The power of color in retail by Kelly Claessens
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During the exclusive Lunch & Learn at Trademart, we looked at the impact of color on the retail experience. Interior designer Kelly Claessens shared her expertise on store design and provided concrete insights into how you can strategically use color in your store to boost your sales and customer experience. Always with a strong focus on the baby & kids sector.
Our exhibitors worked with Kelly Claessens to design a mood corner based on the theme of ‘Pop of Color’. All products were selected by our baby & kids brands. So everything you see can be ordered from the exhibitors. Definitely worth a look!
Discover all our colorful baby & kids brandsWho is Kelly Claessens?
Kelly Claessens is an interior designer, entrepreneur, and well-known from the TV show Blind Gekocht. In 2010, she founded her interior design store La Fabrika, which now also offers online courses on designing with color. She also runs La Fabrika Studio, her design and interior architecture firm. Kelly loves color! She took over the paint label ‘SHADE’ and compiled her knowledge and experience in her book Fck Beige*.
Retailers are often reluctant to use trendy colors. During this inspiration session, Kelly taught us how to use color in a targeted way and gave us concrete dos and don'ts for store design.
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Why does your store benefit from a well-thought-out interior design?
Store design is essential for boosting your sales. It helps to clarify your brand and product story, so that customers are quickly inspired and informed when they enter your store. This helps them understand what your brand does more quickly, contributing to an overall positive customer experience. And it also gives you a competitive edge!
A few inspiring examples Kelly shared during the session:
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How does color make a difference?
Visual brand identity in your store is very important. The look and feel of your brand must be just right: corporate identity, logo, font, signage, and certainly the color. Did you know that within a minute and a half (90 seconds), a customer subconsciously decides how your store feels, and that almost 90% of that first impression is based on color?
That's the 90/90 rule according to Kelly. Our brain reacts instantly to color, and the right shades immediately help to create the right feeling.
Colors evoke emotions, reactions, experiences, and interpretations. They have their own symbolism and associations, for example: red stands for passion, blue for calm, green for harmony, and yellow for cheerfulness. However, they also have cultural and personal connotations. For example, red can stand for passion and love, but also for danger.
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5 basic principles for using color in stores
With these five guidelines, Kelly shows how to use color effectively:
Color has a function: color must do something, not just be beautiful.
Collection vs. Interior: these are complementary. If the collection is ‘busy’, your interior can be calm.
Work in layers: use a fixed layer (ceiling, wall, or floor), semi-fixed layer, and flexible layer.
Saturated vs. muted: guiding behavior without dominating
Repetition works: customers read rhythm faster than variation
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The trend forecast for winter '26-'27 according to Kelly Claessens
To conclude, Kelly gave a preview of the most popular winter colors for the 2026-2027 winter collections. These colors are influenced by various factors, such as consumers today seeking peace, trust, reassurance, and hope. These needs are reflected in the color palette, which is a mix of stability and innovation, soft contrasts, and strong emotions.
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