Decorating tips • 05.10.2020

Retail displays: the window to the soul of the store

A collection of ideas for retail window displays

The best fantasy authors manage to create vivid imaginary worlds in the minds of readers, which they are unlikely to forget anytime soon. A successful combination of mood, colors, and details creates an atmosphere and an emotional response. Our photo gallery has examples of how retail window displays can accomplish this sophisticated feat. They attract the attention of passers-by, spark their curiosity, and create memorable images.

The art of storytelling: fantastic worlds behind glass

"The shop window is the communication channel to the customer." (Claudia Herke, stilbüro bora.herke.palmisano)

"With the emotionalization generated by an accomplished design, the customer is invited to engage with a theme or story – this begins in the store window and is continued in the store," explains Claudia Herke, designer at the bora.herke.palmisano style agency.

Retailers can use colors, objects, and details in their window displays to feature a design concept that finds the right target audience. The objects don’t have to be directly associated with the actual product, as long as they fit the big picture and convey the big idea.

Small details, big picture

Rustic, makeshift, raw. We are all familiar with this popular trend in architecture and design: industrial-style décor, inexpensive materials, exposed concrete, pipes and air ducts on the ceiling – gold embellishments have no place in this setting. All it takes is some basic tools and a little imagination to make a big impression.

Visual merchandising isn’t just important inside the store. Creative stage-setting with unique furniture in the retail window display can stop customers in their tracks and entice them to enter the store.

"The function of the shop window is primarily to stop the flow of customers, to generate attention and at best to trigger impulse purchases." (Claudia Herke, stilbüro bora.herke.palmisano)

Show me the goods!

Two mannequins with straw hats and tomatoes over their eyes, glasses displayed...
Source: Pott/iXtenso

Creativity and a sense of humor are all it takes to create an interesting, powerful window display with simple means that passers-by will not soon forget.


This clever eyewear store in downtown Bonn, for example, takes the colorful German idiom of “Tomaten auf den Augen haben” to a whole new level. Literally, it means "Having tomatoes on the eyes" and is the English equivalent of the rhetorical question "Am I blind, or what?" used when you may have overlooked something quite evident. An ingenious way to inspire shoppers to get an eye exam.

A mannequin with straw hat and tomatoes over its eyes, glasses displayed next...
Source: Pott/iXtenso

And last but not least: a grand-scale approach to a dynamic store window.

 

Author: Julia Pott

related articles:

popular articles:

Thumbnail-Photo: Mister Spex flagship store in Cologne is Store of the Year 2023...
04.05.2023   #brick and mortar retail #omnichannel

Mister Spex flagship store in Cologne is "Store of the Year 2023"

Handelsverband Deutschland e.V. (HDE) presents prestigious award to omnichannel optician

The Cologne flagship store of Mister Spex, Europe’s leading digitally driven omnichannel optician, received the prestigious "Store of the Year 2023" award from the German Retail Association (Handelsverband Deutschland e.V. – ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Sustainability: A must in shopfitting too?
28.04.2023   #sustainability #shop building

Sustainability: A must in shopfitting too?

How the industry can advance and score

Sustainability does not stop at shop building. But how can shopfitters not only follow the trend, but also profit from it? At EuroShop 2023, we asked Markus David ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Store design: second life for furniture, materials and fashion...
22.05.2023   #brick and mortar retail #sustainability

Store design: second life for furniture, materials and fashion

How a new sustainable store concept came about at Globetrotter and what can be learned from it

On 11 May, Globetrotter's new Re:Think store opened in Bonn. The special feature: many furnishing elements of the previous tenant were taken over. The new store also places great emphasis on sustainability ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Mango renovates its flagship store with New Med concept...
02.04.2023   #brick and mortar retail #customer experience

Mango renovates its flagship store with New Med concept

Refurbishment is part of the plan to refurbish the Mango store network, which aims to extend this retail concept beyond its flagship stores

Mango is continuing with its plan to refurbish its stores in Spain with the reopening of its flagship store in Alicante. The store, located at 33-39 Maissonave Avenue, has a selling space of 1,000 m2 and stocks the Woman, Man and Kids lines. ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Coach debuts worlds first Coach Airways retail concept store...
13.07.2023   #retail #customer experience

Coach debuts world's first "Coach Airways" retail concept store

A unique retail concept store and café housed in a transformed 1981 Boeing 747 aircraft

Freeport A'Famosa Outlet is proud to unveil the world's first Coach Airways, a unique retail concept store and café housed in a transformed 1981 Boeing 747-230B aircraft. ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Successful design for happy customers
05.04.2023   #shop building #customer experience

Successful design for happy customers

How the right store design enriches the customer experience

blocher partners relies on transdisciplinary work in the conceptual design of stores and thus wants to bring out the (visual) best in stores. How does this also improve the customer experience? Read more about this in the interview. ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Ingka Centres introduces Step Store
11.05.2023   #retail #customer experience

Ingka Centres introduces Step Store

Brand-new pop-up retail space opening at meeting places across Europe and Asia where steps equal spending

Step Store aims to make a healthy lifestyle more accessible and bring the fun into fitness. For that, Step Store allows visitors to swap their daily steps for health-focused products, discounts at local stores, or charity donations. Alongside Step ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Mannequins as a (customer) magnet?
08.05.2023   #sustainability #shop design

Mannequins as a (customer) magnet?

How do shop window mannequins influence the customer journey? An interview.

Not all mannequins are the same. But they all have one thing in common: they influence the customer journey and therefore also retailers. Best Mannequins BV from Belgium gave us an exclusive insight into the development of modern mannequins and ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Meeting places of today: When car dealerships become community spaces...
21.07.2023   #brick and mortar retail #shop building

Meeting places of today: When car dealerships become community spaces

The transformation of showrooms into multifunctional collective hubs

A car dealership that is also a meeting place? Work, relaxation and celebration under one roof? That is the concept of the NIO Houses, shaped by the creativity of the umdasch Store Makers. Paul Van Hemert, Sales Director Central Europe & Nordics, sheds light on this innovative fusion of retail and community space.

Thumbnail-Photo: Shop windows: Which concept suits you?
30.06.2023   #brick and mortar retail #customer experience

Shop windows: Which concept suits you?

Shop windows often determine whether customers enter a shop or not. But what types of shop windows are there – and which ones suit whom?

If you walk through the city centre, you will quickly notice that almost every shop has a shop window, yet no two are alike. There are many different concepts that can look very different from each other and have different effects on potential ...