Why Signage is the Brand in Retail
When you go into a store, whether it’s a Safeway, a Macys or a Trader Joe’s, the signage immediately sets the tone. Is the place fun? Is it formal? Is it “hip”? And lastly, does this place communicate that they have what you want? Beneath the simplicity of hanging signs or shelf talkers can be a real message of the brand – what do they stand for? What do they care about? How are they different and do I identify with them?
On a recent visit to a new Whole Foods in San Jose I really saw how they create not only a complex signage system but a very local and personalized look for each store. They do a remarkable job of creating a signage system that really does everything in terms of communicating what their brand stands for.
Whole Foods focuses on selling the highest quality natural and organic products. This means sustainability, locally grown produce and supporting healthy and quality foods. They communicate this with everything they do in the store environment and the signage exemplifies that, from simple printed cardboard signs for the cashiers’ stations that say they are open or closed to an events calendar made of moveable chalkboard sections that appear hand written.
The remarkable thing about their signage is that there is no one look. They intentionally have many different looks with their signs. They don’t want to be cookie cutter corporate – too buttoned up like Safeway. Each store is unique to the community they are in. Directional signs made of wood with hand done chalkboards for each product aisle are mixed with color banners that focus on seasonal foods and events. Along the back walls of the different departments are very large, hand made signs that promise a commitment, not to just to getting you good food but a way of life, with phrases like “preserve local farmers” and “committed to organics”. At the aisle ends they focus on handwritten merchandising signs that feature specials. Much of the store has a hand done look thanks to a signage system of chalk pens on boards, which communicates personal and local attributes.
Whole Foods wants you to know what they are about, what matters to them, because that’s their brand and their mission. Just like Apple, their stores are a created world of particular atitudes and concerns. For Apple it’s a world of simplicity, modernity, and elegance that enhances the experience of the product.
Every environment we are in communicates something about that world: is it cheap and super discounted like Ross or is it like Trader Joe’s – informal, personal, with great deals?
The stores that do it right get a bigger connection to their customers, integrate an experience of shopping with the brand and ultimately have better loyalty and sales. That’s what it’s all about.