Enhance your customer service
In an age of spin and hype consumers increasingly look for retailers to be more honest, genuine and authentic in the way they conduct their affairs. Your commitment to service should be made absolutely clear throughout all store branding.

Offer that little bit more

News via email
A store newsletter enables customers to get all the latest news before anyone else.

Give away something relative – e.g. free home furnishing magazine
This could feature home reportages and inspirational articles for all home lovers; you could even feature one of your customer’s homes.

Get the customer inspired
Organise store events, seminars, workshops and other interesting events

Show you really care

Relaxation areas
Integrated coffee stops offer the customer relaxation pit stops which make the retail experience more enjoyable.

Make the experience more helpful – involve the customer

Helpful and emotive graphics
Simple and uncomplicated graphics on signage and brand communication allows the customer to grasp information instantly.

Include some inspirational extras

Home decorating assistance
Many customers can find it a little overwhelming having to put a colour or furniture scheme together. Offering an in house home decorating service provides a more imaginative way to engage with the customer.

Mattress trial rooms
For the more reserved and mature customer provide trial out mattress rooms, darkened quiet rooms for customers to trial comfortable mattresses themselves.

Inject some entertainment and fun
Retail entertainment is an area in which I have touched on before in our July 2007 e-zine, “How to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.”

I cannot stress enough how important it is to inject a sense of fun into any shopping trip.
In a furniture store fun and entertainment can be injected into kiddies' zones, in the design of a coffee shop, displays, window treatments, chill out zones and in graphic communication.

The information featured here is just a taster of inspirational ideas that have captured my attention whilst on research trips both in the UK and overseas. If you would like JSA to come up with solutions which best suit your furniture environment, just give me a call. I would be more than happy to see how our experience can help with increasing consumer activity within your store.

One of the main features of this store is the ‘light and airy’ feel on entrance, which carries on throughout the retail space. The cash and wraps are easily located due to them being finished in a bright shade of lipstick pink. Strong back wall graphics endorse their presence further.

The restaurant is well advertised with excellent graphics and strong branding. General store interest is provided by the varying heights of the shopfitting, complemented by the easily accessible home accessory products. Information areas are boldly displayed with the use of helpful graphics, involving and directing the customer. Room sets are more of an open plan style with clever use of flexible screens.

The new 'Your M&S Home' name lacks the appeal of 'Lifestore', but does tie in with the strong new advertising campaign. The Pawson House has gone and the nine 'worlds' have been reduced to five. The sleek contemporary design remains, but the wonderful graphic panels are nowhere to be seen.

Furniture is featured in small amounts in the store with a wider range in the catalogue of home décor products. Bed linens, table linens and cookware are positioned all together in one department. All are on hard flooring with the occasional rug; walkways are more meandering and force you to walk around the room sets. Large wardrobe shelving units divide the space and give clear lifestyle stories. On the reverse of these dividers product is featured backed up with strong lifestyle imagery and text to the ends.

DFS, like the other sofa specialists attract a broad spread of consumers, although they do perform most strongly in the 25-44 age groups. The store design is high and reflects the fact that the store invests quite heavily in the look and quality of the store fixtures and fittings.

There is a combination of fixed and demountable room screens. The fixed screens feature cut outs and strong vibrant paint colours. Customers can get inspiration from the different types of room styles and accessories provided.

Most stores open up with a strong dramatic display arch following on with a striking display. The Floor finish is made up from many different types of finishes which in some stores proves a little disorderly.

The ceilings and lighting are excellent and incorporate interesting feature plasterboard sections which draw the eye through to room set displays. Lighting consists of concealed fluorescent fittings, spotlighting and compact fluorescents.

Danish owned ILVA, which opened its first UK store in July 2006 now trades in three locations, Thurrock, Manchester and Gateshead.

Believing in “value” not to be confused with “cheap” the store aims at the mid-market customer. The stores are stylish, designed by the highly regarded architects Schmidt, Hammer and Lassen and have won several prestigious awards.

The exterior is clad in Chinese Basalt, a luxurious dark stone that gives them a stylish modern appearance. Inside the story gets better, the floors are also Chinese Basalt and are lit by a theatrical designer to complement the large skylights where natural light floods in.

From the entrance the customer is led through the double height atrium where new merchandise and seasonal items are located. Here a distinctive staircase naturally progresses to the first floor, while in the ground floor showroom, furniture is displayed in attractive room sets. The store offers other interesting spatial experiences including a somewhat secluded and low lit bed area, and an open plan and tightly laid out department for furnishing accessories.

A wonderfully stylish store which offers customers an opportunity to buy a total lifestyle look for their home.  The ‘one-stop’ shop offers a range of extremely tasteful high-end luxury Italian products including leather sofas and home accessories.

The store itself articulates everything stunning from the merchandise right through to the interior fixtures, lighting and various types of quality floor finishes.

Tactile Living offer both the very best contemporary and design classics for the home. Having sourced some of the most iconic pieces of furniture by celebrated designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, Antonio Citterio, Isamu Noguchi, Verner Panton, Marcel Breuer, Mies van der Rohe and Harry Bertoia, their showroom boasts the finest furniture available in both design and quality.

Tactile Living personifies contemporary living at the highest level. Their exclusive collection includes designs manufactured by B&B Italia, Vitra, Knoll Studio, Tonelli, Alias and Herman Miller. Authorised original designs by the likes of Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck and Mario Bellini can also be sourced.

With a passion for design, comfort and style Tactile Living have put together a collection to inspire the mind and truly reflect individual style.