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Retail Management

Notes Good store design creates the vital difference in today’s competitive marketplace. Successful
companies use design as a powerful tool in their marketing strategy by making better products
and building a strong retail identity. Design creates a better environment at the workplace and
projects the organizational image. Good design offers many benefits - a vastly improved quality;
a defined statement of identity; an optimizing of resources.

13.1 Store Design and Layout

The store design and layout tells a customer what the store is all about. It is a very strong tool in
the hands of the retailer, for communicating and creating the image of the store in the minds of
the customers. It is the creation of this image that is the starting point of all marketing efforts.
The importance of store design needs to be understood form the perspective of the retailer and
from the perspective of the consumer.
For the consumer a store needs to be simple to navigate; it must appeal to his sensory perceptions
and must create a sense of belonging to a sense of relationship, a sense of security or assurance
and a sense of pleasure in the shopping experience. While the merchandise the sales personnel
the location and the pricing all work towards creating an image it is the physical attributes of a
store which affects the customer’s sensory perceptions and makes him relate to the store in a
particular manner. They work with the other elements towards creating the desired image or
atmosphere.

The environment which is created in the retail store is a combination of the exterior looks of the
store, the store interiors the atmosphere in the store and the events, promotions and the themes,
which form a part of the retail store.

A well-planned retail store layout allows a retailer to maximize the sales for each square foot of
the allocated selling space within the store.
Store layouts generally show the size and location of each department, any permanent structures,
fixture locations and customer traffic patterns.
Each floor plan and store layout will depend on the type of products sold, the building location
and how much the business can afford to put into the overall store design.
There are a number of different types of layouts commonly found in retail stores. The layout
used will be dependent on the width and depth of the product range, the nature of the product
categories sold, the type of fixturing used and the constraints of the outlet in terms of size and
shape. The objective of a store layout is to maximize the interface between customers and
merchandise.
Some of the common layouts are:
Straight Floor Plan: The straight floor plan is an excellent store layout for most any type of
retail store. It makes use of the walls and fixtures to create small spaces within the retail store.
The straight floor plan is one of the most economical store designs.
Figure 13.1: A Sample Straight Floor Plan

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