retail layout strategies

A retail store requires comprehensive marketing planning, from determining the products being sold to how the in-store advertising materials will be displayed. Part of that planning is developing effective retail layout strategies. Each retail store needs to address basic strategy concepts, monitor customer response to any strategies used, and make changes that improve sales.

Walking Space

A good retail store layout allows for sufficient walking space for customers. The aisles must be wide enough to accommodate traffic flowing in both directions. If the store provides shopping carts, then there must also be space for customers to stop near a product display and park a cart without disrupting the flow of traffic. The ability of customers to easily navigate your aisles is important in retail layout design.

Flow

The layout of your retail store should allow customers to enter from the front and be encouraged to walk to the back of the store. This increases the amount of time that the customers spend in the store and boosts the chances that they will buy more product. Spread the better-selling items out among the shelves to encourage customers to browse the entire store to find what they want. The layout of aisles should be a horseshoe design that brings customers through the front door with impulse products and some high-demand items, works customers to the back of the store with higher-priced items and then allows them to exit through aisles of more impulse items at the cash register locations.

Eye Level

Putting products at the proper eye level will help to improve sales. But it is important to remember whose eye level you are trying to reach. If you are trying to sell a tennis racket to adults, then put the tennis racket at adult eye level. A toy you are trying to sell to children needs to be at a child's eye level.

Display Cases

Display cases serve several important functions in the layout of a retail store. Expensive product can be put in a lighted display case to draw attention to it. The display case also acts as a counter-top customer interaction area for convenience. For example, if someone sees a watch he likes in a lighted display case, then the sales associate can quickly pull the watch out to show the customer. Another function of display cases is that they can be placed near the cash register area and act as another impulse buy area for customers. You can increase the effectiveness of a display case at the cash-out area by putting a sales associate there to engage customers and answer questions.

Importance of Retail Marketing

Effective retail marketing is vitally important for today’s manufacturers. Without a presence in retail stores, businesses rarely achieve the high level of exposure or widespread product distribution that retail stores offer. Retailers can help small businesses by performing a wide range of marketing services, from promoting products directly to customers to giving customers a chance to view and test products.

Historical Importance

Historically, manufacturers were more powerful than retailers, according to the book “Retail Marketing,” by Malcolm Sullivan and Dennis Adcock. If a retailer didn’t comply with a manufacturer’s demands -- concerning product pricing, shelf placement, in-store promotions and so on -- the manufacturer could refuse to supply the retailer and perhaps opt to work with its competitors instead.

Modern Retail Marketing

More recently, technological, cultural and economic changes have shifted the balance of power to retailers, according to Sullivan and Adcock. For example, retailers now can track customer shopping data, which provides an important source of consumer research that manufacturers can’t directly access. Also, retail stores have launched in-store brands, making them viable competitors with major manufacturers. In other words, as retailers have increased their capabilities and power, being able to work with retailers has become increasingly important for any manufacturer whose business model depends on being visible to the typical consumer.

Power of Retail Brands

Businesses can think of retailers as liaisons. Retail stores have a brand that means something to consumers, and linking your products with the right retail brand can mean the difference between success and failure. For example, if you produce furniture, making a deal with a well-known retail furniture store can mean massive exposure and an explosive increase in sales. That’s because the retailer, in putting your products in its stores, has vouched for your business.

Function of Retailers

Retail brands typically serve three important marketing functions, according to the book “Retail Marketing and Branding: A Definitive Guide to Maximizing ROI,” by Jesko Perrey and Dennis Spillecke. First, every retail brand has an image, and linking your company to that image can help you target the right consumers. Second, retail brands help consumers process information. For instance, a retail brand might allow only two or three competing manufacturers to supply its stores, which implies to consumers that these manufacturers are the cream of the crop. Finally, retail brands offer security to buyers, for example, by allowing customers to physically handle products and return unsatisfactory purchases as necessary.