How brand positioning can impact your coffee shop interior design
Your brand positioning is the strategy you are using to set your brand apart from the rest of the high street and the well-known coffee brands, it is what makes you a credible, favoured coffee shop in consumers’ minds. A strong brand creates that differentiation by communicating value and providing an experience, justifying pricing – positively impacting your bottom line.
A strong brand must be a priority for all businesses looking for success, in fact, brands that are consistent in their positioning see an average increased revenue of 33%.
How well you position your brand will ultimately determine how easy customers find it to buy from you. It is your brand positioning which helps to communicate what makes you unique, and why you are different from other competitors, it sparks an interest. Your positioning helps to determine a set of expectations that your customers become accustomed to.
As a business you will gain a reputation regardless, so you need to take control of that reputation by having a cohesive brand identity and positioning.
The coffee giants that feature in most UK towns cater to everyone, without much specificity, providing an opening for the independent coffee shops to prosper. As an independent establishment, demonstrating a strong brand means you will attract customers that connect with you, the same customers that may avoid other coffee shops due to their weak positioning or branding that does not resonate with them.
Having clarity around your brand means the coffee shop interior design process should be cohesive; With a clear positioning the interior design concept should naturally move in a direction that aligns with your brand. In our current society, grabbing a coffee and a quick lunch is no longer good enough, people are looking for more. People want an experience, somewhere where they feel stimulated, a unique environment that they have not experienced before.
Creating a highly branded interior experience will help strengthen your brands narrative and positioning. In doing so you create a much deeper connection with your customers which ultimately provides a connected and positive customer experience.
A visual experience will help retain customers in your niche as well as attract new ones, so its important to look towards a positioning that is unique, but not too ‘bizarre.’ Your coffee shop needs to leave an impression that is palpable through your services, employees, offering and décor. The interior design should enhance your brand, emitting your brands mission and story. It should feel connected and aligned with your brands future goals and vision.
If you take the positioning of being a sustainable, eco-friendly coffee shop then this will be at the core of all your interior design choices. You could start with the basics of a colour palette, leaning towards earthy browns, greens, and greys, remembering that the exterior must match the interior. With that in mind, a grey or brown exterior would not look very appealing to clients from the high street. To convey your sustainability message, you could choose plants and greenery matched with reclaimed wood – inviting but on brand, it gives people an idea of what to expect before entering. Conveying your sustainability inside, you would carry on with the reclaimed wood interiors, perhaps through panelling and the flooring. An inside herb garden built on salvaged materials, and wall-hung greenery help create an eco-friendly atmosphere. Don’t forget the furniture your customers will be using; refurbed tables and chairs, or furniture made from reclaimed materials is an important part of the sustainability message. Instead of buying new, from a furniture retailer, you have sourced and reused, remembering it is all in the design details.
There is no end to how far you can go with sustainable interiors, it’s incredibly important that you commit fully otherwise it will weaken the brand positioning and look like it is just a token gesture.
More choices you can go through when thinking of the interiors include things like how you present your customer offering, just having a singular corkboard menu at the point of ordering for example saves creating multiple menus, as well as a concise, seasonal menu without too many options to save waste. Energy-saving machines and sourcing local products too are perfect ways to demonstrate your commitment to sustainability, showing your customers you have gone just beyond the décor. There are of course more ways, such as e-receipts (saving paper,) a virtual loyalty card, providing mugs and compostable cups for takeaways.
If your coffee shop has an outdoor seating area, this should not be overlooked either, it is the perfect opportunity to look at solar powered lighting, a salad or vegetable garden, more greenery and reclaimed materials.
By this point, you have strengthened your brand positioning through your décor, allowing it to convey your message, in turn creating a coffee shop interior that is reflective of your brand. A brand that knows its target customers and is providing them with an experience that connects and resonates with their core values. In having a well-positioned brand, it enables you to make informed choices around the coffee shop interior design and the consistency of your brand. As a result, you have created an environment that conveys your message and future of your brand to your customers, evoking specific feelings towards your coffee shop by providing consistency throughout their experience. This is the power of strong branding and how it not only influences interior design but encourages you to take it further and deliver the best connective experience.
