In many retail stores, the only way to possess as much room as possible is by occupying two floors. Maybe it’s because of the building you’re in, or perhaps it’s just the city itself. It can be very expensive to have large ground floor stores in capital cities. That’s why the majority of small businesses would rather expand up and than out. But now that you have a two-story building as your retail store, this presents a plethora of challenges. You won’t have thought it was a big deal to have your products split into two floors, but you soon realize, so many customers don’t bother to go upstairs. This causes such a loss in potential profit, that you simply cannot ignore it.
Bells, whistles and marketing
When customers walk into your store, they should immediately be told there is a second floor to your store. How could you do this in a tasteful way and not make it look too desperate? A combination of bells whistles and great marketing. Firstly, you need to have standing boards with excellent photographs of models using, wearing or holding your products. If you’re a clothing company, models should be wearing some of the items that are on the first floor. This would catch the attention of people as they walk in and know that if they want to explore those items, they need to look upstairs. That being said, the standing boards must be at the foot of the staircase, not just dropped in the middle of the entrance.
An alluring and stylish staircase
More often than not, small businesses won’t be able to afford a wheelchair ramp or elevator to their first floor. Although this is understandable, not having a great staircase is not. Employ a company like everett pipe and steel that can make splendid handrails that are strong and stylish. They can also give you tips on how the stairs should look, with their metal products as they have a great deal of history-making such products for the retail industry.
Have some lighting placed in the walls of the staircase so the stairs are illuminated from the sides. This will allow customers to see the size and shape of the staircase with a first glance as they walk in. The LED lights can’t blind them if they were to look down as they climb the steps. Pinning posters on the walls along the staircase will tell customers what they should expect to see in the way of your products.
Hook and bait
One of the most powerful techniques to get customers to go up to the first floor is by using discounts and sales posters. Big, red sales posters along the staircase or right next to the foot of the staircase will effortlessly bring attention to this. You could place these posters via a marketing stand outside your entrance and write ‘on the first floor’ to give customers a bit of friendly direction.
It’s painful to see so many customers walk out of your store and not even know you have another floor full of products. You need to draw their attention, albeit subtle to the staircase using great design, materials and marketing.