A particular part of the brain reacts to more geometrical spaces and shapes, determining how we view the space that we are in. Interior design, along with architecture, plays a significant role in consumer psychology.
As a business owner, you need to consider the impact that your space of choice has on your customers and your employees. There are a few tricks that you can use to increase sales and productivity. Understanding how space can impact our behavior is a valuable tool in the commercial world.
In the world of casinos, there’s more than just binge-worthy games keeping you there. Interior designers and architects have cracked the code for creating an environment that will increase the amount of income and time spent in the establishment. Here are a few ways in which casinos and retail outlets tap into their customer’s psyche and how you can alter them to fit your commercial needs.
Let’s look at the world of casinos first.
Image: zhu difeng
Lose Track Of Time.
The absence of windows and clocks in casinos is not a design fault; it’s the first trick that stops customers from realizing how long they’ve been playing. By removing all means to tell the time, they successfully create a black hole that sucks you up, only spitting you out hours or sometimes days later.
Bill Freidman is a well-known ex gambling addict turned casino researcher who has published his research’s findings. One of the main things he found was that the casinos want to keep you there for as long as possible before you realize how much money you’ve spent.
Comfort = Easy Spending
For players to spend their money, they need to feel at ease at all times. A small way of ensuring this is by creating a more intimate atmosphere. With lower ceilings and smaller rooms, players will feel less exposed and choose the atmosphere they would like to be in; when comfortable, they will explore what’s behind every door.
More rooms mean more exploration opportunities and more hours inside the building, which will inevitably lead to more spending.
Image: Travel Faery
The Sooner You Gamble, The Sooner You Spend
Players are activated as soon as they step through the front doors. With music playing loudly over the speakers, the sound of coins, and various other slot machines, there’s no way of avoiding distraction upon entry.
Casinos rarely waste the space in their ample open areas. You’ll find slot machines row after row and playing stations dotted in between as soon as you step into the building.
Humans love to have their senses engaged, and this method, in particular, plays into that fact. They’ve even begun using the player’s sense of smell to keep them hanging around. By releasing certain aromas from the ventilation system, it is said that play is increased by almost 50%.
By creating a more enjoyable experience, players will be more inclined to stay longer, thus spending more money in the casino.
Retail Stores Take Note
In recent years retail store owners have lost focus, choosing to make revenue a priority over customer experience. Believe me; this is a massive mistake as there is proof that revenue relies heavily upon the customer’s enjoyment at the establishment.
By taking a leaf out of casino designer’s books, retail store owners could immensely boost their sales by influencing their behavior and emotions. By considering the design and space used, sales would improve, and they’d soon see a marked improvement in foot traffic.
Treasure Hunt
Similar to the world of casinos, retail stores should lure customers in as soon as they step through the doors. By getting their attention at the front of the store, you can then entice the customers into the rest of the store, and then it’s up to the store manager to decide the path they’ll take.
By creating a store’s loop layout, customers will have a clear path to follow and find themselves touring the entire store before they’ve even realized it.
Image: Darren Gilbert
Look Right, look Left…
Depending on where you are in the world, you’re likely to see customers making a specific turn upon entering your store. Usually, this is because we are more likely to turn in the direction we face when driving. For example, in the UK, many shoppers will turn left as they enter the store because they drive on the left side of the road.
With this in mind, it’s essential to set up a display area that will leave a lasting impression and immediately attract the customer’s attention.
Bill Friedman dedicated a significant part of his life to studying casinos and how they manage to manipulate our senses and keep us behind their walls for so long. Retail shop owners can learn a lot from what he uncovered, and so can many other commercial establishments.
Restaurants, bars, and nightclubs will need to up their game in the future if they wish to keep up in the modern world.
By truly understanding the fact that the environment around you has such a significant impact on how you perceive things, commercial business owners will hold a lot of power and impact how others feel in their establishments and the decisions customers are likely to make.