Store Layout, Design and

Visual Merchandising

Source: Tesco

The presentation draws heavily from the text book

on “Retailing Management” by Levy et.al.

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 Agenda for Discussions

• Store management
• Store design objectives
• Store design-impact on stakeholders
• Types of store layouts
• Impact of store layouts on
stakeholders like shoppers, retailer
and manufacturers
• Role of signage and message board
• Feature areas
• Prime location based store traffic
movement
• Creating adorable store ambience

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 Store Management

Layout,
Customer Design, and
service Visual
merchandise

Managing
store

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 Store Design Objectives

Source: http://blog.walmart.com/innovation/20170512/a-look-inside-walmarts-next-gen-test-
stores

• Implement retailer’s strategy

• Influence customer buying
behavior
• Control design and maintenance
costs
• Provide flexibility
• Meet legal requirements

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 Implementing Store
Design
The primary objective of store design is
implementing the retailer’s strategy

• Meets needs of target market

• Builds a sustainable competitive
advantage
• Displays the store’s image

Tesco, UK
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 New Initiatives at
Walmart
• Walmart is testing new approaches
in two recently opened
supercenters in Tomball, Texas, and
Lake Nona, Florida.
• Services like the beauty salon and
tech repair are adjacent to relevant
merchandise.
• Health and wellness departments
are consolidated to create a single
destination.
• Baby, toys, kids' apparel and kids'
shoes form a single destination to
ease mom’s shopping journey.

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 New Initiatives at
Walmart (Continued)

Scan & Go Smart Life

Integrated Pickup
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 Layout and Visual
Merchandise

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 Layout and Visual
Merchandise

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 Visual Merchandise

Slatwall installation: Apparel display

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 Visual Merchandise

Pegboard Visual Merchandise

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/161988917817288684/

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 Visual Merchandise

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 Emotional Response to
Color
Color Impact
Blue A cool color (makes room seem cooler).
Calms and relaxes excited people. Makes
time seem to pass quickly. Tends to stimulate
thought processes and encourage
conversation
Green Easy on the eyes. A cool color. Restful and
tranquil. Stimulates conversations. Makes
time seem to pass quickly.
Red Excites and stimulates. Induces aggression.
Makes time seem to pass more slowly
Yellow A cheerful color. Creates a feeling of warmth
and happiness. Draws attention. Boosts
morale.
Orange Friendly, warm and vibrant. Exhilarating.
Violet and A cool color. Tends to lend elegance and
Purple sophistication. Royal.
Brown Relaxing and warm
Gray Depressing. Cool
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 Influence of Background
Color on Merchandise
Color of Black White Beige Dark Gray
Merchandis Background Background Background Background
e
Yellow Enhanced in Lightly Warmer Brighter
richness duller
Red Far more Darker, Bright, but Brighter, but
brilliant purer less intense loses
saturation
Blue More Richer and A little Brighter
luminous darker more
luminous
Green Paler, Deepens in Lighter and Increases
sharpened value yellowish brilliancy
Orange More Darker and Lighter and Increases
luminous redder yellowish brilliancy
Purple Loses Darker Brighter, Gray becomes
strength gray green
and becomes
brilliancy greenish

Source: http://ncrcrd.msu.edu/uploads/files/NCRCRD-rrd155-print.pdf
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 Impact on Customer
Behavior
– Attract customers to store

– Enable them to easily locate merchandise

– Fruitfully engage them in the store for a

long time

– Motivate them to make unplanned

purchases

– Provide them with a satisfying shopping

experience

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 Today’s Demographics

Time limited families are spending less

time planning shopping trips and making
more decisions in the stores.

Retailers can:
– Advertise
– Package products differently
– Research the “first moment of truth”

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 Tradeoff in Store Design

• Ease of locating
merchandise
for planned

(c) image100/PunchStock
purchases

• Exploration
of store,
impulse
purchases

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 Legal Considerations
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act
2016

Stress has been given to ensure accessibility

in public buildings (both Government and
private) in a prescribed time-frame.

Protects people with disabilities from

discrimination in employment, transportation,
public accommodations, access to public places,
and activities of state and local government.

Affects store design as disabled people need

“reasonable access” to merchandise.

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 Reasonable Access
What does that mean?

• 32 inch wide pathways

on the main aisle and to
the bathroom, fitting
rooms elevators and
around most fixtures
• Lower most cash wraps
and fixtures so they can
be reached by a person
in a wheelchair
• Make bathroom and
fitting room fully
accessible
Keith Brofsky/Getty Images

Creating comfort and enjoyable experience

for the physically challenged
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 Types of Store Layouts

There are four commonly used

store layouts:

• Grid

• Herringbone

• Racetrack (Loop)

• Free Form

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 Grid Layout

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 Grid Layout

• Long gondolas in repetitive

pattern.
• Easy to locate merchandise
• Does not encourage customers to
explore store
– Limited site lines to merchandise
• Allows more merchandise to be
displayed
• Cost efficient
• Used in grocery, discount, and
drug stores. Why?
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 Grid Layout
Pros
• Best for stores with lots of merchandise,
especially when products are varied
• Lots of exposure to products, as the
layout encourages customers to browse
multiple aisles
• Familiar for shoppers
• Predictable traffic flow means you can
put promos where you know customers
will see them
• Lots of infrastructure suppliers, such as
shelving, are available as this layout is
used so much
• Best practices within this layout are well
researched

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 Grid Layout

• Least likely to create an experiential

retail space; this layout is a dime a
dozen
• Customers may be frustrated they can’t
shortcut their way to what they need
• Customers may not understand your
product groupings, leading to frustration
and questions (or worse, departure)
• Few visual breaks and lots of
merchandise can make customers feel
overwhelmed
• Cramped aisles often lead to customers
bumping into one another

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 Grid Store Layout
Receiving & storage

Fruit

Books, magazines, Cart

seasonal display area
Vegetabl Checko
es uts
Entrance
Office
&
custo
mer
11-25
Managing
servic Retail Business, July-
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e Sept 2018, SKAR, RGIPT
 Herringbone Layout

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 Herringbone Layout: Pros
and Cons

The herringbone layout has many of the same

pros and cons as the grid, with a few notable
exceptions.
Pros
• Suited to stores with lots of product, but
minimal space
• Warehouse-style stores open to the public
may also find this layout works
Cons
• Limited visibility down ‘side roads’ can
increase shoplifting opportunities
• Can feel cramped, and customers easily
bump into one another
Tuck shops, small hardware stores, and many
small community libraries use the
herringbone to pack a tiny space full of
wares.

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 Racetrack (Loop) Layout
• Loop with a major aisle that has
access to departments and
store’s multiple entrances.
• Draws customers around the
store.
• Provide different site lines and
encourage exploration, impulse
buying
• Used in department stores

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 Racetrack (Loop) Layout:
Pros & Cons
Pros
• Maximum product exposure
• Most predictable traffic pattern; easiest to place
promotions and have highest assurance they’ll be
seen
• Can be experiential — may work with retail
where a journey makes sense and time spent in
store doesn’t need to be brief

Cons
• Customers don’t get to browse at will
• May waste customer’s time who knows what
they’ve come for; they may avoid this shop in the
future when buying intent is specific
• Not suited for shops that encourage high traffic
turnover, or carry products that people need to
spend little time considering before purchase

Source: https://www.shopify.com/retail/the-ultimate-
guide-to-retail-store-layouts
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JCPenney Racetrack Layout

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 Race Track Layout

PhotoLink/Getty Images

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Free-Form (Boutique) Layout
• Fixtures and aisles arranged
asymmetrically

• Pleasant relaxing ambiance doesn’t

come cheap – small store experience

• Inefficient use of space

• More susceptible to shoplifting –

salespeople can not view adjacent
spaces.

• Used in specialty stores and upscale

department stores

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 Free-Form Layout

Storage, Receiving, Marketing

Underwear
Dressing Rooms

Tops
Accessories

Hats and Handbags

Checkout
Stockings

counter

Clearance
Tops
Pants
Casual Wear

Items
Skirts and Dresses

Feature Feature
Jeans

Open Display Open Display

Window Window
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 Boutique Area

Michael Evans/Life File/Getty Images

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 Usage of Signage and
Graphics
• Locational – identifies location of merchandise
and guides customers

• Category Signage – identifies types of products

and located near the goods

• Promotional Signage – relates to specific offers

– sometimes in windows

• Point of sale – near merchandise with prices

and product information

• Lifestyle images – creates moods that

encourage customers to shop

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 Effectively Using Signage

• Coordinate signage to store’s image

• Use appropriate type faces on signs
• Inform customers
• Use them as props
• Keep them fresh
• Limit text

Rim Light/PhotoLink/Getty Images

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 Digital Signage

Visual Content delivered digitally through a

centrally managed and controlled network
and displayed on a TV monitor or flat panel
screen
• Superior in attracting attention
• Enhances store environment
• Provides appealing atmosphere
• Overcomes time-to-message hurdle
• Messages can target demographics
• Eliminates costs with printing, distribution
and installing traditional signage

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 Feature Areas

Feature areas
– End caps
– Promotional
aisle
– Freestanding
displays
– Cash wraps
– Walls
– Windows

PhotoLink/Getty Images

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 Space Planning

• Productivity of allocated space

• Merchandise inventory turnover
• Impact on store sales
• Display needs for the merchandise

Photodisc/Getty Images

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 Space Planning
Considerations
• Profitability of merchandise

• Customer Buying considerations

– Impulse products near front
– Demand/Destination areas off the
beaten path
• Physical characteristics of product

• Complementary products should be

adjacent

• Sales rate
– More units of faster selling merchandise
need to be displayed

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 Envirosell’s Observations

• Avoid the butt-brush effect

• Place merchandise where customers

can readily access it

• Let customers touch the merchandise

• Make information accessible

http://www.madetomeasuremag.com/the-butt-brush-and-other-
retail-research-insights

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 Prime Locations for
Merchandise

Highly trafficked
areas
– Store entrances
– Near checkout
counter

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc./Andrew Resek, photographer

Highly visible
areas
– End aisle
– Displays

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 Location of Merchandise
Categories
• Impulse merchandise – near heavily
trafficked areas

• Demand merchandise – back left-

hand corner of the store

• Special merchandise – lightly

trafficked areas (glass pieces)

• Adjacencies – complimentary
merchandise next to each other

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 Straight Rack

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 Straight Rack

• Holds a lot of apparel

• Hard to feature specific styles and
colors
• Found often in discount and off-price
stores
Royalty-Free/CORBIS

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 Rounder
• Smaller than straight rack
• Holds a maximum amount of
merchandise
• Easy to move around
• Customers can’t get frontal view
of merchandise

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 Four-Way
• Holds large amount of merchandise
• Allows customers to view entire
garment
• Hard to maintain because of styles and
colors
• Fashion oriented apparel retailer

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 Gondola

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 Gondolas

• Versatile
• Grocery and discount
stores
• Some department
stores
• Hard to view apparel
as they are folded
Royalty-Free/CORBIS

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 Merchandise
Presentation Techniques

• Idea-Oriented
Presentation
• Style/Item
Presentation
• Color Organization
• Price Lining
• Vertical
Merchandising
• Tonnage
Merchandising
• Frontal Presentation
Royalty-Free/CORBIS
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Creating a Store Environment

Color Lighting

Store
Atmosphere

Scent Music

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 Lighting

• Highlight
merchandise
• Structure space
and capture a
mood
• Downplay
features
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc./Lars A. Niki, photograp

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 Visual Merchandize at
ZARA

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 Thank you

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