Retail Design Secrets: Layout, Merchandising, and Influence
Factors Influencing Store Image and Customer Behavior
Several psychological factors affect customer commitment to a store’s image, design, and operation:
- Consistency: This is people’s desire to maintain consistency with previous deeds or choices. Once customers make a decision, they tend to move ahead automatically, convinced they made the right choice.
- Social Proof: Rooted in the maxim, “If everybody’s doing it, it must be okay.” Aside from word-of-mouth advertising, a store can convey social proof by attracting people into or in front of the store.
- Authority: People often comply when directed by an authority figure. Store merchants rely on this principle, often using the “expert salesperson” method to sell high-end items (such as jewelry, artwork, and rare collectibles) to relatively unknowledgeable customers.
Benefits of a Free-Form Store Layout
A free-form design enhances the store atmosphere and the customer shopping experience:
- The store looks less sterile and more interesting.
- Shoppers are encouraged and more likely to browse the merchandise.
- Customers feel less rushed and are thus more likely to make unplanned purchases.
Key Types of Store Layouts
The four primary types of store layouts are:
- Counter Store Layout
- Forced-Path Layout
- Grid Layout
- Free-Form Layout (which includes subtypes like boutique, star, and arena layouts, and combinations thereof).
Vertical Shelf Space Division and Zoning
Shelf space is typically divided into four vertical zones, each with different value for merchandising:
- Stretch Level
- This is one of the less valuable shelf zones as it receives relatively little attention from shoppers. Only lightweight products should typically be placed here.
- Eye Level
- Products at this level receive the most attention and tend to sell significantly better. This zone is ideal for placing products with a high profit margin.
- Touch Level
- Products at this level receive less attention than eye level, but it is still a desirable zone for placing high-profit products.
- Stoop Level
- Shoppers dislike or may be unable to bend down. This level is reserved for low-margin merchandise and heavy products.
Retail Merchandising Principles: True or False
- The transition zone isn’t a great place for high-margin products or important information. (True)
- Customers walk counterclockwise because in many countries they drive on the right-hand side of the road. (True)
- Stores using an arena layout do not look like amphitheaters. (False)
- Generic products will be situated at the ankle level. (True)
- Shoppers scan the shelves first vertically for merchandise groups and then horizontally for specific brands or products. (False)
Three Storefront Design Possibilities
- Standard Front
- The entrance is on the same level as the rest of the storefront. The entrance door is usually enclosed by display windows.
- Open Front
- Often used in shopping malls, this design has no physical storefront. An open entrance has the advantage of attracting more customers because there is no door that can act as a psychological barrier.
- Recessed Front
- Used to attract customers on a shopping street. Shoppers are able to have a detailed look at the windows without being confronted by the flow of pedestrian traffic on the street.
The Importance of Effective Store Signage
Good signage is crucial because it provides the first visual impression, sensation, or feeling a customer receives. The quality of this initial feeling determines whether a potential customer enters the store or ignores it.
Making the Store Entrance Attractive
To optimize the store entrance for customer attraction:
- Clearly indicate where to enter.
- Ensure the entrance is free of physical barriers.
- Actively welcome the shopper.
Note: If a store has two or more doors, it is necessary to treat all entrances as equally important.