Besides creating a great customer experience by crafting an effective retail store layout plan, organizing your retail store is important for employee satisfaction in general, and especially for their productivity. In this article, we will share a few tips for creating a retail store layout that is sales-driving and that will make your employees’ days easier and more productive.

The 5 S’s

The 5 S’s is a five-step process that most retail store owners know of and are working on. This process covers a list of rules that should make a good base for an organized space when it comes to shops and retail stores:

  • Sort it out by getting rid of excess.
  • Set it in order by finding the best locations.
  • Shine it up: Cleaning up to inspect.
  • Standardize the new method.
  • Sustain it by making it part of your routine.

One of the keys of the 5 S’s is that this is a plan and a process that you can follow. By following this plan, you will make sure that the space your employees are spending their day in, and the space that builds an image of your business in your customers’ eyes is well organized and tidy.

Possible Retail Store Layouts

Most retail stores have one of these possible layouts:

  • Grid;
  • Loop;
  • Free-flow;
  • Diagonal;
  • Forced-path;
  • Angular.

Grocery stores usually use a grid layout, since this type of space organization is efficient to navigate. It is pure logic that derives the most sales, meaning that your customers will look for sponges in the same aisle where they’ve found the detergent, and they will look for a dog toothbrush in the same aisle where they’ve previously found the food for their dog.

Create a Blueprint of the Store Layout

It is a good idea to have everything that is a permanent fixture in the store drawn into the schematic. The blueprint should include checkout counters, tables, and built-in shelves. When making a blueprint you should make sure that you have a complete understanding of the space you have. After sketching out your store, you can start playing with different layouts and figuring out which one will work best for your store. You should be led by the idea of making the space more logical for your customers and easy to handle for your employees.

Customer Behavior and the Checkout Position

While organizing your retail store space, you should keep in mind the usual customer behavior, meaning customers’ natural shopping habits. This approach will result in a comfortable and natural space for your retail store, and it will drive more sales. When it comes to the checkout counter, it’s the front left of a store where you can generally find a good spot for this. This is because shoppers usually naturally drift to the right when they enter the store, and leave on the left side. To make sure your employee satisfaction is on point, you should make sure that there is enough space for the cash wrap.

 

For the effective management of any business, it is critical to stay well organized, and for retailers, it can be a difficult task, since there is a lot to handle. From products to customers and employees, retail store owners have to stick to a firm and detailed plan. Make sure to stay on your path and keep both sides satisfied, which will bring you more profit and great business success.