December is the prettiest time to shop as retailers worldwide vie for the best looking festive window displays. Obviously the big retailers plan months ahead to attract the big holiday shopping market, but even the smaller shops can create a wonderful display using decorative frosted vinyl at the last minute that doesn’t have to cost the earth.

A shopfront is a retailer’s best billboard, yet many shop owners don’t put enough thought into how to optimise its use to attract people into the store. Bad lighting and a cluttered display are not good advertisements when you want to attract the holiday spenders.

These three tips on how to create interesting and affordable window displays will help get more customers into your store.

1. Choose a theme

The festive season holidays offer wonderful ideas for specific themes. The best way to attract attention is to tell a story. Is it a cosy family Christmas theme? Are you attracting people travelling over the holidays? Start by considering who your target market is and what sort of visual elements, including colours and text, will be best to attract them. Think of an interesting slogan or “teaser” text with a relevant image and create a unique design using decorative frosted vinyl and splash it across your shopfront windows to get shoppers intrigued about what is inside the shop.

2. Visit a new angle on an old theme

It’s easy to get caught up in what others are doing or to take the simplest route by using standard Christmas themed visuals like a fir tree, gifts and pretty lights. But consumers have seen that before a thousand times. Finding a new take on an old theme is much more likely to turn heads. Alternatively you can combine the two. A Christmas tree decorated in items from the shop or giant boxes wrapped in interesting fabric to look like gifts are much more likely to draw attention than tinsel and coloured baubles.

3. Don’t be afraid to grab attention

Use striking bold colours and shapes.  There are thousands of colour variations so pick a few in contrasting shades that suit your theme, and have fun. Make sure you use them on areas big enough for people to see from a distance. But remember, less is often more. So don’t choose too many different colours or clutter the shopfront with too many items that will prevent you from making a statement with the overall look. The less you have the more striking it can be. You can use a combination of coloured vinyl on certain areas of the shop windows and items on display set slightly away from the windows to create interesting areas of depth.

Bonus tip: To ensure that you get the most important feature of your display in just the right spot. Use tape on the shopfront windows to measure out where items should be placed in order to get just the right line of vision when you set it all up. Remember that your message and products are the main focus of the display and therefore lighting these correctly is extremely important.

We’re available all year round to help you with all your vinyl shopfront window display needs. Contact us today for a free quote.