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Enhance the Retail Experience With Art

Written by:

Evan La Ruffa

Apr 16, 2018

Fashion retailers have a big problem: getting shoppers off the Internet and back into stores. Online shopping’s popularity has sent store managers scrambling to make the live retail experience exciting again. With traditional shopping malls dropping like flies across the country, retailers know that something needs to be done.

This is why more and more retailers are curating their stores with art. Wall art and ambitious interior designs shift a store’s focus from a shopping experience to a creative adventure that retailers hope will tempt shoppers into brick and mortar stores.

It’s working, and for a number of reasons.

Art slows the retail experience. A compelling piece of art can require time to digest. It can contain layers of meaning and delivers it in waves over many minutes and from different angles. This keeps shoppers in the store for longer periods of time and in a frame of mind to wander and discover. The creative discovery of art lends itself perfectly to the ideal mood of the shopper. It keeps folks browsing, searching for new things, and excited to meander around the store.

Art can improve a shopper’s mood. A warm feeling from a store can entice a shopper to return and inspire brand allegiance. Someone will be much more likely to come back and even bring their friends or family if they are impressed by the aesthetic experience of a store. Shopping is an event, often outside of day to day life. Treat it like it is and thrill your customers with exciting art and design.

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Art can connect a shopper with more nuanced parts of the brain. It can provoke heightened awareness and appreciation of the beauty around them. Looking at art will make shoppers look at your merchandise like art. It inspires a deeper appreciation of your products.

The bedroom-like intimacy created, for example, by ink drawings in a changing room, can help a shopper feel relaxed in new clothing items. This can work especially well for made-for-measure clients. Reluctant shoppers may find the art lessen the pressure they feel from onlookers that prevents them from enjoying the shopping experience.

Finally, art can change the way a shopper views the products they’re shopping for. Art can remind us that fashion is, itself, a genre of art. It can help us equate new clothes as joyous expressions of self, rather than of soulless consumerism.

However long the art in retail trend lasts, its storied success remains another public testament to the power of art in our everyday lives.

IPaintMyMind’s art rental, consulting, and mural commissions programs can all easily be translated into the retail sphere. We can work with you to find the best art for your space, through getting to know you, your product, and your customers. We prioritize culture, branding, and atmosphere when working with our customers, and folks that we’ve worked with, like the Adidas Chicago store, can attest.