Page 148 - DMGT552_VISUAL_MERCHANDISING

Unit 7: Retail Design and Circulation Plan

Notes
Did u know? Circulation planning is a combination of art and science.
Every circulation manager and company has unique aspects of their business. There is no universal
cookie-cutter circulation planning method that works for everyone. Instead there is a toolbox of
methods and approaches that must be adapted to a direct marketer’s specific needs.
An equally important part of any plan is projecting expected results. It does little good to
improve response but then spend more money in operations to fulfil unexpected orders.
We help clients prepare detailed order projections by week to help operations prepare for peaks
and for inventory control to secure sufficient merchandise. We have in depth experience with
projecting order flows and inventory forecasting
Customer circulation in a retail store through store planning can be achieved by:
 Proper product assortment.

 By rendering full time service to customers.
 By charging affordable price to customer through their price decision.
 By having enough storage facilities at disposal.

 By creating a very conducive shopping environment.
 By introducing latest and upgraded technology.
The structure of retail space creates the constraints of the overall design; often the spaces already
exist, and have had many prior uses. It is at this stage that logistics must be determined, structural
features like columns, stairways, ceiling height, windows and emergency exists all must be
factored into the final design. In retail one hundred percent of the space must be utilised and
have a purpose.

Lab Exercise Go to website http://www.itc.nl/library/papers_2009/msc/upm/
jingnan.pdf and make a study on spatial structure of large scale retail store.

The retailer must plan out each and everything well, the location of the shelves or racks to
display the merchandise, the position of the mannequins or the cash counter and so on. The floor
plan creates the circulation which then directly controls the direction of the traffic flow based on
the studied psychology of consumer movement pattern within a retail space. Circulation is
important because it ensures that the consumer moves through the store from front to back,
guiding them to important displays and in the end to the cashier.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
7. Store layout is the way, the store or business space that is used to demote sales and to
dissatisfy the customer.

8. A circulation plan is a schematic empirical projection/model of how pedestrians and/or
motor vehicles flow through a given area.
9. Circulation plans are used by city planners and other officials to manage and monitor
traffic and pedestrian patterns in such a way that they might discover how to make future
improvements to the system.

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