Wayfinding & Informational signage at shopping centres improves visibility and brand identity, making the shopping experience easier for customers.
Transform the hectic festive shopping experience with value-driven signage options. Retail centres see an influx of visitors during the Christmas period, but a well-designed wayfinding system can transform your shopping centre into an efficient and enjoyable destination, guiding shoppers through the yuletide chaos with ease.
According to a McKinsey & Company report on consumer sentiment, 70% of UK and European consumers are planning to keep their festive spending in line with last year’s levels. This same study noted a dominating focus on purchasing gift cards for necessities such as food, highlighting a priority placed on entertaining and practical gifting even with economic uncertainty.
No matter what your customers are looking for this holiday season, wayfinding is a universal need at indoor shopping complexes, retail parks or mixed-use locations with retail and restaurants, convenience stores, discount retailers and more. From the moment someone arrives at your place of business until the moment they leave, directional signs and graphics have the ability to make or break a visitor's experience. Effective exterior business signage helps create a more productive, organised navigation experience, getting people where they want to go quickly and safely.
Create a Memorable Shopping Experience
We all know what it’s like to be in a busy shopping centre during the festive season. It’s chaotic and loud. If the signage isn’t clear, it’s enough to make you want to turn around and leave. Avoid the Christmas meltdown this year with directional signage and exterior business signage that makes parking, drop off and kerbside services easier to navigate for your customers.
Discover Leeds Trinity Retail and Wayfinding Success
Leeds Trinity Shopping Centre is a 93,000 square metre shopping complex with over 120 shops. They require wayfinding that takes shoppers from the car park to the counter. Ultimately, “the ability for people to know where they’re supposed to go or where they would like to go,” was the challenge and the real game changer in the marketing plan for this retail centre, which relied heavily on more directional signage.
Wayfinding signs are game changers. Exterior business signage helps navigate customers from the outside in, and interior signage provides needed guidance to often overlooked areas of your business.
Directional signage at shopping centres is most often found at:
- Entrances and Exits: To guide visitors as they enter and leave the shopping centre
- Main Walkways and Corridors: Helping shoppers navigate through the central pathways and find key areas
- Lifts and Escalators: Indicating the location and direction of vertical transportation options
- Car Parks and Garages: Directing drivers to entrances, exits and specific parking areas
- Junctions: Providing clarity at decision points where shoppers may need to change direction
- Food Courts and Rest Areas: Guiding visitors to dining options and seating areas
- Facilities: Leading shoppers to essential facilities
- Store Directories and Information Kiosks: Displaying maps and store locations for easy navigation
- Emergency Exits and Safety Stations: Ensuring visibility of safety-related information and areas
- Information Desks: Such as customer service desks, lost and found, or pushchair hire locations
These are just some of the ways in which you can help your customers find their way around your store this holiday season.
5 Ways to Make Shopping Easier with Wayfinding Signs
Make it simple this festive season with directional signage. Strategic placements ensure that shoppers can easily and efficiently find their way around your retail centre.
1. Facilitate Smooth Traffic Flow
Use wayfinding signs to reduce congestion, guiding shoppers efficiently through crowded areas.
- Overhead Directional Arrows: Use these signs to guide shoppers efficiently through main walkways and junctions, reducing congestion by clearly indicating pathways.
- Colour-coded Pathways: Use floor or wall signs using colours to designate different sections or routes within the shopping centre.
2. Embrace Seasonal Themes
Incorporate festive designs and colours into retail wayfinding strategies for budget-conscious shoppers to amplify the Christmas atmosphere.
- Seasonal Wall-Mounted Wayfinding Maps: Incorporate festive colours and festive motifs into these maps, adding to the holiday spirit while still providing essential navigation information.
- Pavement Signs and A-frames: These value-driven signage options are portable, temporary and easily changed out, especially during peak retail sales season or parking closure notices.
3. Improve Safety
Provide clear directions to emergency exits, ensuring shopper safety during peak times.
- Exit and Emergency Route Signs: Ensure these are highly visible and include clear directions to emergency exits, maintaining safety even during busy shopping periods.
- Lift and Escalator Signs: Place signs at elevators and escalators showing which floors or areas are accessible.
4. Strategically Place Signs
Position signs at crucial junctions such as entrances, near lifts and escalators, and in parking lots.
- Pylon Signs: Place these tall, freestanding signs at key junctions such as entrances, near lifts and escalators, providing directional information to multiple locations and enhancing visibility.
- Facilities Wayfinding Signs: Direct shoppers to the nearest toilets, often strategically placed near intersections.
5. Incorporate Technology
Utilise digital displays for real-time information and QR codes for interactive maps and holiday offers.
- Digital Displays and Kiosks with QR Codes: Position interactive kiosks throughout the centre to help visitors quickly locate stores and discover holiday deals, including QR codes that shoppers can scan for additional information.
- Floor signage: Floor graphics that include floor projections can be used for interior spaces to help facilitate directions when a wall is not nearby.
With these strategies, make festive shopping smooth and enjoyable in your shopping centre.
Make Wayfinding a Festive Experience
Wayfinding is a year-round need. The yuletide season provides an opportunity to use seasonal colours and motifs, but make sure they are clear and readable, especially from a distance. Consider digital displays that offer real-time store promotions and shopping centre events. Incorporate QR codes that link to interactive maps with real-time updates, especially during peak hours. Ensure brand consistency and maintain uniformity in signs' fonts, colours and styles for brand alignment and better recognition.
Start Your Seasonal Wayfinding Project with FASTSIGNS®
Whether you're directing customers to special festive promotions or ensuring efficient parking access, our customised wayfinding solutions enhance every aspect of the shopping experience. The next time you’re searching for “sign shops near me” add “FASTSIGNS® near me” and partner with the trusted sign professionals at FASTSIGNS to Make Your Statement(™).