One of the primary goals of a proper retail layout is to facilitate client flow across the store. Layouts assist merchants in determining their revenue per square foot. As a result, this enables customers to accurately analyse the store’s capabilities and limitations within the merchandising mix.
Importance of customer flow
To be successful and generate income, a business must first understand its customers. Customer flow refers to the way customers travel through a store. Retail management strategy needs to understand consumer flow and the regular patterns when customers engage with items based on the shop layout. Not only can having an efficient customer flow management system benefit your customers, but it can also help you optimise your personnel’s performance.
Overall, by establishing which aspects of the store operate well and which areas require improvement, you may determine whether the store design is assisting you in making a profit or resulting in lost sales.
Retail store layout and customer flow
The layout of a store refers to the design of the floor area and the positioning of merchandise inside that space. Store layout affects a customer’s behaviour, which means that when done correctly, it is a critical strategy for a store’s success. A well-designed store layout can contribute to a favourable shopping environment, resulting in the type of shopping behaviour a merchant desires.
The different retail store layouts
As previously indicated, your shop layout should assist you in achieving your retail merchandising goals by leading customers through the store and exposing them to your products. Furthermore, you must select the optimal retail shop layout to assist you in growing your business.
- Grid
The grid layout is the most prevalent store layout in retail. You can mostly observe this type of structure among most supermarkets. The grid maximises the display of products while minimising white space. In this layout, retailers put merchandise in densely packed aisles that customers can browse at their leisure in a grid structure. Additionally, the grid has large halls with impulsive purchases in the front and staples in the back.
However, some clients may be dissatisfied because they cannot find a shortcut to the specific products that they need. In addition, this layout has few visual breaks and a lot of merchandise, which can make customers feel overwhelmed.
- Angular
This retail store concept uses curved walls and corners, rounded goods displays, and other curved fixtures to regulate consumer flow. The angular arrangement takes advantage of free-standing product displays and can provide the impression of higher-quality items, making it a popular retail design choice for luxury stores. Overall, this layout offers clients a more unique and creative structure to the store.
- Boutique
The simplest type of free-flow store format is the boutique store layout. Here, customers are encouraged to freely flow among all fixtures in this area, as there is typically no fixed traffic pattern in the store. It is a style of layout that does not adhere to any rigidly prescribed layout rules. Furthermore, this boutique structure is mainly observed among small establishments. However, one disadvantage of this store layout is that it may become confusing for customers.
- Diagonal
As the name implies, the diagonal store plan utilises angled aisles to maximise client visibility and reveal fresh products as customers navigate the space. This store design is efficient in terms of space management, making it an excellent choice for retail locations with limited space. Additionally, this arrangement is ideal for self-service stores, as it encourages movement and improves client circulation.
- Geometric
The geometric floor plan uses racks and fixtures to produce an unusual and fascinating store design at a low cost. Moreover, it is an appropriate store design for clothing and retail stores. Overall, you can use a variety of geometric product displays and fixtures to create a statement and establish your brand identity through this technique.
- Herringbone
A Herringbone shop layout is ideal for locations that must accommodate a variety of stock but have limited space. It is divided into a primary aisle that runs from the decompression zone to the back wall and side aisles that extend to the walls. You can use the side walls to display promotional goods and provide visual breaks from the wall-to-wall merchandise on display. This allows your store to breathe and avoids the appearance of a cluttered space.
The apparent advantage of this style is that it, like the grid layout, maximises merchandise in a small space. However, one downside of this layout is that it might feel claustrophobic, and customers frequently collide.
- Loop
The loop store layout directs customers in one direction, past all available products, until they reach the checkout. By adopting this arrangement, you force your clients to go past every item in the store from the moment they enter until the moment they pay and exit. Furthermore, you can observe this layout specifically among pop-up shops.
- Multiple or mixed
A mixed store layout enables you to combine, match, and contrast multiple layouts in one location. This mixed-use store layout can combine several floor plans to generate a distinctive and exceptional consumer flow by grouping lower-margin items in a grid and displaying higher-margin items in an angular design.
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