It can be remarkably easy to be swept away in the excitement of opening your own high street shop. And, while there should certainly be kept an element of spontaneity and flexibility, it is important that a shop’s interior design, particularly its shop floor layout, is well-considered before you open your doors to the general public.
Shop layouts play a significant role in the efficiency and reception of a retail concept. Those that are well-designed can be appealing and effortless to navigate, encouraging customers to not only browse but spend longer periods of time within a shop space. Those, however, that fall short of their optimal design can become frustrating for both customer and employee alike, being difficult to navigate or cumbersome to arrange.
If you are looking to open your first retail space and would like to ensure that its layout is both comfortable and effective, then we have a beginner’s guide for you.
Be An Effective Guide
Retailers have the responsibility of guiding customers around a shop space. From the moment individuals walk through a door, they will begin seeking out cues from the design, layout, and decor of an interior space to help them navigate. These cues can be in literal forms, such as signs, or they can be more understated, such as with the arrangement of shelves and displays of certain products.
If retailers do not make considerations for such visual cues, customers are likely to feel lost or have trouble orienting themselves, which will be reflected on their comparatively short shopping experience. Be sure to consider how retail furniture and shop shelvingcan be used not only to display products but encourage customers in certain directions, as well as how effective signposting can keep customers in a steady flow as they move around an interior.
Curate Your Products
Much of the science behind the optimum positioning of products and displays is rooted in traditional retail, especially in supermarkets. Placing milk at the back of a shop space, for example, isn’t an effective endeavour for health and beauty concepts. Additionally, not every product needs maximum exposure in the same way that not every brand is seeking to champion specific products. Some modern retailers are looking to create spaces of experience and aesthetic immersion instead.
As such, it is important that the rules of retail design are taken with a grain of salt. Instead, think about your specific product and how a space might best reflect its quality. If they would benefit from their own prominence, then curate a space that supports that. Or, if they are to be browsed among other alternatives, then create a space that it is comfortable within which to spend time looking through.
Capacity And Comfort
One of the most important considerations for a shop floor and layout is finding the balance between product occupancy and customer comfort. If a shop space is crowded with products and furniture, customers are likely to spend less time in the space as they will be conscious of their impact on the environment. This can be a suitable design for those retailers looking to turnover quick sales.
However, for retailers who want to cultivate a slower environment of browsing and comfort, it is important to measure product and asset impact on a shop floor to ensure that customers are given the space that they need to shop comfortably.
