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Retail and POS Design

Creating unique customer experiences through innovation and excellence.

The Process

With over 25 years combined industry experience in retail design, we are specialists in bringing retail concepts to life through immersive shopfitting and point-of-sale designs. Partnering directly with brands and design agencies, we have delivered concessions, retail fixtures, shop in shops and entire stores with cutting-edge POS/POP solutions. We have years of experience working closely with manufacturers; and have developed the knowledge, understanding & breadth of experience to deliver your projects. Let Step2 Design meet your project goals – on time and within budget.


Design Ideation

As the most critical stage in the development process, success is determined by design; which is why we focus on a fusion of creative ideation and technical feasibility. We launch the design process with a kick off meeting, providing you with clarity and peace of mind in our accurate costings and project plans, whilst building a robust understanding your vision, values, and retail objectives.

We then use a combination of sketching and block modelling in order to assess the concept & potential problems and risks, and to determine best method of construction before we begin the technical development process.

We have years of expertise in retail fixture, POS/POP, and shop-in-shop design, and pride ourselves on crafting retail spaces and shopfitting concepts that captivate consumers whilst optimising merchandise visibility and ultimately, sales.

3D Modelling

As initial concepts evolve into refined designs, our team utilises state-of-the-art 3D modelling software to visualise and realise your retail fixtures and displays. We promote a process of open collaboration, working closely with our clients to rapidly iterate design concepts whilst focusing on optimising aesthetics, functionality, manufacturability, and brand experience. 3D models enable our customers to evaluate designs digitally, improving decision making and accelerating time-to-market.

With manufacturing principles at the forefront of each design concept, we create production ready models that transition seamlessly into manufacturing-ready solutions. Our versatility spans across multiple retail sectors: from luxury boutiques to travel retail and pop-up shops, our experts at Step2 Design are comfortable producing and supporting retail rollouts of any scale.

Technical Drawings

Transforming innovative designs into production ready retail solutions requires expert technical drawing capabilities. At Step2 Design, our extensive industry experience in developing retail displays enables us to provide comprehensive technical drawings and 3D CAD data that clearly communicates design details to both clients and manufacturers. From general arrangement drawings to full technical drawing packs detailing each individual component, our flexible service can adjust to suit your individual documentation requirements.

Whether domestic or overseas, we tailor our technical drawings to each manufacturer’s requirements, using a combination of market-specific annotations, specifications, and terminology to help minimise ambiguities that lead to mistakes during the manufacturing process. Our technical drawing expertise helps bridge the gap between design and production, ensuring a seamless route to manufacture of retail fixtures and displays that match both the intended design and overarching brand vision.

Manufacturing Support

Step2 Design provides comprehensive manufacturing support for retail display projects of all scales, from initial prototyping through to full production. Our hands-on approach entails close collaboration at every phase of the project, conducting prototype reviews and providing ongoing manufacturing process oversight to ensure production meets the design specifications and QC (Quality Control) requirements.

At Step2 Design, 3D design excellence is our driving purpose. We understand its power to create transformative retail experiences that engage consumers and promote brand success. Every new project represents an opportunity for imagination and innovation and partnering with Step2 Design provides end-to-end expertise across every stage of the retail design process.

The work that Step2 Design have provided ARNO GB has always been of the highest quality standard. Their team are well experienced in modelling projects in our Group platform of SolidWorks and using our PDM data management system to assist on our projects, they maintain a trusted level of confidentiality with any of the projects that we assign to them. Their flexibility and passion to provide us with support, often at short notice, is a real asset to us and really helps support my department’s ability to deliver projects to our targeted deadlines.
William Li / Head of Development

Arno GB Limited

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Retail and POS Design FAQ
We’re proud to have worked across a range of retail store environments to create unique customer experiences that bring our clients’ brands to life. Whether designing showrooms, pop-ups or stores, our design team will work collaboratively with you to create bespoke physical experiences for your audiences that reflect the essence of your brand.
With over 25 years of experience designing leading retail stores, our team of design experts create spaces including:

- Traditional brick-and-mortar stores
- Pop-up shops and temporary displays
- Retail furniture
- Showrooms
- Boutiques
- Travel retail spaces
- Shop in Shops (SIS)
- Traditional POS & POP
- Experiential retail
- Window displays
With over 25 years of experience in retail design, we are confident in our ability to meet your time requirements and strive to produce the highest quality work. We understand that every client has unique needs and that each project varies hugely in terms of scope and complexity. At Step2 Design, we believe flexibility is a key part of how we deliver value, whether that is creating a design on a budget or producing an high-end retail experience. We will work collaboratively with you to produce a timeline that meets your projects requirements.

After an initial consultation with one of our design experts, we’ll provide you a detailed project timeline that breaks down the key milestones and ensures we deliver a project that fits your needs. This could range from producing technical drawings, to creating and implementing a completely new retail space from concept to finish.
Yes, part of our design service includes material selection guidance. Deciding on the best materials for your project can be a complex task, where factors like durability, appearance and suitability of application all need to be considered. Depending on circumstance, it may be beneficial to change material to help reduce cost or to increase durability. When you work with us, we will guide you through the process and help you select the right materials for the job!
As design engineers, we understand that testing and validating is an essential part of the design process. We offer all our clients a range of options, from individual component testing to a complete prototyping service. We have established relationships with leading manufacturers, allowing us to produce prototypes of any scale. This gives our clients the certainty they need to test, evaluate, and subsequently progress to a full a manufacturing roll-out.

We also have in-house 3D printers to rapidly iterate plastic parts and to test tolerances and mechanical suitability. This helps us to perform numerous quality control checks before sending parts to manufacture, helping to reduce costly manufacturing amends.  
We know that every client has unique needs and requirements and that projects vary hugely in scope and complexity. Whilst we love to create full CAD models and technical drawings, we are happy to take on a range of other project briefs like costing packs for tenders, or speculative pricing.

Our design engineers have produced countless costings and tenders for projects over the years and we are confident in our ability to deliver information that suits your supply chain and individual project requirements.
Yes, we understand that budgets vary. We offer customisable design solutions and can work within your budget whilst still delivering effective retail designs that meet your goals. During the initial project consultation with one of our design experts, we’ll provide you a detailed breakdown of the project and walk you through our estimated costings and project timeline milestones. If it’s something you’re interested in, we can tailor our design output towards your specific budget requirements and can value engineer the end result to ensure that budgets are maintained.

We never compromise on quality or overpromise on what is possible, and always strive to deliver something you can be proud of no matter the circumstances.
Our design engineers have had hands on experience with many different manufacturing processes to deliver projects across a variety of retail environments. We appreciate finding the best designers can be a challenging task, but we are confident that our years of industry experience has equipped us with all the skills and tools necessary to tackle even the most challenging of projects! We have worked extensively with numerous manufacturing processes, including:

- Sheet metal / tube design
- Wood / joinery fabrication
- Plastic fabrication
- Glass fabrication
- Injection moulding
- Vacuum forming
- Lighting and media integration
This question is largely subjective, and depends largely on feasibility, use-cases, and design aesthetics. Projects are often influenced by market rates for materials and manufacturing costs and all the above must be factored in when looking at the viability of any given construction method. It is also important to explore a range of other factors, such as selecting a local, regional, or global manufacturer to satisfy the client’s target market. With this, a consideration into shipping costs also needs to be made.

A good understanding of materials (and their eventual life cycle) is required when designing a retail space, and both the durability and longevity of a unit should be considered. At Step2 Design, we like to consider the complete lifecycle of a unit and understand that end-of-life sustainability and recycling options can have a huge impact on what materials you choose. Our design engineers have experience designing in sheet metal, tube, and wood joinery and can recommend a material selection based on your project-specifc requirements. 

In addition to this, our 3D visualisations and image renderings can help you be certain of your decision. We can provide realistic 3D renderings and fly-through animations of your retail environments, showcasing a variety of material choices to help you get the clarity you need to produce something that is both functional, and visually appealing.
Navigating the intricate landscape of regulations is vital to our success, and our design specialists go above and beyond to ensure that your project adheres to all relevant industry codes and standards. We produce units for a range of geographical markets and have a large network of global and regional partners and would be more than happy to help you understand the critical compliance requirements for your project.
Yes. We believe lighting is a great way of promoting authentic end-user interaction with your retail units. Integrating lighting into retail displays can help draw greater focus to certain key areas or enhance the user experience by adding a level of interactivity. However, knowing exactly when and where lighting should be added can sometimes be difficult. Understanding the intended audience, use-cases and budgetary constraints is key when incorporating lighting into retail displays. Moreover, it is important to understand exactly where, why and for how long lighting will be used in a retail space as this will inform which lighting options should be used based on the strength, warmth and longevity of the lighting required. Our design experts can help guide you through the process of choosing the correct lighting, as well as offering you the option to visualise a range of lighting options through our realistic 3D renders and animations.
Integrating digital content into your retail displays can really enhance the impact of a unit and create immersive customer experiences that reflects the nuances of your brand. We believe integrating media into your retail units enriches the customer journey and the corresponding perception of your brand – making media integration a massive value add.

When incorporating different forms of media, whether through visual displays or sound, it is important to understand what the compliance and physical requirements are. This enables the best selection possible and ensures that your retail units are designed to seamlessly integrate media. Developed in the right way (with considerations to servicing, installation and visual impact), media integration can make a huge difference to the outcome of the project. Often, we see designs with little to no allowance for the equipment that is required to go into a fixture, and this can have a huge impact in adhering to the original design intent. With many years of experience integrating digital content into engaging retail designs our team of experts will be happy to guide you through the range of options that are available.
Yes, our design services cover both small and large-scale production needs. We specialise in the end-to-end retail development process, from concept to implementation and have worked with some of the largest global retailers. Our designs will always consider the intended production volume of your project and will be carefully tailored to your needs.

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    Contact Details

    info@step2-design.co.uk

    01174564910

    Trading Address

    Step2 Design Limited HERE
    470 Bath Road
    Arnos Vale
    Bristol BS4 3AP