Why we bang on about retail branding
Retail branding is so much more than your logo and packaging. Discover what it really entails and why it’s so powerful.
By Blackdog - about 3 years ago
Branding is at the heart of the retail experience.
Think about the last time you entered a supermarket. We bet you naturally gravitated to the brands you love most — probably without thinking about it. You instinctively know what they look like, you know what they stand for. Heck, when you’re watching TV you’ll even recognise their adverts within the first few seconds of watching them.
That’s the power of great retail branding. Whether you’re launching a new brand, creating a new offering or creating a customer acquisition strategy, retail branding plays a pivotal role. In this easy-to-follow post, we’ll explain what retail branding really involves and why we think it’s so important.
What is retail branding?
It’s not just your logo and strapline. Retail branding covers every part of your visual identity, including your packaging, store design, accessories and marketing communications. Your retail brand is also what you stand for and what you communicate. What are your company’s values? How do you get them across? What do customers think when they hear your name? A great retail brand accounts for all of that.
There are some key differences between retail branding and more general forms of branding used by other businesses. Retail branding will specifically target consumers and aim to position your brand as the best choice in a presumably crowded marketplace. Branding efforts and related guidelines will also centre around your products, packaging and the in-store experience.
That’s why you may want to partner with a specialist retail branding agency to build yours.
What’s the difference between retail
branding and retail marketing?
Retail branding is not the same as retail marketing. Retail branding refers to all of your assets (visual, written, video, etc.). Retail marketing refers to the strategies your organisation uses to acquire new customers and boost sales. You can have multiple marketing strategies, but you should only have one brand.
The importance of retail branding
There are several important reasons why retail organisations need to get their branding right.
Retail branding builds loyalty
A strong, recognisable and well-defined brand makes for loyal retail customers. Your logo, colour palette, messaging and packaging all play a role here. After all, it’s much easier for customers to relate to a brand they can recognise both on the shelf and on TV.
Retail branding improves recognition
In the same vein as the point above, great retail branding significantly increases brand and product recall. The stronger and more memorable your brand and messaging, the easier it will be for customers to recognise your brand in-store or think about it when assessing their needs.
Retail branding generates new customers
Loyal customers with strong brand recall are going to buy more of your products. Fact. But they are also going to recommend your products to friends and family members. Even without a recommendation, new customers are also going to gravitate to the market leader above everyone else. Eventually, your brand becomes a flywheel: the stronger your brand, the more new customers you generate and the stronger your brand becomes.
Retail branding supports marketing
Your marketing efforts depend on the strength of your brand. You can have the best marketing campaign in the world, but it’s no good if you have a flawed brand to begin with. We’re not just talking about the brand assets your marketing team has available to them, either. As we said above, your brand is so much more than your visual identity. Your brand messaging and values have to be well-established, too.
Retail branding in the digital age
A great retail brand is no longer centred around the in-store experience. Today, organisations must take an omnichannel approach and build a brand that blurs the line between physical retail and eCommerce.
Branding must be consistent throughout the buyer journey. A study by Lucidpress found the consistent presentation of a brand increased revenue by 33%. Doing so is even more important when consumers can browse your eCommerce store on their laptop and visit your social media page on their phone before making a purchase in store. Your brand must be adaptable and flexible enough to meet the needs of each of these channels while retaining a level of coherence across them all.
Working with a retail branding agency
Few businesses have the skills to create, build and manage their retail brand in-house. That’s why even the biggest brands in the country will partner with a retail branding agency. By partnering with an agency, your brand can leverage the knowledge and skills of industry experts and get the guidance you need to navigate the constantly shifting retail landscape.
We work with retailers of all sizes — from startups to household names — creating brands that captivate people. See how we’ve created retail branding assets for Dreams, Tesco and Currys PC World, then reach out to one of our consultants to find out how we can help you.