How to maximise your flooring store’s impact to boost sales

The way you design the displays in your retail flooring space can make all the difference to the number of sales you make. By knowing what customers are looking for, how they browse and what is most popular or on-trend, you can entice people through the door and give them the confidence that you have what they want, and can take the stress away from the whole process.

Your window display

Keeping your window display attractive and up to date will help to attract the attention of people walking by. If you keep your display the same for months on end, people will start to ignore it. Your window is the way to make a connection with potential customers before they come into your shop. So make sure it reflects the latest trends – hard wood flooring, for example, or the latest colours – and is good to look at. Use furniture to create a ‘home’ feel, helping people to relate your products to their own homes. And take advantage of seasonal opportunities like Easter or summer holidays to add a bit of personality and humour to your window. Use signage to promote discounts, particular carpet types or service promises.

Inside the store

For most carpet retailers, shop space is limited, and you need customers to be able to see as much as possible of your range without feeling crowded. In most cases, you’ll be displaying samples of flooring, rather than having carpet on rolls, for example, and so you need a layout that encourages customers to browse, spotlights your most popular ranges – and showcases the flooring that is currently in most demand.

One of the most common issues for flooring retailers is the quantity of samples you want to display. You want to give your customers plenty of choice across the whole range of products, price points and colours or patterns. That can make for a very busy showroom, so follow these simple guidelines to help improve footfall and give you a better chance of boosting sales:

Understand customer flow – research shows that people tend to look left when they come into a shop, and then walk right, anti-clockwise, around the store. So think about how you can apply that to your store – and if your current layout supports that type of interaction. Observe the way that people move around your store currently, and look for potential ‘pinch points’ where people find it harder to navigate your store or where they may get to a particular point and then leave – why might that be?

Ask your customers – your buyers are your best source of information. You get instant feedback and it gives you a great idea about what your customers want to see and how they want to shop. They’ll be pleased you asked, because it shows you are actively interested in their opinions and experience.

Make a plan – it can be a good idea to draw a scale plan of your shop floor space. This helps you to see how best to set up the various sample stands you have, and how to organise your flooring options to give your customers the best opportunity to view everything they are interested in. There’s nothing wrong with pushing your customers through a path you have designed in the store – with stands to attract their attention at certain points – it may even help to increase enquiries and sales.

Leave some space at the door – customers don’t want to be confronted with huge displays in their eyeline as soon as they walk in. So make sure there is a good sense of space around the entrance to your store, and put your promotional stock, new product lines or sale specials on the right hand wall, so that they are the first thing people see when they start to browse.

Keep aisles as wide as possible – you want people to be able to move around your store without bumping into others. This is especially important post-Covid, as people are still wary of being in confined spaces with others. You also need to consider accessibility – could someone in a wheelchair or with a buggy get round your store comfortably? If not, how will you manage access for those customers?

Use display stands cleverly – if you are using impactful display stands, like our award-winning displays, make sure that they are in the customer’s sight lines quickly. Mix tall displays with shorter ones – this will give a better feel of space and allows customers to see wall-based displays before they have walked around the store.

We’re always on hand to help you make the most of your store, so that customers can find what they want comfortably and you can promote selected flooring or lines at any time.

Our award-winning display stands give you incredible versatility instore – mix and match units, display the full range of products with easy access to all samples, and create display islands in your showroom that make an immediate impact on your customers. And all with great branding and attractive room set displays – everything you need, in fact, to draw your customers in and help them to buy. Contact us to find out more about our display stands, of to enquire about opening a retail account with us.