Retail Visibility = Customer Accessibility

Vision is what propels us forward in the world. When something enticing is within our sight line, we automatically believe that it is accessible to us and we will move consciously or unconsciously towards it. So, in the world of retail, what is visible to the customer is accessible to the customer: visibility = accessibility.
From our early beginnings walking upright, we have used our visual acuity to scan the horizon for prey and predators, zeroing in on both opportunities and threats. With over one quarter of our brain involved in visual perception and 70% of the body’s sense receptors in our eyes, our vision is what attracts us to things, people and places.
 

How customers move through space

In the retail world, customers often unconsciously move towards what they can see and what captivates them. When something interesting or desirable falls within in their field of vision, capturing their attention or piquing their curiosity they feel compelled to approach it. Think of it this way: when learning to drive we are taught to focus ahead on the horizon and not to the left or the right, as a means to stay within our lane. We are also told that should we find ourselves in a skid we should look towards where we want to end up. Simply, we unconsciously move towards where we look, especially when we are intrigued by what we see.
On the flip side, when customers aren’t given sight lines, they once again make conscious or unconscious decisions on that basis, feeling neither compelled nor safe to shop. If they can’t see what is within or ahead of them they can feel insecure, physically, psychologically or socially. When it comes to personal safety, women and older customers in particular feel greater vulnerability.
 

What retailers can do

Retailers can and should use these principles to their advantage to get customers into their stores and keep them shopping – always remembering that the retail environment still needs to support and express the brand, respect the product and appeal specifically to the target demographic. It’s not necessarily about providing completely open sight lines. A little mystery is a good thing; a sense of discovery enhances the shopping experience. It is about expressing a brand’s intended level of accessibility and appealing to the target demographic’s psyche, desires and concerns. Abercrombie & Fitch and their gen Y customer are a very different from Banana Republic and their gen X customer.
 
When designing a store, retailers need to understand customers’ motivations and concerns and tap into the following opportunities:
 

Storefront / Exterior

• Aside from well-conceived, attention-getting display windows, give customers sight lines into your store so they understand what the space is about and be intrigued and enticed to enter. That can mean clear sight lines or partial vistas.
• For street locations, adequate lighting is critical to counteract natural sunlight and ensure that the store doesn’t appear as a dark impenetrable chasm and address customers’ safety concerns.
• In the case of multi-level stores, allow tantalizing sightlines to upper floors or staircases from outside of the store. Give customers a sense of what the space is about. At the very least, cheat and imply sightlines by utilizing tinted or spandrel glass.

Interior

• Create vistas throughout the store to entice customers through the space. Develop a cadence of focal points or punctuation points every 10 to 20 feet to draw the customers in, exposing them to the greatest amount of product and ensuring that all areas of the store are visited.
• Tap into both the “cathedral effect” (inclination to look upward in search of inspiration) and their natural line of sight (slightly above eye level to just above the knee) to place key displays and product)
• Ensure that the back wall is visually impactful to draw customers to the rear of the store. The objective is to get customers to travel effortlessly through the store.
• In multi-level stores, create enticing sight lines to other floors to encourage customers to make the trip. People are inherently lazy and need a compelling reason to traverse stairs or escalators.
• Position vertical circulation routes (stairs and escalators) in highly visible locations to ensure easy access to other levels.

These are only a few general rules of thumb. Of course the rules can be broken – but only when re-invention, revolution or innovation are the very essence of the brand and the retailer has a firm grasp of the desires, motivations and idiosyncrasies of their target demographic. Otherwise, it’s simple: visibility = accessibility.