Store Layout and its Different Types PDF

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The store layout is the manner in which the merchandise or products have been arranged in a retail store . The store layout can be of different types such as grid layout, racetrack layout, free form layout, etc. Each layout has its own pros and cons....

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RETAIL MANAGEMENT

STORE LAYOUT AND ITS DIFFERENT TYPES

❖ Study materials included in this file are: • Definition of Store Layout. • Classification of store layout on the basis of (a) Grid Layout (b) Racetrack Layout (c)Free form Layout. • Benefits of different types of store layouts. • Diagrams and Examples.

Definition of Store Layout: Store Layout: The layout of the store is the manner in which merchandise or products have been arranged in a retail store. Store layout is integral to the interior look of the store. It shows the location of departments, permanent structures, customer traffic patterns and fixture locations. It helps movement of the customer within the store. An ideal layout strikes a balance between the merchandise to be displayed and productivity. Broadly speaking, a layout is like a plan for the store. It is meant to aid movement and flow of customers, so that they move through the entire store. Areas within the store need to be demarcated as the prime selling areas, the impulse merchandise areas, the destination areas, and the seasonal or special merchandise areas. By balancing the destination areas and the impulse buying areas, the flow of the traffic through the store can be directed. The area near the entrance of the store is often referred to as “decompression zone” or the “transition zone.” When the customer enters the store, he is making a transition to a new environment. Merchandise placed right near the entrance is usually lost on the customer entering the store. At this point, he is adjusting to the new environment and very rarely buys something. Sales staff greeting the customers with a pleasant “May I help you?” may more often be met with a prompt “No” as a reply. Therefore, the retailer should understand that at this point the customer is still taking in the environment of the shop, he may have a predefined list of items to buy or may just have come there to browse around. He

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needs to be given needed time to adjust the new environment before making an attempt of selling goods and services to him. Once the customer has passed this decompression zone, he would on most occasions turn right. The cash wrap or billing counters are usually placed to the left and high impulse merchandise is placed near these counters. Each cash counter is the place where the retailer has a captive audience in the customers and it is here that most of the impulse sales are made. In some cases, the high demand merchandise may be placed at the rear end of the store, so that the customers would move through the store and purchase other products before they reach the required merchandise.

❖ CLASSIFIACTION OF STORE LAYOUT: The store layout would vary across retailers. Each store layout has its pros and cons, and each layout provides a retailer with some ways to influence traffic flow. In the below, various types of store layout have been explained:

Grid Layout

Racetrack Layout

Free form Layout

(a) Grid Layout: The grid layout is a traditional form of store layout, in which the counters and fixtures are placed in long rows or runs. While one area of display is along the walls of the store, the other merchandise is displayed in a parallel manner. It allows for movement within the area and uses space effectively. The most familiar examples of the grid layout are supermarkets, discount stores and drugs stores, e.g., - Reliance Fresh. Grid is a preferred layout in many retail stores that adopt self-service. It is best used in retail environment in which

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the majority of customers wish to shop entire store. In the below, I have drawn a simple grid layout.

BAKER ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONICS

FRUITS

VEGETABLES

CLOTHING CHECKOUTS OFFICE

CARTS EXIT

ENTRANCE

FIGURE: THE GRID LAYOUT

Advantages of Grid Layout: The aadvantages of grid layout include:

➢ A grid store layout brings clarity or order to a layout, making it easier for the customers to find the required products in the store. ➢ It’s easy to categorize products. ➢ Shoppers are used to the grid layout style and shop it easily. ➢ It’s easy to keep clean. ➢ Offers self-service

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➢ It requires low cost, and thus, it is economical. Less spaces are wasted and all aisles are of same width. ➢ It also simplifies security.

However, it is to be noted that a grid layout is best when the retailer has a variety of merchandise to display. It gives a lot of exposure to products because customers weave up and down the aisles. The shoppers are also very familiar with this layout and there is a lot of industry research on how to best use the space. So, because of these advantages, the grid layout has become very popular and widely used layout.

Disadvantages of Grid Layout: Although the grid layout has a lot of advantages, but it too has some disadvantages which have been mentioned below: ➢ It is boring, and it is difficult to use this layout to create a “shopping experience” for the customer. ➢ Customers often cannot take shortcuts to what they need. ➢ Line of sight is limited, forcing a customer to look up and down aisles. ➢ Visual “breaks” are needed to keep shoppers engaged. ➢ Limited creativity in decor. ➢ It is plain and uninteresting.

These are the common disadvantages of grid layout. However, these can be minimized to great extent by taking some measures such as ◆ Making the store more exciting by creating product signage that not only offers information about the products, but provides a break from the visual monotony of the aisles. ◆ Using different colors and adding pictures, which are always more interesting to look at than words. ◆ Setting up creative feature displays on the sides of the venue that allows customers to walk around at their leisure.

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◆ Customers might get frustrated if they do not know where to find an item or if they can’t see beyond the aisle, they’re in. The retailer needs to solve this by making sure that each aisle is labeled clearly in an easy-to-see spot. ◆ By offering hands-on shopping with self-serve coffee beans, grains, seeds or legumes. This would minimize the adverse psychological impacts of the customers.

(b) The Racetrack Layout: The racetrack is also called the loop layout. In a racetrack layout, the display is in the form of a racetrack or a loop with a major aisle running through the store. The aisle provides access to various shop-inshops or departments within the store. If you are selling a product that people want to browse, touch and look at, then the racetrack or loop layout is one consider. Customers follow a prescribed path through the merchandise and experience it the way the retailer wants it to be seen. Racetrack or loop layout is popularly found in department stores. This layout works better than the grid layout for designing a shopping experience because the retailer through this layout can guide the customer past highlighted promotional items. This type of layout is called the loop layout because your customers are directed in a so called ‘closed loop’ around your store, taking you past all your products before arriving at your check-out counter.

ENTRANCE

EXIT FIGURE: A SIMPLE RACETRACK OR LOOP LAYOUT

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Advantages of Racetrack Layout: The advantages of racetrack or loop layout include the following: ➢ Retailers can provide a great and exciting “shopping experience” using this layout. ➢ Facilitates the goal of getting customers to see the merchandise available in multiple departments and facilitates impulse purchase. The customers are exposed to more of your merchandise. ➢ It encourages the customers for browsing. ➢ Promotions are easier to execute, because the layout really controls what the shopper sees. ➢ The retailers have an opportunity to create unique displays for their stores. ➢ It allows for a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Disadvantages of Racetrack Layout: Besides having a set of advantages, the racetrack or loop layout also has some disadvantages which have been mentioned below: ➢ This type of a layout needs much space and a considerable selling space is wasted. ➢ It does not encourage the customers to browse. ➢ Customers who want to run in and pick up something quickly are often discouraged when faced with this layout. ➢ Not a good layout for a high turnover store, like a pharmacy or a convenience store.

Thus, the racetrack layout, likewise the grid layout, has both pros and cons. But the feature that gives the racetrack layout more advantages is that the retailer

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does not really need to influence traffic flow, because the traffic can only move one way, and this is what makes the layout so perfect for executing promotions.

(c) Free form Layout: This layout can be anything the retailer wants it to be, in any shape or place. In a free-form, merchandise is arranged in an asymmetrical manner. It allows for free movement and is often used in department stores to encourage people to browse and shop. This is considered as the simplest type of store layout. A simple diagram of a free-form store layout has been given below.

Advantages of Free-form Layout: The advantages of a Free-form layout include the following:

➢ This layout allows the customers to browse and wander freely. ➢ Ideal for a store offering smaller amounts of merchandise.

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➢ Easy to create a shopping experience in this layout. ➢ There is an increase in impulse buying as the shoppers are exposed to merchandise more thoroughly. ➢ The store is visually appealing as there is an opportunity to create unique and exciting displays.

Disadvantages of Free-form Layout: Likewise, the other types of store layout, the of Free-form Layout too has some of the advantages which include:

➢ This type of a layout may not allow for maximum utilization of retail space available. ➢ Stock control and handling are more complex than other layouts. ➢ As the loitering is encouraged in this type of layout, therefore, it may confuse the customers. ➢ It is comparatively costly and there is a sort difficulty can be faced in keeping the store clean. However, in this type of layout the retailers can control traffic flow by placing promotions and visual displays as “speed bumps” can entice the shopper from one merchandise “lily pad” to next. Power walls can be created to attract the shopper as he or she moves along the store. If customers are missing a part of the store, retailers can alter traffic flow by altering the fixtures within to create a new path.

While there is no standardized manner in what needs to be a layout for a particular type of a store, a retailer may choose the same on the basis of the target customer that he chooses to serve or the general image and look that he wishes to create for the store. Another popular form of presentation of merchandise is termed as the boutique layout, wherein the sales floor is segregated in terms of various areas, with each area focusing on a particular theme. The entire store may bear a resemblance to a shop-in-shop. Retailers may adopt variations of boutique layout and may create other layouts like a “Q Layout”, an “S Layout” or a “Y Layout”, etc.

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