colour and branding actually influence shoppers and their intentions once they enter the store? At Ripple, we’ve explained the true value behind these components in a retail environment:
- The importance of colour psychology in retail
- How colours affect consumer behaviour in retail
- How does the use of lighting in retail spaces influence buying decisions?
- How to choose colours for retail displays
- How Ripple can help transform your retail space
The Importance of Colour Psychology in Retail
Colours have a huge influence on how people perceive brands and the environment they are shopping in, and most of the time, they don’t even realise it.
The colours guide shoppers through the story of the brand and the products on offer, giving businesses a chance to translate their intentions in a less invasive way.
Having the right colours carefully placed throughout the shop can psychologically draw a shopper to the different retail displays and products that you want to shift more of. It can also be a way to have shoppers spend some more time in specific spaces, creating a better flow in the store and encouraging a better perception of certain branding elements and product displays.
The psychological impact is so important that it can even lead shoppers to be less bothered about the price of high-ticket items, leading to more sales.
How Colours Affect Consumer Behaviour in Retail
It’s clear that colours are important in the psychology of retail, but how can they actually change a shopper’s behaviour?
Different people react to colours in their own unique way. However, there are colours that have an impact as a general rule on the overall population of shoppers, allowing businesses to harness the powers of these colours and translate them into profits.
1. Emotions
The emotions a shopper has can dictate how much money they spend or if they’ll make any purchase at all. This is all down to the mood they’re in when they come to make a decision, so evoking a sense of impulse and confidence through colour is the goal.
This impact of colour on a shopper’s emotions can be a powerful tool, and retail design can create a different emotional reaction depending on how it’s used. Colour psychology that is expertly executed with Ripple can encourage people to pick up a product and check it out themselves or keep their eyes on its best features.
Each colour has a different impact on the emotions of customers:
Red – Increasing a customer’s heart rate, red can create an adrenaline rush and encourage an impulse purchase. This way it is often associated with big sales and discounted items.
Yellow – Offering a more cheerful and calming vibe, yellow can stimulate the mind and allow shoppers to feel safe and optimistic, encouraging them to part with their cash.
Orange – Combining the effects of red and yellow, orange also has an energetic feel to it, making it perfect for any type of activity-based products such as gym gear, DIY products and even energy drinks.
Blue – Inspiring a sense of relaxation and security, blue is the colour your retail store needs if you are selling high price items that require a sense of confidence from a shopper.
Green – Reminding shoppers of nature and all things fresh, green can be used in a variety of contexts to harness these feelings of peace or energy.
Purple – Luxury and wisdom are common connotations found with the colour purple and can lead a shopper to feel special and important, giving them the confidence they need to make a purchase.
2. Conversions
One singular colour being used on a retail display, a shop front or a sign isn’t necessarily going to be the sole reason why a shopper makes a purchase.
However, when they work together, it can create a greater sense of confidence in shoppers and their trust in the brand itself. A strong brand identity that has been created with the use of colour as the focus will strike a sense of understanding and familiarity within customers, allowing them to feel more assured in their decision.
More directly, colours such as red will create a distinct sense of urgency for shoppers, improving the chance of them making an impulse purchase and generating more conversions.
How does the Use of Lighting in Retail Spaces Influence Buying Decisions?
It’s not just the colours that can have the impact needed to generate higher profits. Lighting is just as vital to take into consideration when developing retail designs and installations of retail displays and point-of-purchase displays.
Bright lighting can create increase the intensity behind the emotions being evoked by the colours surrounding the shopper, raising the chances of an impulse purchase. This is especially effective at the store entrance and along queue lines to keep shoppers interested at key points of their shopping journey.
Meanwhile, dimmer lighting allows shoppers to indulge in a slower shopping experience. Giving them the opportunity to inspect products at their own pace and feel less concerned about the potential opinions of those around them.
How to Choose Colors for Retail Displays
You may be wondering which colour is right for your retail display, with so many having such positive impacts on shoppers.
Deciding on the right colour for a retail display in your store is dependent on a number of factors, including:
1. Target Market
Having an understanding of the target market you’re trying to reach is the first step. According to Digital Synopsis, blue is a commonly loved colour across both men and women, whilst purple is a favourite amongst women with 23% saying so. Meanwhile, men prefer brighter colours, along with greys and hues with added black.
2. Industry Associations
In regards to specific industries and their colour associations, shoppers will recognise products that are related to energy and activity when they have colours such as green, yellow and red. Darker hues are more popular with typically ‘masculine’ industries such as DIY and technology.
3. Brand Aesthetic
Your brand can translate its intentions with colour and help a customer to feel more familiar with what you’re offering. More lively brands will often have vibrant colours that inspire energetic and playful vibes such as pink, orange and yellow. However, the more serious companies will opt for a sincere tone such as blue, black or dark purple.
How Ripple can help transform your retail space
The decades of experience behind the team at Ripple have led us to have a long list of clients who have seen sales and success. With a passion for creativity and an approach that creates a bespoke service for each client, we are always excited to introduce businesses to the clever use of colour and lighting in retail designs.
Our specialists have done just that for David’s Bridal. Taking the business from the beginning to the end of the project, Ripple was at the centre of the opening of their flagship store in the UK and designed, manufactured and installed a range of furniture, fixtures and fittings.
By choosing the colour scheme and mapping out the lighting, we made the customer experience the focal point throughout their plans. Ensuring that the colours not only represented the brand and its mission but evoked the right feelings and emotions to enable shoppers to make the right purchase for them.
We were a pivotal role in bringing this vision to life, as our creative and technical designers utilised our in-house manufacturing facility and installed the finalised plans. The elegant result is exactly what we were aiming for, and the shades of white, grey and cream all evoke a sense of luxury and finesse.
The result is one we’re incredibly proud of, and you can find out more about it in our case studies.
Harness The Power Of Colour With Ripple
Our reputation as one of the best retail interior design providers means you can rely on consistent results to bring your business success.
We will work with you from the beginning of the project, right up until the end and you’ll benefit from our passionate professionals. So, get in touch with us today to find out how we can help your business, and join our happy list of clients.
