As online banking takes over daily transactions, the role of the branch must evolve.
At Element, we’re helping clients make this transformation by adopting a retail mindset. Retailers have long understood how to drive in-store behavior through environmental design, emotional triggers, and strategic branch merchandising.
For community banks and credit unions, adopting a retail mindset isn’t just about aesthetics and marketing; it’s about making every branch visit more engaging, purposeful, and valuable to the customers or members.
What is Branch Merchandising?
Branch merchandising is the strategy of creating a welcoming and engaging environment where customers and members feel “in their element.” It goes beyond the idea of just displaying products and is about creating memorable experiences within the branch.
Key Merchandising Learnings From Retail
1. Zone spaces within the branch for specific goals
One key learning from retail is the importance of zoning spaces within the branch for specific goals. Retailers often design their space with distinct areas for welcoming customers, consultation, product discovery, leisure, and customer support. Your branch can adopt similar strategies to create a more purposeful environment.
Welcoming Area: A zone designed to make visitors feel comfortable and valued as soon as they enter. Staff who are assigned to the space know they are responsible for welcoming visitors as they come through the door, checking in visitors, and ensuring they have the right paperwork and their questions answered.
- Consultation Areas: These spaces are dedicated to one-on-one interactions between visitors and staff. They should be private, comfortable, and equipped with the necessary resources for discussions.
- Product Discovery Zones: These areas showcase products and services in an engaging manner, encouraging visitors to explore and learn more.
- Community Boards: Community boards can display local events, announcements, and other relevant information that connects the branch with its specific community.
2. Align Retail Branch Teams and Marketing Teams
Retailers don’t separate marketing from merchandising. They fully integrate their strategies, creating an omnichannel experience outside and within the store.
In branch merchandising, alignment between your retail team and marketing team is crucial for creating a cohesive and engaging customer experience. This collaboration ensures that customers’ and members’ experiences outside the branch are consistent with their experiences within the branch.
To ensure success, we see a need for clearer communication and training between teams. For example, when a promotional offer is launched, marketing materials may be distributed outside and within the branch. Without the marketing team communicating the why behind the what, visitors to the branch may receive a sub-optimal experience if they ask questions about the offer.
Element’s most successful clients overcommunicate with each other and provide context for the materials and strategies they develop, ensuring that retail teams can effectively implement them.
3. Don’t Shy Away from Exterior Facing Signage
With branches getting smaller and going into traditional in-store and in-line retail settings, your branch is likely to be closed when other businesses are open around it.
Walk by a big national chain, and their windows are splashed with advertisements, offers, and branded messaging. They aren’t shy to say, “we’re here and this is what we do.”
Effective signage can transform a branch into a billboard, attracting attention even when the branch is closed. This is achieved through strategic lighting, window displays, and ensuring visibility from the outside.
By leveraging digital signage, our clients are further adopting a retail mindset by frequently swapping out content, keeping the outside messaging fresh and interesting for pedestrians.
In-line branches are taking digital signage engagement even further by placing through-glass touch screens on outward-facing windows. This allows pedestrians to engage with marketing materials while the branch is closed.
4. Frequently Refresh Merchandising
Grocery stores are masters at refreshing their merchandising to keep customers engaged and returning for more. Walking into a grocery store, you might see Pepsi products prominently displayed on an endcap. A week or two later, the display might feature Nabisco products. This frequent change keeps the store environment dynamic and interesting for customers.
From the grocery store example, several lessons can be drawn for branch merchandising:
- Frequent Updates: Just like grocery stores, branches should frequently update their content and displays. This keeps the environment fresh and engaging for customers who visit regularly.
- Seasonal Changes: Incorporating seasonal changes into merchandising can create a sense of novelty and excitement. This can be achieved through themed displays, promotions, and decorations.
- Customer Engagement: Engaging customers through interactive elements, such as touch screens and games, can enhance their experience and encourage them to spend more time in the branch.
5. Add Physical Products to Merchandising Strategy
While branches may not sell traditional retail products, incorporating physical swag into your merchandising strategy can be a powerful way to enhance customer engagement and create a more dynamic branch experience.
Quality merchandise, not forgettable chachkies, can be a valuable tool for attracting visitors and sparking conversations. By offering branded items such as mugs, notebooks, tote bags, or even apparel, branches can create a sense of connection and loyalty among customers. These items can be strategically placed in visible areas within the branch to catch the attention of visitors.
- Promotional Items: Branches can offer promotional items to customers as a token of appreciation for their visit. This not only makes customers feel valued but also encourages them to return.
- Branded Merchandise: Displaying branded merchandise prominently within the branch can create a sense of identity and pride among customers. It can also serve as a conversation starter, allowing staff to engage with customers and provide information about the branch’s services.
- Giveaways: Branches that are looking for ways to increase foot traffic and have more meaningful conversations with customers and members can host monthly giveaways.
6. Digital + Physical = Modern Branching
In retail, the blend of digital and physical (known as “phygital”) enhances customer experience. Branches can follow suit with their merchandising strategy by embedding digital content marketing right into the branch:
- Use integrated ITMs or video conferencing for visitors to receive expert advice without needing to schedule a separate visit
- Install interactive touchscreens for product education
- Use QR codes that link to landing pages, calculators, or videos
The Future: Less Transactional, More Personal
As banks reduce teller windows and boost digital services, the purpose of the branch will evolve. Element believes the future branch looks more like a retail showroom: less about completing tasks and more about relationship-building, education, and a brand experience.
As clients embrace a retail mindset, we’re seeing an immediate impact as they:
- Foster loyalty by delivering memorable, human-centered experiences
- Stand out in a competitive landscape by looking and feeling different
- Drive revenue by making product discovery natural, not forced.
In Conclusion
Retailers have mastered the art of capturing attention, guiding behavior, and creating loyalty, all in a physical space. For banks and credit unions, the opportunity isn’t to mimic retail, it’s to adopt its mindset.
By thinking like a retailer, your branches can become more than places where transactions happen. They can be spaces where relationships grow, brand trust is built, and long-term value is created.
