LIST

PUBLISHED ARTICLES

NEXT

Take Your Sales to New Heights With These Seven Proven Self
by Graham Bush from THE BUSH KITCHEN………….food for thought!

Definition:
The design of the sales floor, how aisles are planned, where departments are located, types of fittings and how they are placed.

Introduction
The solution to any retail store layout begins with the design that balances product range with available space. The two main considerations are aisle design and product location

Aisle design
Aisles must be designed to maximise product exposure, while manipulating your customers through the store. Aisles must be wide enough for customers to move amongst the shelves without hindrance and get to all product categories within the store which will result in more sales per customer

The conventional layout is known as a ‘grid’ system characterised by straight lines of fixtures holding large amounts of merchandise.
To access these fixtures “power aisles” have been developed to pull customers through your store. Various interpretations exist depending on the overall size of the sales area:

• Conventional or central aisle
• Loop or race track aisle

Within the power aisle, designers locate HOT SPOT points between high and low customer traffic areas. These feature gondola ends, pallet bases and dump bins designed to maximise your opportunity with promotional sales.

Product location
When locating departments the prime issue for designers is the amount of “customer pull” a particular department exerts.
Requested lines attract customers to your store. These core products should be located so that customers must walk past other merchandise that they may not normally see.
This technique enables us to locate departments by:

• Demand          -           items that customers deliberately set out to buy.

Something that is wanted NOW!

• Impulse           -           items that customers have no intention of buying prior to entering the store

• Promotional     -           items that customers buy as a result of advertising or promotional catalogue

Departmental & Graphic signage
This ensures customer recognition for a particular department location. Mica has specific standards for all our stores.
To aid department identification, neat and very legible signs should be used – on the facia for wall units and on sign holders or suspended from the ceiling for gondola units.

Signage is intended to make it easier for the customer to find the right product and can consist of the following:

• Department signs
• Aisle indicators
• Product signs
• Price cards
• Shelf talkers

Signage should be clear, legible and identifying the department

Product Classification

• Organise products into logical categories and departments. Group products in the same category together. All hand tools will be together, and in that department the hammers will be together.
• Merchandise related products together. Brushes, rollers, thinners and paint trays should be located in the paint department to maximize impulse purchases and generate additional profit.
• If a loss leader is promoted, merchandise a related product with higher profit with it to offset the low margins you are making on the promotional item itself
• Products that typically are used together get merchandised together eg. Club hammer and cob chisels.

Product Ranging
To maximise your sales opportunity it is essential that you provide your customers with ongoing reasons to enter the store. Customer loyalty is vital to the success of any retail store, and it is through the products we stock, the product availability and the knowledge of the staff on the products that customers keep customers coming back.

• You need to isolate the range for the product types by buying what the customer wants not what we want.
• We need to know what the best selling size and brand for every category within the departments is.
• More often than not we stock too broad a range of merchandise of the same type and then run out of space to display it effectively. Determine the product categories we need to stock and then look at the individual products that make up this range.
• You can’t stock everything your customer wants… but you can have a range of products that will satisfy their wants and needs. Wants – what a person would like to have but do not necessarily have to have and Needs – what a person have to have to complete a job.
• Brand awareness is critical. Draw on your collective experience of suppliers to ensure that the correct range is being purchased for your customers.
• Product ranges should include a mixture of impulses, planned and distress lines. Identify the most appropriate areas for displaying each of the above

Lighting
It is much more important than just allowing the customer to see the products.

• It sets the mood and creates a pleasant shopping environment
• It can be used to highlight special products, enhance merchandise and create a shopper friendly atmosphere
• It must be bright enough to allow customers to examine merchandise
• Bright lights makes a store look cleaner and better kept.
• Track lighting can be used to accent seasonal, promotional and new products as well as feature display areas.
• Lights that are out will make the store appear darker and less inviting.
• When you replace a globe clean the light fixture as well.