Many businesses agree that they underestimate the importance of their store layout and the impact it can have on shopper behaviour and purchasing habits when they initially open their doors. Depending on what type of merchandise you sell, some types of store layout can be more effective than others.
Unsure? This article will take you through the four main types of store layouts and help you better understand how they can help your business grow.
Grid Store Layout
The basic grid arrangement will be known to everyone. Typically, newsagents, pharmacies, and supermarkets are all significant proponents of this type of product display. The grid layout is when a large amount of stuff and products are presented in a predictable pattern along lengthy aisles.
In a supermarket, for example, all of the dairy items will be grouped together, as will all of the domestic essentials, and the bread will be put together as well.
In a grid system, impulse purchases are usually near the top of the aisles, while basic items are near the bottom. The shopper will have to walk by all of the temptation items, increasing their chances of picking up something more on their route to their essentials.
Grid layouts are ideal for exposing buyers to a wide range of products since they encourage them to peruse multiple aisles in order to select only a few items. It’s the ideal arrangement for establishments with a lot of inventory, such as supermarkets.
An on-trend retail brand, on the other hand, would definitely avoid the grid arrangement because it does not provide the best in-store experience. Shoppers may not be able to quickly access the items they desire. This may force them to leave your store in some situations.
Overall, the grid system works effectively in certain stores, such as supermarkets and newsagents, because customers are familiar with it, and traffic flow can be predicted. This allows you to place promotions where you know they will be easily seen by clients.
Regardless of what store layout you opt for, if you operate a physical store, you could stand to benefit from a solid public liability insurance policy. You can read more here.
Herringbone Store Layout
If your store is narrow and long, the herringbone is a layout you should consider for your store.
The herringbone layout is quite similar to the grid. It can be employed to great effect in places where you need to cram a lot of things into a small space, such as booksellers and hardware stores. The side walls can be used for promotional objects, and visual breaks can be added to break up the wall-to-wall merchandise available. This helps your store to breathe while also preventing it from appearing cluttered.
However, there are a few factors to consider. Because there are so many things in such a short space, shoppers may start bumping into each other, which will rapidly become annoying.
Furthermore, this design is more vulnerable to theft. Don’t rely on human policing because visibility from the checkout to the merchandise on each aisle is likely to be poor. If you opt for this layout, install surveillance cameras to ensure that customers do not lift smaller goods without paying for them.
Loop Store Layout
The loop or racetrack pattern is a terrific approach to predicting and manipulating the traffic flow of your customers. By adopting this arrangement, you force your clients to go through every item in the business from the time they enter until the time they pay and leave. This is clever since it raises the possibility of someone picking up something they didn’t want to buy on impulse.
You’ve probably seen the loop layout in one of its most severe incarnations if you’ve been to IKEA. If you’re just looking around, this layout is excellent. This arrangement will appeal to “hanger flickers” among customers because it allows for maximum product exposure and allows you to browse through every item in the store if you so desire. Loop arrangements are sometimes combined with exceptionally inventive displays to elicit inspiration for your home or wardrobe.
If you’ve only gone into a store with this floor layout for a few goods, it can rapidly become aggravating, and you may decide not to return. A well-designed loop arrangement, on the other hand, enables shops to express themselves and tell stories through their displays.
Pop-up stores are an excellent illustration of how loop layouts can be used to convey a story because the shop is transformed into a time-bound museum exhibition rather than just another retail space.
Free-Flow Store Layout
You can use free-flow to express your inner creativity. It’s a style of layout that doesn’t follow any particular rules. It is entirely up to you to pick where your products will be located. There are fewer rules in free-flow, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Free-flow is more likely to follow customer behaviour patterns.
It’s simple for shops to get their free-flow layouts utterly wrong because there are so few constraints. The biggest blunder a retailer can make when deciding to set up shop in this manner is to believe that there are no best practices at all. When deciding where to position things, consider your customers’ tastes and behaviour.
Free-flow layouts that are well-designed are ideal for encouraging impulse purchases and browsing. Upmarket or creative brands are ideal candidates for this design since they want the customer’s experience in the store to be in sync with the excellent things they’re exhibiting.
The checkout being placed in the wrong place is a common problem with free-flow systems. In order to stimulate impulse purchases on the way to the tills, the checkout should be placed in a location where the consumer must pass by the majority of merchandise.
However, with free-flow, deciding where to put them can be challenging. Again, you should examine your shopper behaviour and hunt for the busiest places.
Don’t forget the extra detail
It’s easy to get absorbed into the things at a store and forget about everything else on the floor. Creative designs on shelving, walls, changing rooms, and in-window displays can assist retailers in securing sales. Large size printing can help to break up product displays, making them less cluttered and encouraging more purchases.