HOW TO
CREATE RETAIL ENVIRONMENTS THAT REALLY CONNECT
20 MIN READ
BY TICKETY BOO CREATIVE
What does the future of retail mean for your business? Do you know what matters to your customer and how to communicate with them effectively? Have global factors (inflation, unprecedented pandemic, sustainability) made you reconsider your priorities? As an award-winning branding agency, specialising in retail and design, our role is to work collaboratively with a business, bringing thoughtful creativity to retail environments that connects with customers and makes your business distinctive.
Our goal is to give you a greater understanding of your retail space and to make you feel empowered to engage in the creative process. We believe in Thoughtful Creativity – a unique approach that’s helped us transform retailers globally:
THOUGHTFUL CREATIVITY
LOGIC
It’s important for a brand to have strong foundations.
A clear brand framework can give clear focus and longevity in a busy market.
IMAGINATION
The creativity that makes you distinctive and brings the customer journey to life in store.
An engaging, exciting retail space can help you stand out and keep customers coming back.
connection
Building meaningful relationships with your audience (both customers and colleagues).
A strong understanding of your target audience is key – what are their challenges and what inspires or motivates them?
retail now
In many ways the customer mindset and their priorities have shifted with the current cost of living crisis, and ongoing fallout from the pandemic. As inflation rises, customers expect more from retailers (and often, for less). Why should customers shop with you? What deals are you offering? How do your prices compare? Retailers should be adding value where they can and building trust in order to retain loyalty.
We’ve seen consumer trends accelerate at a blinding pace. Recommerce, Value and generally a more conscious attitude to consumption, are just a couple of these. There’s a renewed love of local too, which only further confirms customers need for an emotional connection to the brands they engage with.
THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE AS A WHOLE IS MADE UP OF KEY PARTS:
Your brand
The solid foundations for your business and how to make it stand out from your competitors.
Your store environment
The experience customers have in store will keep them coming back time and time again.
Your value to customers
Giving your customers the best value for money, with easy-to-shop offers and a rewarding loyalty programme.
Your audience connection
Making your customers and colleagues feel valued and act as brand advocates for your business
01
WHY YOUR BRAND IS SO IMPORTANT
Your brand is not only an opportunity to speak with your customer (even without words), it’s also a way of letting them know what to expect from you. It can be how you make your audience/customer feel, which is very powerful.
“Your brand is an important part of your business. It can help with your focus, make you distinctive and when created effectively, can have the power to build a meaningful connection with your audience.”
Your customer’s first understanding of your business will be through your brand, its image and how it’s relevant to their lives. Getting it right is about making sure you have strong foundations in place. This will help give your brand focus and give you a framework for any creative, marketing or business decisions. It’s important to put people first, always, and with the right approach and nurturing they can become dedicated superfans.
If you’ve read our piece on How to create an effective brand, you’ll be familiar with how important understanding your brand is. Here’s a quick overview of what you should know:
Your why – What’s your purpose? Why do you exist?
Your mission – Definition of your brand’s goals, objectives and approach
Your vision – What are your future objectives?
Your product or service – What do you do?
Your DNA – What do you mean to people? Are you a ‘feel-good’ brand, trustworthy, adventurous?
Your values – What are your beliefs? What do you stand for?
Your USPs – How are you different from your competitors?
Your audience – Who are your people (not just customers, your team)? What are their challenges and motivations?
Your brand assets – What makes you distinctive: logo, typography, photography, illustration and tone of voice
CUSTOMER PERSONAS (UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE)
Understanding your audience is crucial to being able to offer them something useful, relevant and meaningful to their lives. Are you familiar with what your audience looks like? It’s important to note, that your audience is likely to be more than one persona and there’s a happy middle ground to having somewhat broad appeal, while solving a specific challenge they might have. Knowing your audience goes a long way in making a connection, particularly if you’re a story or mission-based brand. You’re more than the products you offer.
“More specifically, we find that successful brand campaigns embed their messages in stories that touch, thrill, or amuse their target audience. Increasingly, consumers also expect their favorite brands to create value beyond product benefits.”
OWNING YOUR BRAND
Once your strategy is set, it’s time to bring it all to life through your brand’s own distinctive style. As we know, a brand identity is much more than just your logo. It’s important to reduce the subjectivity; the most effective branding is rooted in the ‘why’. This will allow you to create ownable assets that represent your brand, your customers and your audience, directly supporting and expressing everything that’s set in your brand foundations.
Of course a large part of understanding what your audience wants comes through listening. Whether you conduct formalised customer research or not, you can’t deny the impact of the store experience on your business
02
THE IN-STORE EXPERIENCE
Despite a global health crisis putting the brakes on retail as we know it, the in-store experience endures. And getting this right is invaluable when it comes to driving sales and loyalty for your brand. Being champions of customer experience, we know what a difference it can make. Tesco CEO, Ken Murphy, agrees: “80% of brand perception is driven from the store experience or from the online experience.”
In the world of food retail, this meant clear signage and simplifying of messaging. Our founder, Judy Andrews, has a serious passion for value communication. “Clear, considered design for a value offering is a huge part of getting customer experience right in store. No one wants to be stood next to their trolley trying to calculate the best deal.”
Increasingly, customers are mindful of the time they’re spending while shopping, so overall the more seamless you can make that shopping experience the more likely a customer is to return. Gone are the days of endless browsing and mulling over purchasing decisions. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes ¬– they’re on a mission.
“Retail is a customer business. You’re trying to take care of the customer—solve something for the customer. And there’s no way to learn that in the classroom or in the corner office, or away from the customer. You’ve got to be in front of the customer.”
AN EXCITING DESTINATION
It takes a bit of imagination – you might say Thoughtful Creativity – to entice and encourage people to the shops. The pandemic may have accelerated digitalisation, but with e-commerce no longer a differentiator, retail leads are delivering fun, convenient, in-person and digital experiences. To keep savvy shoppers engaged and satisfied, retailers need to make adjustments, and reimagining a store’s physical space is an opportunity to improve sales.
Pop Up Grocer don’t believe in settling down, that’s why they stay true to their name and pop-up at new locations showcasing products from new and emerging brands (like shopping an Instagram grid of your dreams, full of covetable food, drink, home, pet and body care items).
“You walk into a retail store, whatever it is, and if there’s a sense of entertainment and excitement and electricity, you wanna be there.”
Above: Images from Pop-up Grocer
Emily Schildt, Founder & CEO of Pop Up Grocer, explains about the role art can play in the supermarket space.
“We’ve collaborated with artists across the US as we travel to different cities, since the start of our business. Our concept sees grocery, first, through the lens of creativity. We curate a narrow assortment of the newest products, with an innovative approach to their ingredients, format, and packaging. Thus, the art we feature inside our doors helps to build upon that filter and encourages the visitor to open their eyes and minds in all ways inside our spaces.”
We’ve loved other experiential offerings from other brands, most recently the Amazon Fresh Food Fest, Netflix store, Greggs x Primark, and the consistently brilliant, Selfridges. For our client, Mercato, we wanted to create an indulgent experience for foodies. Our new brand look and feel focused on putting food front and centre, creating beautiful illustrations which feel like works of art. The store now feels like a destination and a pleasure to shop.
GOING LOCAL
Having a more hyperlocal approach – even in a big retail landscape – can make the store experience feel like part of the local culture. Using local producers and celebrating the diversity of the community goes a long way to feeling like your brand’s presence is doing good.
If you don’t have a localised campaign how else can you reassure and encourage your customer to spend more with you? In a store environment there’s ample opportunity to share your quality credentials, telling the stories of how your products are made. Shoppers are savvier than ever and with that comes a responsibility for retailers to be more transparent on sourcing and creation, educating customers at key touchpoints.
For our client, Winn-Dixie, we helped them to create a personalised regional brand campaign, bringing an authentic, local feel to their thirty Louisiana stores – highlighting the variety of in-store produce that’s locally made or sourced and to make some noise about Winn-Dixie’s heritage. It’s a fantastic opportunity to flex your brand’s aesthetic in a way that creates interest and disruption in store.
MAKE IT EASY
Since the pandemic a trend has accelerated at breakneck speed. While there was already a significant preference for customers to move online, there’s been a greater reliance on convenience, and this has had an immense impact on our day-to-day shopping habits. In the US, 1 in 2 consumers would be encouraged to shop with a retailer if they offered same day delivery. 74% percent said it would make them likely to repurchase with a retailer in the future. Not only that, 47% are willing to pay more for it too, and those who are more likely to pay? You guessed it – millennials. Over half are willing to part with their cash for speedy delivery options. In short, convenience is here to stay.
1 in 2
consumers would be encouraged to shop with a retailer if they offered same day delivery
74%
of consumers said same-day delivery would make them likely to repurchase with a retailer in the future
47%
of consumers are willing to pay more for same-day delivery– over half of which are millennials
This is where it really helps to listen to your customers. Our client, Southeastern Grocers, heard the message loud and clear, evolving with the times to offer their customers a new way to shop with home delivery. We worked with them to launch a new retail service – E-Commerce.
If your brand cannot offer delivery options, you need to nab a third party (of which there are a never ending and growing list) who can do the heavy lifting for you. This potential increase in visibility is a goldmine even for those retailers with already robust delivery models of their own. These platforms can give thousands of new customers access to a retailer’s products, increase brand visibility in their area and allow them to get their piece of a market that’s usually cornered by big supermarkets.
Read more about our take on instant retail, the ‘now’ economy, here.
03
EFFECTIVE VALUE COMMUNICATION
PRICE & PROMOTION
The pandemic shook spending habits and the food retail industry in particular. With inflation on the rise, customers increasingly want good value for their money.
With 76% of purchase decisions and 80% of brand-switch decisions made at the shelf edge, clarity of pricing has never been so important. First thing’s first. We need to put ourselves in our customers’ shoes – what are they experiencing? Most customers have limited time and are on a tight budget.
Read how you can make customer’s lives easier and help them choose the best promotions, while working to support your business objectives, in our latest Value Matters report.
MAKE OWN-LABEL YOUR HERO
With the cost of living rising, there’s an opportunity for retailers to reposition their own-brand offerings to shoppers looking to save money. Own-label products now account for 50.6% of all spending and consumers are increasingly turning to them as cheaper alternatives to brands. 44% of customers cited affordability and better value for money as reasons why they started buying own brand products.
Aside from value, trust is one of the key challenges in enticing customers away from their typical choices in store to opt for an own label equivalent. There used to be a perception that the lower price of own brand meant lower quality, or a compromise in taste, but that’s no longer the case.
“Switching from premium and branded groceries to supermarket own-label versions can be a great way to save money, without having to compromise on quality or taste.”
Our client, Winn-Dixie, wanted to create a buzz around their fantastic selection of own brand exclusive products. The new designs challenged their customers’ mindset, offering a money back guarantee if they didn’t love the new products and asking: “If you can’t taste the difference, why pay the difference?”. Why indeed!
IT PAYS TO BE LOYAL
How can you keep customers returning time and time again? Even if you’ve nailed most fundamental aspects of your business, you can guarantee the competition is hot on your heels. Investing in your loyalty programme can reap serious rewards.
In the UK, Tesco and Sainsburys have Clubcard Prices and My Nectar Prices, which offer loyal customers who download and engage with their apps a better deal on popular grocery items. Of the two, Tesco communicate this better, with a clear benefit to the customer and point-of-sale graphics in store reminding shoppers how much they can save as prices are slashed before their eyes. The loyalty scheme has received mass uplift since it’s revamp in 2020 – 20 million people have signed up to Clubcard, with 6.6 million of those being regular users. It’s no wonder their CEO, Ken Murphy, described Clubcard as one of the brand’s ‘unique advantages’. Loyalty is big business.
“96% of consumers said they wanted loyalty schemes to do more.”
For several years, we worked with Winn-Dixie to define and develop their own loyalty programme, making it simple, enticing, relevant and meaningful. Creating a bold brand identity along with bright, upbeat customer communication campaigns certainly paid off. It was awarded America’s Best Loyalty Program in 2021.
“Working with Tickety Boo Creative on our loyalty communications strategy helped us define how to talk to our different customers segments and be much more targeted in the way we communicate.”
WINNING AT LOYALTY. OUR TOP TIPS:
Make it personal, tailor offers to each user
Use simple, straightforward pricing
Make own label your hero
Consider ‘members only’ prices
Educate customers – show them why you’re the smart choice
Read more about our Tickety Boo View on loyalty here.
04
BUILDING MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS
CONNECTING WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS
Consistent messaging across all of your customer touchpoints (in store, online, app, email) create a cohesive image of your brand experience. The customer journey and experience are like two sides of the same coin. Customers not only want to find products they love; they want a feel-good factor in the process of purchasing them. They’ll also be subconsciously aware of how easily they’re able to shop with your brand, how readily they’re able to find assistance; how seamless the experience was.
Increasingly, customers want to shop with brands that align with their own values. If you’re a brand doing good things, you have to tell your customer – you can’t just assume they know. For example, if you have lofty sustainability goals, share them – invite the customer to be part of that journey with your brand.
Equally, part of doing business in a socially responsible way is about putting something back into the community you serve. Being a catalyst for change in the community or providing easy ways for customers to engage in donations or other initiatives that support local causes is a great start.
For our client, Southeastern Grocers, we had a fantastic opportunity to reflect their community mission of giving back with a suite of reusable bags with a difference. The brief was to create a new design for the ‘Community Bag’ which is stylish, in line with the brand, and clearly communicates a $1 donation to a local non-profit. Each of the brands, Winn-Dixie, Harveys and Fresco y Más have their own design to feel relevant to the customer.
“Tickety Boo Creative was up for the challenge and exceeded our expectations, per usual, developing an extremely clever design that nailed every ask in the brief.”
INSIDE OUT
A knowledgeable, engaged team is a crucial part of the customer experience. Happy employees become your best brand advocates. What’s more, you could have a significant untapped market sitting right under your nose. Converting your own team into customers sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s surprising how little is done to make it happen. Make everyone feel valued, offer incentives, their own loyalty scheme, a reduced rate – your team should want to, and be rewarded for, using your products.
“We put our employees first. If you take care of them, they will take care of your customers better than anybody else.”
Internal communication is an important way of keeping everyone in the business working towards the same shared goal. It not only make you accountable to your teams and stakeholders, it’s a fantastic opportunity to lead and inspire.
We recently completed a Corporate Social Responsibility report for our client, Southeastern Grocers. To create an engaging and editorial showcase we distilled the content into three overarching chapters – People, Product, Planet. This focused approach enabled each topic to have its own space to breathe. Typically, documents like this are overstuffed with content, leading to a bit of an information overload for the reader.
WHATS NEXT?
In an ever shifting consumer landscape, it pays to be agile. We’ve seen businesses thrive in the most difficult of circumstances by being able and willing to pivot their offering to serve their customers where they’re at. Retailers that go above and beyond when it comes to presenting their values and mission, while understanding and providing for their customers, community and internal teams, will be the ones that consistently come out on top. It’s not easy – if it was, everyone would do it – but with the right tools, the right approach and the right creative execution you can capture a bigger slice of the pie than ever before.
HAVE A PROJECT IN MIND?
HAVE A PROJECT IN MIND?
No two businesses or clients are alike. That’s why we love what we do. It’s never too late to start thinking about your brand. Whatever your goals or challenges we’d love to bring award-winning, thoughtful creativity to your business. It all starts with a hello.