6 Creative Retail Display Ideas for Your Online Storefront

Think about the last time a really eye-catching storefront display grabbed your attention and pulled you through the door.

Attractive retail displays like those can have a big impact on your sales while also creating a positive, lasting customer experience. Not only can attractive retail displays draw customers in, but they can also provide valuable information to help guide customers through informed purchasing decisions.

While most people think of retail shop displays in a physical, brick-and-mortar setting, creative visual merchandising is actually just as important for online storefronts.

Retail displays for eCommerce

While online stores don’t have traditional glass-paned windows, freestanding merchandise displays, and aisles full of products for visitors to browse, your customers are still virtually browsing the products in your eCommerce store every time they visit your website.

Online retailers who get creative with cross-merchandising and store design can offer inviting shopping experiences that make their businesses stand out from the competition. In fact, many elements of in-store displays can be adapted for online retail through photography and embedded videos.

Benefits of creative retail displays

While it can be fun in its own right to use a little creative flair in your online store design, there are several other compelling benefits that can come from these efforts.

Build brand recognition

Retail displays are an effective way to communicate your brand’s identity and make an impression on customers. Imagine being blindfolded and dropped into the middle of a popular brick-and-mortar store like Old Navy or Target. You’d probably be able to figure out exactly which store you were in immediately based on the branding built into the store design.

For online stores that can easily get lost in the shuffle of competitors’ websites, developing strong brand recognition through creative retail displays can be a game-changer.

Drive sales

The primary purpose of any retail display is to drive sales. An effective retail display can draw attention to particular products and encourage customers to purchase products that they might not have otherwise noticed.

Effective displays increase sales by:

• spotlighting products

• engaging customers

• providing key information

• creating a sense of excitement for products

• evoking emotion

• and creating a stimulating environment to explore.

Foster customer loyalty

Well-designed merchandising helps create positive shopping experiences, which can lead to increased customer loyalty. Customers who have a positive shopping experience are much more likely to return to that store and become loyal customers.

The value of customer loyalty is immense because loyal customers are likely to become repeat customers year after year and recommend your store to others.

6 creative retail display ideas for eCommerce

Merchandising is a creative endeavor, and the competition can be tough. Here are six creative retail display ideas to help your online store get an edge on your competition.

1. Utilize window displays

Even though your store may not have physical windows, you can still use the idea behind window displays to entice customers to browse your products. You can do this by using large images of carefully styled product displays. This type of website visual is called a hero image.

It can be helpful to think of the hero image as a traditional store window display. Identify what you want to communicate—whether that’s the desirability of the product you’re showcasing or a suggestion of how it will improve customers’ lives—and illustrate that in your hero image.

2. Create and feature product collections

Showcasing a cohesive group of products in a physical retail shop is exceptionally eye-catching and can boost sales. Department stores are great at doing this, especially in the run-up to seasonal changes and the holidays. Just think about how a clothing store mannequin might display an entire winter outfit as the weather gets colder.

With photography, you can do the same for bundles and products you sell individually, since the principle is the same. This type of display adapts well to online selling and can be used to make great hero images for retail websites. You could group products by theme, season, specific events, or any other criteria you choose.

3. Use color

Clever color combinations are attention-grabbing and can be influential. Color psychology is used in home interior design, event planning, movie scene staging, and much more. In the same way, it’s useful for marketing. Think about how you can use color to provoke the customer’s emotions and prompt purchasing. When thinking of how you can use color to convey the right message, consider: 

• overall color palette

• complementary colors

• contrasting colors

• accent colors

• and your brand’s colors.

4. Tell a story

Many of the most successful companies on the planet use storytelling to their advantage. Humans are just inherently drawn to a compelling narrative. Every story needs a plot, though, so start by asking yourself what story you want to tell about your brand and your offerings. Then consider how you can communicate that story to your online store visitors visually.

You can even continue a narrative from product imagery through to product packaging by using similar subjects, style elements, and iconography.

5. Promote cross-selling

Using in-store displays to promote cross-selling is one of the most common retail strategies—convenience stores and quick-service restaurants are especially good at it. Cross-selling is the practice of targeting existing customers in an attempt to sell them additional products. Think: “Would you like fries with that?”

You can apply a similar strategy to your eCommerce store by using creative visuals, graphics, and typography to promote cross-selling. Including marketing materials in your order shipments is another good way to drive additional sales via cross-selling.

6. Social proof your business

Social proof is based on the idea that people are more likely to buy something if they can see that their peers have already bought and enjoyed that product. The typical methods for building social proof—good reviews and ratings, positive social media buzz, influencer mentions, etc.—require customer engagement, so encouraging them to interact is essential.

Whether in-person or online, all store owners can encourage action by displaying and encouraging social proof prominently throughout their stores. Consider incentivizing customers with something in exchange for their actions, like a coupon or gift card. It’s also helpful to include a QR code on packaging or store displays to make the process easier for your customers.