Helping small retail businesses

How can we help retail brands get the best shop graphics?

Part of our job is to advise and help customers realise their ideas. Sometimes these ideas can be as vague as 'I need some signage', 'I'd like a graphic on my wall', or even, 'I'm opening a shop, help, what do I need?'

Our experience in retail means we can comfortably, and comprehensively, help bring to life the physical spaces they inhabit.

We've spoken in the past about pop-up shops and how the face of London retail will change post-Covid. And this goes hand in hand with the need, and the ability, to guide and help small businesses as they start up, or emerge from the retail wilderness. What do you need in the way of printed graphics, or retail displays to get the ball rolling and make an impact? We know too well the expense that is affiliated with having a shop in London, especially in the rent and rates paid, also there are other options with these types of graphic designs help promote your business message which you can find in event graphics online. A lot of new brands will be experiencing this for the first time and will outlay a lot of their start-up budget in covering rent and deposits – which creates stress and worries from the off. Questions will be asked –

• Is a shop worth it?
• Are we in the right location?
• How do we attract footfall?
• How do we entice customers into the shop?

Although it won't necessarily apply to all businesses, we wrote our own take on these, the why we are here – the benefits and decisions about location.

The thing to remember is, you're not alone. Yes, it might feel like a leap of faith starting, or re-starting a venture, but there are good people out there who can share their knowledge with you and hopefully help make your brand a success. There are obviously many factors that go into a brand being successful including the product or service on offer; time and place; customer need (do you solve or offer a service for the requirement a potential customer has?); customer service; and the look and feel of a brand and store – is it inviting? Eye-catching? Do I want to be a part of what's on offer?

How you articulate your brand's identity in the form of graphics and signage can go a long in helping you with some of the questions we asked earlier.

Graphics to help with advertising & marketing

At the very least small business graphics are advertising–

• Here we are
• This is what we sell
• This is what we do

But they are also marketing –

• This is why we're here
• This is why we do what we do
• This is how we do it
• This is how good we are
• This is what you, our audience, need

And this is what The Graphical Tree are great at – small business graphics and display items! There are many ways to convey your message from printed self-adhesive vinyl to bespoke product boxes; wall signage to point-of-sale; price shelf runners to vinyl window decals; 3D props to floor graphics.

All of our account managers are extremely helpful and knowledgeable so you'll be in a safe pair of hands from the start. We know that sometimes even the initial contact and conversation can be a little daunting if you really don't know what you're after, so we prepared a short guide to what goes into a quote for graphics – it might help take away some of the trepidation – you can read the guide to quoting here.

Graphics for every size business

It's not just startups who need advice and graphics. We feel we add value to all brands, both large with budgets to match, and to the smaller brands who you may already know and who you feel is established in the retail space. But as we said at the start, this re-emergence from Covid can be a difficult and thought-provoking exercise for us all to negotiate, no matter if a brand logo looks familiar already.

Give us a call, or send an email and we can get the ball rolling. Once know even the basics we are then in a position to advise and help. This could involve an on-site meeting with yourself and your own designers – suggesting ideas, materials, methods, taking measurements. Or it could involve taking a brief with a view to designing the space or the graphics for you. We're comfortable with either and here to help. Further along the process, we might need to know about Risk & Method Statements, access to shopping malls, local authority clearance for access or street-based graphics, all of which we are well versed in, so fear not, that's why you engage with a friendly expert after all.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, let's start at the beginning and see where the journey takes us...

You can email us here ~ print@thegraphicaltree.com
Give us a call here ~ 020 7580 4405
Or pop in and see us for a welcoming tea/coffee/water and a chat!