Donovan and Rossiter's research proved that customer perceptions of the shop environment, or ambiance, are influenced by the attractiveness of the shop environment and the psychological readiness of the potential customer to buy. In a pleasing shopping environment, purchase intentions are stimulated by colors and light music. Experimental studies in supermarkets show that attractiveness is a more important factor than price and quality when shopping.
The appealing interior design of the store floor contributes to improved business performance and is partially a merchandising tool. Whether an upmarket boutique or a small cafe, every site needs its catchy defining attribute. The modern shop is seen as a place where goods are sold directly and as a comprehensive means of promoting them.
Ways to set up a sales floor
The linear planning of the sales area implies the parallel layout of trade equipment. In this case, the line of cash desks is arranged perpendicularly. This layout is mainly used in self-service shops.
When trading is done "over the counter", the box layout is usually used in large shops, such as department stores. In this case, the sales area is divided into departments isolated from each other.
The showroom layout is used when selling goods by samples. In this case, the goods form different demonstration compositions.
Free layout involves the arrangement of equipment without a specific geometric system.
Floor planning consists of the following steps:
- Dividing the total floor area of the store into the sales area and stock rooms with the back office.
- Allocation of the main zones of the sales area.
- Selection of the scheme of arrangement of the trading equipment.
- Allocation of product categories or brands in the sales area.
The first question to answer is: How effectively does a shop divide its floor into the sales areas and "back office"? In retail rules, the ratio of selling space to floor space determines the efficiency ratio of the total floor area of the shop:
Coefficient of efficiency = Selling space/Total floor area of the shop
The higher the value, the more effective the use of floor space planning. A ratio of 70/30 is the best in practice.
The following zones can be distinguished in the sales area:
1. The entrance area.
The larger the sales area, the larger the entrance area should be. It positions the customer and creates a positive impression. Merchandisers often use the "golden triangle" technique when top products are placed in 3 "corners" on different store sides, forming a triangle. For instance, the most sought-after items and basic-needs products are put at the back of the sales floor, and the cash register is on the opposite side. Customers have to walk through the entire shop to pay for the goods. And this is an excellent opportunity to focus his attention on the rest of the assortment.
The top place for product placement is at the eye level of the customer. Here, as a rule, priority positions for the outlet are placed. Each product group should be visible, standing out well. Different techniques are used for this: specific lighting scenarios, unusual ways of displaying goods, signs, POS materials, etc. All of this is initially modeled on planograms.
2. Checkout area.
The number of cash desks depends on customer flow, but you can roughly estimate the area of the shop. One cash register per 100 square meters.
3. Area occupied by commercial equipment.
It is important to have goods of the same category side-by-side, and categories belonging to the same group should form a common area. There are some general guidelines for allocating goods according to the type of the selling space.
To manage the entire space, you need to create shop floor layouts.
Floor planning and planograms
A retail floor planning visualizes the shop equipment (its width, depth, height, and the number of shelves), which helps plan shelf restocking. Some layouts even provide a three-dimensional view of the display. There are always three different vectors to be taken into account when creating a floor plan with equipment: the supplier's requirements, the capabilities of the retailer, and the customer's demand. The design of a retail shop planning involves describing the size and location of each department, and category, taking into account the flow of customers.
Each piece of equipment is made not just for sales floor visualization but also to create planograms to get the most out of merchandising tools and increase sales performance.
The layout should indicate precisely where each item needs to be placed. It should also include detailed comments on the positioning of the merchandise on the sales equipment. Having a data-driven and clear layout saves time when laying out items on the sales floor. Keeping in mind all these factors, retailers prefer automated merchandising. It benefits both line staff and management.
Benefits of using special software for planograms:
- Fast transfer of actual information about the positioning of goods from the central office (CO) to the shops.
- Optimization of the planning (layout space distribution so that it can be replenished as rarely as possible and at about the same time for all products) and, consequently, reduce the amount of human labor to replenish the planograms in the shop.
- An accurate list of the current assortment
- Assortment assignment based on actual shelf space data from software at the point of sale.
- Promoting sales by managing the position of items on the shelf.
Take advantage of new opportunities to grow your business and raise your KPIs. For more information, be sure to contact us for a demo presentation of LEAFIO.
