One might think that interior design is something done at the end, once everything has been planned and designed, almost as an aesthetic whim to give the space the desired look. However, we’ve known for a long time that this isn’t the case, especially in the retail sector, since a well-designed interior, integrated into the overall business plan, is important for improving the customer experience, creating an emotional connection with customers, and increasing the average transaction value.
This is especially crucial at a time like the present, when people are returning to physical shops and restaurants (despite competition from e-commerce and delivery services ), but… they are spending somewhat less than before. While 75% of businesses have registered a year-on-year increase in the number of visitors, 41.5% also experienced a drop in average spending, according to the WSGN’s Operational Report on Shopping Centres for the first half of 2026.
Can the design of a business truly help customers who are already frequenting the establishment spend more? Given that design influences their behaviour (affecting how long they stay, how much they feel they belong, etc.), the answer is a resounding yes. “Interior design is a means to an end, not an end in itself”, explains interior designer Iván Cotado. “It’s a tool that allows us to communicate many aspects of the brand. Beauty is subjective, which is why we avoid simply ‘creating beautiful spaces’. We want to design spaces that help our clients achieve their business objectives”, he maintains.
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To illustrate this, consider this example: when entering a store we know nothing about, the ambience and design of the place itself influence how much we’re willing to pay for one of its products or services. If the final bill doesn’t match our expectations, the experience suffers. “And it’s not just if you find a place is more expensive than you anticipated. If there’s an inconsistency, for example, if a Louis Vuitton store sells us a handbag for 50 euros, it also creates a certain amount of distrust”, the expert points out.
The carefully crafted atmosphere is one of the reasons that encourages potential customers to leave their homes and visit a physical store. According to Nielsen’s survey, Path to 2026: Key Trends in the Chinese Consumer Market, 68% of respondents value the ambience of physical shops, while service is important to fewer people (61%). This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as it aligns with the experiential macro-trend that has permeated retail in recent years.
Appealing to the five senses in retail interior design
How does all this translate into interior design? What needs to be considered? While sight is usually the sense we prioritise, the other senses are also at work. “Historically, we’ve focused on creating spaces that appeal exclusively to the eye, but we also touch them, we smell them, we experience sensations of cold, heat, warmth, or cosiness; we’re more or less comfortable depending on the chair we sit in”, says Cotado, who also mentions that the human mind “remembers smells more than visual forms”.
From this perspective, interior design is a tool that allows us to modulate all those characteristics we feel as people so that the message we receive is “the right one”, since, whether we like it or not, everything communicates. “If we’re working for a brand whose sustainability values are important, when selecting materials we have to do so based on that philosophy, on having ethical principles for the world we live in. Your approach as an interior designer has to be aligned with those brand values“, he asserts.
Once the initial phase is clear—the company’s objectives for the space and the message it wants to convey—it’s time to get down to work. Deciding how the space will be laid out, what materials to use, and which finishes to choose… “In a restaurant, for example, touching a wood table is not the same as touching a marble one, nor is touching a polished wood table the same as touching a table that clearly has a history, one that has seen its share of experiences”, Cotado points out. No decision is inherently better than another; it depends on the specific atmosphere we are trying to create.
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The expert cites as an example a restaurant his studio designed several years ago that has won several design awards: Koh Lanta, in A Coruña. “It’s a very small restaurant, with a dining area of barely 60 m² and a very low average spend per customer, so what we needed to achieve was a very high turnover of customers”, he explains. To this end, a series of strategic decisions were made: there are no chairs, only stools, so “comfort is relative”; the kitchen is located on the facade of the premises so that delivery drivers or people picking up their takeout food don’t have to go inside; the use of wood conveys a natural feel, the greenery suggests that the food will be fresh, and the inclusion of bamboo elements indicates the type of cuisine (asian)… As a result of all this, the establishment meets its financial objectives despite having space for only a few diners.
From emotional connection to ticket
One of the cornerstones of neuromarketing is the understanding that human beings make decisions long before we are consciously aware of them. We believe we are deciding at a specific moment, but what is actually happening in that conscious internal deliberation is a search for arguments to justify the path we have already chosen. Brands seek to achieve that emotional connection that underlies purchasing decisions.
“It’s about using interior design to make people feel they want to buy that product or eat at that café or restaurant. To achieve this, you have to create emotional connections”, Cotado explains. He cites the Zara apartment in Madrid as an example. “They aim to create a sense of belonging to a brand, something that goes beyond simply selling clothes. It generates a tribe, a legion of fans”, he asserts.
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Another classic example of a clear interior design and brand image that translates into the ability to sell products at a high price is Apple. Its spacious, white, and minimalist stores, yet flexible enough to take their design a step further with the help of the architecture firm Foster + Partners, perfectly convey the sense of exclusivity and modernity associated with the brand. The prices of Cupertino’s products have risen sharply in recent years, and surveys indicate that its loyal customers believe they won’t upgrade to new models as frequently as before. The importance of physical spaces that continue to inspire admiration, identity, and a sense of belonging can help mitigate this mismatch between prices and purchasing power.
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Interior design is much more than just decoration. If a store notices increased (or decreased) sales after redesigning its premises, it’s most likely not a mere coincidence.
