Refresh and Invest with Affordable IGA Décor

With the New Year comes new goals, and many retailers plan to reinvest their unexpected profits from pandemic shopping into their stores to secure the new shoppers they've gained. Stronger eCommerce programs and digital advertising will capture shoppers online, but what happens once they arrive at the store? Retailers can quickly and easily create a fresh new look with updated signage that creates a better shopping experience for all. And the best part? The retailers who have engaged in IGA's signage and décor programs have found they increase sales!

For many consumers, whose only time out of the house for the last 10 months has been to visit the grocery store, choosing which store to visit is a complicated process. They want someplace clean and safe, which is why many shoppers flocked to their small, local independent grocers at the beginning of the pandemic. They also want a store where they feel good; where they’re able to support local farms and businesses while enjoying the atmosphere for that once-a-week outing.

“Consumers are prioritizing three trends: a preference for locally raised foods, an alignment with and desire to shop at retailers with purpose (e.g., food waste, animal welfare, and social justice), and growing demand for ready-to-make and freshly prepared meals that contain no preservatives,” says an FMI and Deloitte report featuring insights from FMI FreshForward 2020 Executive Forum.

“IGA is already a leader in local and fresh,” IGA CEO John Ross says. “It’s who we’ve been since the beginning and who we will always be. The problem lies in that we need to do a better job of telling our story and inspiring confidence in our shoppers about our relationship with the people and communities we serve. If we’re not telling the story, no one else will.”

The quickest, easiest way to do that? Signage.

IGA's Local Equals Fresh signage campaign puts that commitment in front of shoppers in the form of modern yet classic signs that evoke a warm, farmer’s market feel. It's an easy investment for visual merchandising including messaging such as:

At IGA, we believe that Local Equals Fresh.
We buy from local and regional family farms, wherever possible.
Every day, we offer items that are made fresh and made here.
We believe that when you buy local, you support local.

In the signage kit, you’ll find: hanging signs, window signs, stanchion signs, vertical blades, case clings, mini blades, stickers, product tags, and display signs. The installation guide walks retailers through where to install each type of sign, including:

Store entrance
Meat, produce, bakery, deli, dairy departments
Center store
Craft beer & wine

Retailers can purchase the easy-to-install Local Equals Fresh sign kit for $900 at www.igasigns.com.

For a full store refresh, retailers can invest in the IGA Décor signage package. The cost varies depending on store size but typically runs between $20,000–$40,000. The program most commonly includes:

Fresh Paint
Bulkhead/Perimeter Department Signage
Aisle Navigation/Wayfinding
Exterior Branding/Road Sign

Get started today by completing the form on www.iga.com/decor.

What will the new Local Equals Fresh sign kit and full store décor do for your store? Here are the top five immediate impacts it will have:

1. Establish IGA as THE Store for Local

“A lot of shoppers don’t realize that IGA sells a lot of local, fresh items,” says IGA Senior Brand Manager Joel Widmer. He says the Local Equals Fresh signage will immediately help shoppers recognize the myriad of local products IGA stores offer—and that the chains don't. “Our Local Equals Fresh signage kit provides so many indicators for stores to use. It becomes really easy for shoppers to spot those local items, which is a huge selling point for shoppers.”

Adams Hometown Markets’ VP of Sales and Operations Russ Greenlaw agrees, having seen the impact of the signage in all 15 stores in the Northeast. “We use the ‘Made here, Made fresh’ stickers everywhere,” he says. “We use it in our ads, on the product itself, on the signs we use to declare the product. It has 100 percent impacted the sales of the products—it really makes the package jump and is part of the ability to differentiate the product.”

Kishman's IGA identifies fruit and vegetables cut fresh in-store everyday with IGA's Local Equals Fresh signage.

Many IGA stores have a department that sets them apart. “We’re known for our donuts, which we still make in-store, and our cakes,” says Matt Kishman, owner of Kishman’s IGA in Minerva, Ohio. The Local Equals Fresh stickers, tags, and mini blades are the perfect way to call attention to those items that keep shoppers returning and encourage new shoppers to add the product to their basket once—and become a loyal shopper again and again.

Fresh donuts baked in-house at Kishman's IGA, which the store identifies with "made fresh" signs.

“The signs have impacted our sales,” says Kishman. “When people see the stickers that these items were made in store, they get a good feeling that we made it and it’s fresh, and they buy it again.”

Greenlaw says the signs also establish internal quality assurance. “We have ground rules as an organization that the sticker doesn’t go on the product unless we made it here and we’re proud of it,” he says. “It’s very very powerful and we’re somewhat possessive of the things we allow it go on.”

2. Differentiate Your Store from Competitors

Beyond advertising the aforementioned differentiators—products made or cut in-house throughout the bakery, meat department, deli, produce, and more—the Local Equals Fresh signage and IGA Décor serve as templates that allow stores to expand the concept and customize according to their needs.

For example, Adams Hometown Markets have taken many elements from the signage and reinforced it with their own branding, according to Greenlaw. “Local Equals Fresh is part of our overall strategy to differentiate,” he says, explaining that the chalkboard element on much of the signage helps to define the areas where they are trying to differentiate and stand out. “The signwork where we’re really proud, we bring that chalkboard element. The overhead signage mimics that color scheme and the customer will recognize that we’re really different here. It helps define what we’re really proud of. The places where we really want to go in, that’s where we bring that same workmanship.”

Just as Adams Hometown Markets customizes the signage to highlight differentiators, Widmer says that some stores take the templates and add their own photos. “We’ve had some stores inject their photos of their local farmers on the produce department signage,” he says.

3. Get the Look of a Remodel for Less

In the COVID era, when shoppers new and old are especially concerned about cleanliness and sanitation, retailers must keep their stores looking new. Old, worn fixtures, dingy or chipping paint, and outdated or confusing signage can suggest a lack of cleanliness and lack of fresh food.

Giving your store a fresh new look sounds like a great idea, but most retailers don’t have the time or money to shut down to remodel. Reinvesting a percentage of profits from pandemic sales is a best practice to keep some of those sales in 2021 since a new look can make a big impact on current and future shoppers and doesn't take a lot of money or effort.

Gary & Leo's transforms store with new IGA Décor.

“It’s easy to get store blind, as independent grocers often don’t have the time or resources to invest in visual merchandising," Widmer explains. "Grocery stores are visually busy environments by nature, with a large amount of products. Offering simple and clean signage helps relieve that clutter and clearly guides shoppers to the products they came to buy."

Chang So, owner of two Hollister Super IGAs in Hollister, California, knows how much of an impact new signage can have. He installed the IGA Décor kits in his stores last year. “Talk about a cheap fix to modernize our store,” he says. “It’s a brand new look for both stores. The vendors who have come in say, ‘Wow! What happened?’ They think we’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a remodel, but it was only a fraction.”

So recommends that all IGA retailers invest in the signage to help their stores continue to succeed. “They say you get what you pay for, but we’re getting double what you pay for in terms of customers coming in, thanks to the new look. And it only took a few days to put up!”

Hollister Super IGA before the new signage (left) and after the new signage (right).

4. Instill Pride in Employees and Shoppers

Retailers know that their associates have been tirelessly putting their best feet forward day in and day out for nearly 11 months since the pandemic began, thrusting them into a dangerous and taxing job. While team members might have earned a few extra notes of gratitude from shoppers at the beginning, the monotony of isolation has extinguished the energy from many shoppers and associates alike.

“A new look can reinvigorate your team, making them proud to work somewhere that looks great and is the pride of town,” says Widmer. Not to mention the same can be said of customers, happy to spend time in a fresh-looking store.

Watch the video to see the renovation at John's IGA in Versailles, Ohio using IGA Décor.

The IGA Décor goes beyond shopper-facing signage, too. “We’ve even used it for internal communications: posters inside of lunchrooms, and even in our merchandising notes that we put out every week,” Greenlaw says. That kind of branding and design cohesion goes a long way for the organization, showing that it’s not just a grocery store, but a business invested in its appearance and employees.

"We're dressing the store up," says So, who has incorporated IGA reusable shopping bags in addition to the signage at his stores. "The store looks polished and professional. It gives us a 'we're serious business people trying to earn your trust and respect' look.”

5. Boost Sales

"Now is the perfect time to reinvest in your store," Ross said in his New Year predictions. "New signage, a fresh paint job, and fixing broken ceiling tiles and flooring go a long way." He adds that new décor has been creating one to three percent comps on top of the COVID bump, with half of shoppers saying they think a store that updates interiors also buys healthier food.

1-3% comp bump on average

~50% of shoppers associate an updated interior with healthier food

12% bump in sales after installing new signage at Young's Payless IGA

In fact, Kevin Young of Young's Payless IGA reported a bump of 12 percent after installing the new IGA signage. Kishman agrees that it has helped boost sales in his stores, and So has noticed a bump as well. But So, whose store uses signage in English and Spanish to cater to his bilingual demographic, says it's more than just the sales that go up—so does shopper loyalty. "The décor in any language talks to all of our customers," he says. "They appreciate it and feel welcome. It’s not a cookie cutter grocery store.”

Ready to reinvest in your store with a fresh new look? Visit www.iga.com/decor today or contact Joel Widmer through the form below to determine if a smaller facelift or a fuller-scale signage refresh is right for your store and budget. IGA has kits and signage elements that can be used to upgrade your store's look within your budget and without a full store remodel available at www.igasigns.com.