Retail signage and branding: from the shop window to the point of sale

A shop needs branding on four layers: the fascia (main sign and projecting sign), the shop window (vinyls and campaign graphics), the interior (walls, counters and furniture) and the point of sale (POS displays, stands and posters). The first two change rarely; the last two change with every campaign. If you plan with that difference in mind, you spend less and change faster.

This guide is for anyone opening a shop, refreshing its look or managing several stores at once. You will find the full service on our retail signage page.

The fascia sign is the longest-lasting piece and the one that works hardest: it identifies the shop by day and, if illuminated, by night too. The most common options are lightboxes, backlit built-up letters and LED neon. We compare them in our guide to types of illuminated signs.

An illuminated sign starts from €300, depending on size, type (lightbox, backlit built-up letters, LED neon) and installation. If the shop is on a street with a lot of passing foot traffic, a projecting sign helps people spot you before they reach the door.

Two words of caution. Exterior signs usually need council permission and the conditions vary from one council to another, so check before anything is made. And in a shopping centre, the centre itself sets the rules, with its own branding guidelines and installation hours.

The shop window is the space that changes most often. The usual approach is to combine fixed elements (logo, opening hours, frosted vinyl for privacy) with campaign graphics that change each season, for the sales or for key dates.

For temporary graphics, removable vinyl and static cling vinyl work well, as they come off without leaving marks. If you want to cover the whole window without losing light or the view from inside, perforated vinyl is the usual answer. You will find every format on our vinyl and decoration page.

Inside, the branding is built with feature walls in the corporate colour, large logos, branded counters, vinyl-wrapped furniture and printed murals. On top of that comes POS: displays, totems, gondola ends and posters that push a specific product or promotion.

We will not repeat POS formats and ideas here: you will find them in our article on retail POS display ideas, our guide to types of POS displays and our POS and displays page. What is worth deciding early is which parts of the interior are permanent (feature wall, logo, counter) and which will rotate, because that drives materials and budget. What matters from the shop's point of view is that POS fits the real space (counter sizes, aisles, heights) and that staff can set it up without help. And if the shop needs a facelift without building work, see how to renovate a shop with vinyl cladding.

In a store opening everything arrives at once, so it helps to put things in order:

• Survey the premises: fascia, windows, walls and furniture, ideally once the fit-out is well advanced.
• Permits: for the exterior sign, in good time, because it depends on the council or the shopping centre.
• Sign and fixed pieces: these take longest to manufacture.
• Vinyls and interior: applied once the fit-out is finished and clean.
• POS and opening campaign: last of all, with the stock already in store.

An example: at the sales office for a Llar Catalonia residential development, we fitted the signage once the work was finished: cut and printed vinyl on the glass door, an illuminated fascia sign and the window dressed with a large-format render of the development.

When there are several shops, the challenge stops being design and becomes logistics: making sure each shop gets the right pieces, on time and in the right sizes. What works best:

• A measurements inventory for each shop: windows, walls and furniture are not the same in every unit.
• A modular kit: common base pieces plus adaptations for each store format.
• Packaging and instructions per store, if staff do the installation themselves.
• Fixed delivery or installation dates, coordinated with each location.

That is what we did for ASICS's Christmas campaign: a modular visual merchandising kit adaptable to different store formats, with window vinyls, displays, hanging pieces, posters and floor stickers, and logistics coordinated to deliver to every store on time.

A pop-up is a way to test a location, launch a product or activate a campaign somewhere with heavy footfall. It is designed to go up quickly, last as long as the activation and come down without a trace. We explain it on our pop-up and temporary retail page.

Some of our examples: the Venca pop-up store outside a Barcelona shopping centre, with a vinyl-wrapped modular structure and backlit panels that work as lightboxes at night; the Vodafone pop-up space with a product showcase and themed zones; ONO's touring «Píllalos al vuelo» space in shopping centres; and the temporary showroom for Sensalia Labs, which turned an empty room into a Seoul street.

• ONO, El Saler Shopping Centre (Valencia): a feature wall in corporate purple with the logo, counters branded with service icons, a display totem and vinyls on the shopfront.
• GSM Mediatech: a sign with illuminated built-up blocks and a projecting sign for a unit in a shopping centre, installed while the shop was trading and with hours coordinated with the centre.
• Tennis Point: a built-up sign with LED lighting and cut-vinyl window graphics, continuing the brand colours.
• Cold Culture: full vinyl wrapping of the central tables and graphic finishes on the display furniture.
• fit20: a fascia lightbox, a rigid window sign and frosted vinyl on the door, all in line with the franchise's brand manual.
• UGG: a large-format LED neon logo above the product displays.

We manufacture in Barcelona and install all over Spain, with our own team. Since 1994 we have completed more than 3,000 projects. To prepare a proposal it helps to know:

• The address of the shop or shops, and whether they are on the high street or in a shopping centre.
• Photos and approximate measurements of the fascia, windows and walls.
• Which pieces are permanent and which change with each campaign.
• The opening date or campaign start date.
• Your brand manual or final artwork, if you have them.

Request a quote or call us on +34 937 50 23 04.