Are you having difficulty making sure your customers can see everything you have to offer? Do your customers complain that they can't find what they need? Would you like to be able to make sure that customers won't miss that great sale you've got going on, or the latest, greatest merchandise offerings?
There is a surprisingly simple fix for these problems – and you likely won't have to spend a penny to implement it.
Retail shelving can help you create proper traffic flow
That's right: retail shelving is used to organize your store properly, but can also optimize foot traffic flow so that your customers see everything you have to offer without even trying.
Here's how:
- Use gondola shelving as your floor layout mainstay
Gondola shelving looks stationary and permanent, but it's not. With gondola retail shelving, you can construct your store's entire layout. Create aisles and a foot traffic path that meanders throughout the entire store.
- Construct a counterclockwise "foot traffic path" that meanders all around and through your store
If customers don't see everything you have to offer by the time they have finished shopping, your store layout is probably to blame. There should be a counterclockwise foot traffic path that meanders all around your store and passes by every department.
The foot traffic path should:
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Be wide enough to allow two lanes of "traffic" so that customers can pass each other easily
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Pass close by every department so that customers can clearly see what you have to offer in each
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Allow customers to easily leave the foot traffic path to browse, and then easily rejoin traffic when done
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Place freestanding displays strategically throughout the store
- At the entrance to the store
Put your newest, hottest or best selling items here. Your customers will be drawn to them the instant they enter the store, when they are fresh and before they had their fill of shopping. Make the display something "fun" or enticing, something that will put customers in an upbeat mood – and in the mood to shop.
- At the entrance to each department
Once customers have browsed the display selection, they'll likely be drawn into investigating the department itself.
- In the middle of long aisles
Long, unbroken aisles full of product make customers "zone out" so that they don't see everything you have to offer. Break this hypnosis by putting relevant retail shelving displays in long aisles to draw customers' interest. This is a great way to sell a hot, on sale, or seasonal item, and also makes customers take notice of the standard offerings in each department so they won't miss them.
- At the ends of aisles
Don't bore customers by forcing them to look at blank walls or some other wasted space at the ends of your aisles. Instead, place wall displays, endcaps, or tabletop product displays here.
Your store's layout should also have departments visible from the end of each aisle, so that customers are "forced" to stop and not only look at displays, but also to notice other departments they may not have visited.
- By the checkout
The checkout is your place to sell last-minute, impulse, and "necessary" items that your customers need but may have forgotten to get. Candy, gum, magazines, small sewing kits, travel-sized containers of personal hygiene items, over-the-counter medications – just about anything that's small, tempting and/or necessary is appropriate here.
Don't miss out on making great sales – or on having less than happy customers – because your store layout is less than optimal. A few simple fixes with retail shelving can make all the difference, and improve profits.
