Does Retail Refurbishment Actually Increase Sales? The Evidence

Does Retail Refurbishment Actually Increase Sales? The Evidence

Every contractor who has ever pitched a retail refurbishment has told a client their sales will increase afterwards. Most of those claims come with no evidence to back them up. They are confident assertions made to close a deal, not honest assessments grounded in what refurbishment actually does and does not deliver.

So here is the question asked plainly. Does retail refurbishment actually increase sales? And if it does, by how much, under what circumstances, and which elements of the refurbishment are responsible?

The honest answer is yes, under the right conditions, refurbishment reliably increases sales. But the conditions matter. Refurbishment is not a universal fix. Applied to the wrong problem, in the wrong environment, it delivers a worse-looking store at high cost with no improvement in commercial performance. Understanding the difference before you commit to a programme is what this article is about.

What the Evidence Actually Shows

The most credible data comes from retailers who have publicly reported the results of their refurbishment programmes in their own results statements, because unlike contractor claims, those figures are auditable.

Marks and Spencer reported the results of their foodhall renewal programme in their half-year results to September 2025. The twelve foodhall renewals opened over the past year delivered sales uplifts to date of approximately 16 per cent. That is not a projected figure or a marketing claim. It is what actually happened in those stores after the works were completed, reported in the company's own financial statements. Dcsconcrete

Marks and Spencer has been devoting 23 to 26 per cent of its capital expenditure to store refurbishments in the UK, which, at their scale, represents hundreds of millions of pounds of sustained investment. Companies allocate that proportion of their capital budget to a programme because data from completed projects justify the continued commitment. KDM Group

Primark invested more than £100 million in its UK stores in 2024 alone, with 15 existing stores refurbished as part of an ongoing refit programme. Primark's model is built on physical retail with no meaningful online sales channel. Their confidence in continued investment in refurbishment reflects the commercial returns they are seeing from completed projects. Construction Index

Aldi is committing £300 million to upgrade 25 British stores as part of a major refurbishment push. For a discount operator whose competitive positioning is built on cost efficiency, the decision to allocate that scale of resource to refurbishment reflects a clear internal assessment that it delivers commercial return. Ctsshopfitting

Retailers report sales increases of up to 30 per cent following a well-executed store refit, driven by new technology, updated ranges, and a better customer experience. That figure is a ceiling rather than an average. Not every refurbishment delivers 30 per cent. But it is achievable, and it is being achieved by retailers who execute the right programme in the right environment. Princebuild

Why Refurbishment Increases Sales: The Mechanism

Understanding why refurbishment tends to increase sales is more useful than the headline figures, because it tells you which elements of your programme will drive commercial improvement and which are purely cosmetic.

Sales in a physical retail environment are driven by three variables. How many people enter the store? How long do they stay once they are in? And what proportion of visitors make a purchase?

A refurbishment can improve all three, but through different mechanisms.

Footfall increases because the store becomes more visually appealing from the outside.

The shopfront, the entrance, and the external signage are the first factors a customer considers when deciding whether to enter. A tired, dated frontage actively discourages people who would otherwise have come in. A well-executed shopfront refurbishment reduces that friction. It does not transform a failing location into a thriving one. But on a site with adequate passing trade, it converts more of that passing trade into actual customers.

Dwell time increases because the internal environment becomes more comfortable and easier to navigate.

Dwell time is a key driver of in-store conversion, and well-designed store layouts that reduce navigation friction and highlight high-value product areas consistently improve the time customers spend in the store. Houzz

A retail environment that is confusing to navigate, poorly lit, or uncomfortable to spend time in shortens the customer visit. A well-planned refurbishment that addresses layout, lighting, and the overall quality of the internal environment extends it. And time in store is directly correlated with purchase intent.

Conversion rates increase because product presentation improves.

Well-run physical retail stores see between 15 and 30 per cent of footfall convert to a purchase at the till. That range is wide because the internal environment is a significant variable. Lighting is the most important single element. The colour temperature of your lighting, how it renders your product's colour, and how it draws the eye to key merchandising areas directly affect whether customers pick up and buy items. Keygrp

A refurbishment that properly addresses lighting specifications, rather than just replacing like-for-like, reliably improves product presentation and, with it, conversion rate. This is the mechanism behind a significant proportion of the uplift in sales data from completed refurbishments.

Which Refurbishment Elements Deliver the Strongest Commercial Return

Not all refurbishment spending delivers equal commercial return. Understanding the hierarchy helps you allocate budget toward the elements that move the needle and scale back on those that are primarily cosmetic.

Lighting specification consistently yields the highest return on refurbishment investment.

This is not just about replacing old fittings with LEDs, although the energy cost saving from that switch is significant in its own right. It is about the quality of the light: the colour temperature, the beam angle, the lux levels at key product display points, and how the lighting design draws customers through the space and highlights high-margin products.

Retailers who have invested in proper retail lighting design, rather than standard commercial lighting specifications, consistently report stronger conversion improvements than those who treat lighting as a cost line rather than a commercial tool.

Layout and customer journey redesign delivers measurable dwell time improvement.

The sequence in which customers encounter products as they move through a store is not accidental in well-designed retail environments. It is engineered. A refurbishment is the moment to redesign that journey based on your actual sales data, placing your highest-margin products in the locations where customers naturally spend the most time, and removing the layout friction that sends people toward the exit before they have seen everything you want them to see.

Shopfront and entrance configuration drives footfall improvement.

The first visual impression your store makes determines whether the people walking past it come in. A new shopfront, improved glazing, a cleaner entrance sequence, and well-executed external signage make a measurable difference to how many people cross the threshold. For a store on a busy high street or in a managed shopping centre, the commercial value of converting a fraction more of the passing traffic into store visitors is significant.

Flooring replacement improves the overall quality perception of the environment.

Flooring is one of the first things customers process subconsciously when they enter a store. Tired, damaged, or visually inappropriate flooring communicates something about the quality of the products sold in the space. New flooring alone will not transform commercial performance, but it contributes to the overall quality signal the environment sends.

MEP upgrades deliver energy cost savings that improve margin rather than sales.

Electrical upgrades, HVAC improvements, and heating system replacements do not directly drive sales. They reduce operating costs. On a refurbishment where the budget is tight, MEP upgrades are justified on cost-saving grounds rather than sales uplift grounds. But they belong in the programme because an older store's energy costs are often significantly higher than a modernised equivalent, and that margin difference compounds over the remaining lease term.

What Does Not Move the Commercial Needle

Being honest about this is as important as identifying what works.

Decoration and painting without layout or lighting change deliver minimal commercial return.

Repainting walls and replacing surface finishes makes a store look fresher. It does not change the customer journey, the product presentation, or the conversion rate in any meaningful way. As a standalone programme, it is rarely commercially justified on sales-uplift grounds alone, though it may be necessary for brand compliance or dilapidation purposes.

Bespoke joinery and premium finishes enhance the quality of the environment but yield diminishing commercial returns beyond a certain specification level.

There is a point at which additional specification creates an environment that feels luxurious without driving a proportional increase in sales. That point varies by brand and customer profile, but for most mainstream retail operators, mid-specification finishes deliver commercial performance equivalent to high-specification finishes at significantly lower cost.

Technology additions that are visible but not functional create a poor return.

Digital displays, interactive screens, and in-store technology installations are increasingly common in retail refurbishments. Used well, they improve product discovery and customer engagement. Used badly, they are expensive decorations that customers ignore. The commercial case for in-store technology needs to be evaluated on a per-deployment basis rather than assumed to be positive.

When Refurbishment Will Not Deliver the Return You Are Expecting

This is the section most contractors leave out. It matters more than any of the data above because it is about knowing when not to invest.

Refurbishment addresses problems created by the physical environment. It does not address problems created by the location.

If your store is underperforming because footfall in its location is structurally declining, the retail mix around it is deteriorating, or the unit itself has fundamental constraints that cannot be changed by refurbishment, investing in the physical environment will not solve those problems. It will create a better-looking store in a failing location, which is an expensive way to delay an inevitable outcome.

Retailers are increasingly selective about location, with prime buildings in secondary spots proving much harder to let than would be expected at this stage of the property cycle. The same selectivity should apply to refurbishment decisions. The questions worth asking before committing to a programme are whether the performance problem is environmental or location-related, and whether the site's footfall data provides a realistic basis for commercial improvement after the works. County Contractors

At RCC, we ask these questions during the site consultation stage because we would rather help you make the right decision than win a project that will not deliver the return you expect. If the evidence at the consultation points to a location problem rather than an environment problem, we will tell you that before you have committed any budget.

How to Measure Whether Your Refurbishment Worked

Measuring the commercial impact of a refurbishment requires establishing a meaningful baseline before the works start, which most retailers do not do rigorously enough.

The metrics worth tracking from the point of commission are footfall (visitors into the store per day and week, not just total sales), conversion rate (what proportion of visitors made a purchase), average transaction value (the average basket size), and sales per square foot. Track these consistently in the twelve months before the refurbishment and in the twelve months after practical completion. That comparison, adjusted for any external market factors affecting the wider estate, is your actual return on the investment.

Dwell time is another important measure, as customer time in store correlates directly with purchase intent and basket size. Tracking dwell time before and after a refurbishment helps isolate the impact of layout and environment changes from other variables. T.A Knox

Retailers who confidently make refurbishment investment decisions are the ones who consistently track these metrics across their estate. The data tells them which stores are underperforming relative to their physical environment (refurbishment candidates) and which are underperforming relative to their location (candidates for different decisions).

The Realistic Picture

Retail refurbishment, executed properly and applied to the right problem, consistently delivers measurable commercial improvement. The evidence from major retailers who have publicly reported their results confirms this. Sales uplifts of 15 to 20 per cent from well-executed refurbishment programmes are well within the normal range for UK retail, with some projects delivering significantly more.

The keyword is properly. A refurbishment that addresses lighting specification, layout, shopfront, and the overall quality of the customer environment is a commercially justified investment for a store with sound location fundamentals. A refurbishment that applies new surface finishes to a store whose underlying problems are structural will deliver a fresher-looking environment and not much else.

Getting the programme right starts with an honest assessment of what is actually driving the underperformance. That conversation belongs at the site consultation stage, before you have committed to a scope or a budget.

If you are considering a retail refurbishment and want an honest assessment of what it would involve, what it would cost, and whether it makes commercial sense for your specific situation, get in touch with our team. We will visit the site, review your trading data, and share our thoughts before you commit to anything.

For more on how we deliver retail refurbishment programmes, including live trading refurbishments where the store stays open throughout the works, visit our retail refurbishment contractors page.