Designing Spaces that Speak: Incorporating Brand Identity in Your Stores

There’s a lot of talk in the retail press about “brand identity,” and for good reason. Great branding supports sales and revenue growth, today and into the future. When a customer feels a need to buy a product you sell, they think of you first and fondly, whether they will complete that transaction in a store or online.

From the omnichannel perspective, this is about designing and executing stores and online experiences that positively communicate your brand identity. It’s about art and purpose, functionality along the path to purchase and an overall customer engagement that fuels brand loyalty.

So how do you design store spaces that best communicate your aspirational brand identity? Here are some thoughts.

Take a deep dive into your brand identity

We get it — asking, “Who are we?” can seem a little new age, touchy-feely.

It’s not. It’s about building a foundation of brand identity based on important details, such as how do you inspire a positive reaction from potential customers as quickly and substantively as possible?

Consider Walmart’s slogan created in 2007: “Save money. Live better.”

Since its founding in 1962, Walmart had focused on one element — “low prices.” That built the brand and fueled spectacular growth. Customers came for low prices and became loyal because Walmart delivered.

The new slogan was inspired by founder Sam Walton’s speech after he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992: “If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone...we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.”

As in, saving money is great… but why? If you subscribe to the notion that money isn’t everything, living better is always the goal. “Living better” encapsulates the totality of life experience — family, friends, happiness, security, substance, connection, spirituality and adventure.

“Defining your brand's identity should be based on maintaining and growing positive and steady awareness with customers...”

Four words perfectly communicated Walmart’s core values and goals to its audience — customers around the world.

Simply: It was brilliant. And Walmart continues to surge.

A deep dive into your brand identity — What story do we want to tell? Who are our customers and how do we connect with them? — is an activity that intertwines values and business. It becomes the guidebook for the strategy, design and execution of all your touchpoints going forward.

And, by the way, brand identity isn’t always about being “touchy-feely.” Consider Nike’s return to cocky with its “Winning isn’t for Everyone” campaign. Defining your brand’s identity should be based on maintaining and growing positive and steady awareness with customers, even if there’s a hint of exclusivity that fuels the engagement.

Combine brand identity with brand cohesion, consistency

So how do you create branded environments and omnichannel experiences that match your brand identity?

Assuming we’re considering a brand identity refresh versus a rebranding, it’s about identifying brand miscues and fragmentation across your total store and omnichannel network and then creating a comprehensive program to correct that while remaining within a budget.

That’s a long sentence, but it’s appropriate because it describes a big challenge. A scaled refresh for hundreds or thousands of stores could include across-the-board upgrades to interior paint, carpet, lighting, furniture and specialty/signature design components like fixtures or displays. A naive expectation for cheap, simple, cookie-cutter solutions for diverse footprints, specific regional needs and operational complexities is going to lead to a lack of brand cohesion, stalled or incomplete installations and budget overruns — not to mention finger pointing for overwhelmed stakeholders.

As Miller Zell SVP and Creative Director Paul Wolski recently noted, “This is where creating a design system based on tiers can help you set priorities for spaces using a Good/Better/Best classification based on pertinent metrics. So, for every high-end branded component featuring a luxe material or illumination, consider how to achieve that same aesthetic using alternate materials or processes.”

“...it's about identifying brand miscues and fragmentation across your total store and omnichannel network...”

To stay within a tight budget, prioritize value engineering on every aspect of your refresh and rollout. To maintain consistency across a variety of footprints, create tiered kits of parts that function as templates for programming an array of store spaces.

The successful rollout and execution of designs that showcase your refreshed brand identity lean hard into a system that is innovative but also purposeful, adaptable and replicable.

Great customer experiences as part of your brand identity

That deep dive into your brand identity is a two-way conversation between you and your customers.

• What do they want or need from you?
• What might you present to them that is new and will delight them?
• How do your brand’s advancements toward attracting new customers maintain the brand loyalty of established customers?
• And how can you anticipate and impact the representation of your brand outside your control, such as on social media?

Any brand refresh is about enhancing the customer experience. Begin by understanding customer behaviors and preferences. Consider how they navigate your stores. What draws their attention? And what frustrates them? Wayfinding design elements like clear signage, intuitive layouts and interactive displays can guide customers through your store more efficiently, making their shopping experience enjoyable and memorable.

Incorporate technology thoughtfully so it both enhances and streamlines the customer experience. Digital signage, self-service kiosks, interactive touchpoints, mobile payment options, digital price tags and personalized customer engagement tools can help communicate your brand’s story more effectively to associates as well as customers.

Further, anticipate evolving store and customer focuses with flexible designs that can adapt to seasonal changes, new product lines or emerging trends. Modular fixtures, movable walls and adjustable lighting are examples of adaptable design elements that can keep the store environment fresh and relevant without requiring frequent overhauls. This adaptability ensures the store can quickly respond to market demands while maintaining a consistent brand message.

And, of course, an innovative omnichannel refresh of your brand identity through your stores requires a plan to implement metrics to measure the impact of your changes on sales, customer satisfaction and brand perception. This includes analysis of generational differences, in store and online, as well as social media and influencer perceptions.

Also, recognize there is no finish line with data analysis. Your customers’ thinking, preferences and economic outlook today could be very different in six months or a year. A clear plan to identify and nimbly react to changing customer sentiments speaks positively to customers and enhances your brand identity.

In the end, refreshing your brand identity is about elevating your brand over your competition at every touchpoint. The resulting customer experience builds brand engagement and loyalty and ensures long-term success.