Retouching the Visual Appeal and Layout of Your Store
Have you ever entered a store and had a positive feeling? It might be the other way around as well. In your recent memory, try to remember an example of each. Are you able to remember or explain why you felt the way you did? In retail businesses, shoppers perceive a certain vibe from the layout design and visual appeal before they ever look at the details. These two components contribute to a better initial impression, generate curiosity, and encourage deeper engagement. In addition to optimising space and increasing sales, layout design and visual merchandising should first provide customers with a rich servicescape that gives them a joyful and significant sensation of being there while they explore and purchase. We frequently overlook the fact that clients also grow acclimated to the norm. This means making adjustments from time to time. We tried to demonstrate how you may accomplish this in this blog by going over a number of both new and classic tactics from a modern standpoint.
Keeping Things Simple
Visual merchandising is made easier and more flexible with the help of the more basic layout styles. For instance, compared to other complex or hybrid style types, the grid layout offers a straightforward and well-organised appearance, making it slightly easier to enhance visual attractiveness.
The ability to optimise space is also made possible by simpler arrangement styles, which appear structured and strategic while permitting small spaces between aisles. It is important to consider ease of navigation when attempting to reconcile visual merchandising with inventory and space efficiency.
Additionally, simpler layout formats make it possible to host a variety of items without being cluttered. Things are always easier to locate in well-organised areas. It aids in shelf management, product placement, and enhancing overall operational effectiveness.
A retail servicescape can benefit greatly from simplicity, which is a desirable quality that is mostly attributed to visual merchandising and store layout planning.
Elegance with a Premium Feel
Elegance with a Premium FeelRetail brands have been increasingly emphasising the importance of premium in store layout and design over the past few years, with a particular emphasis on visual attractiveness. Providing a high-end and sophisticated setting has been a common tactic, particularly for well-known brands. The fundamental concept is to provide clients with a first-rate purchasing experience. At YRC, we believe things are likely to remain the same in 2025 with an increasing number of retail brands and businesses focusing on aesthetics, ambience, visual merchandising, expert planogram, customer orientation, staff training, and the use of modern retail technologies.
Display Strategy
Disorganised product arrangement and empty shelves are visually distressing. Although no shop disputes the necessity of a well-organised display, the actual situation may differ significantly. Recently, one of our team members discovered a shoe sale held by a retail shoe company. The sale has been going on for nearly a month, but the company was unable to make enough purchases despite the alluring discounts. Price may have been a contributing factor, but the way the products were displayed during the sale was also a factor.The products were stored on improvised display tables that were haphazardly positioned around the available area, creating the illusion of a debris pile. Those were high-end, expensive goods. It was not a really pleasant view. Customers from comparatively high income brackets are the store’s target market. Consumers hoping for a high-end shopping experience might not have a satisfying encounter. The takeaway from this is that merchants should prioritise having a display plan that satisfies both operational and target customer needs and expectations.
Placement of Products
Product categorisation or assortment should stand out as distinguishing features in retail stores. For example, complementary products or products that are purchased together or products of similar nature should be stacked on the same or adjoining shelf or rack. This makes the buying decisions easier for customers. It reduces the chances of omissions in shopping. Even if you own a small store where you sell from the counter, this could be achieved by strategic positioning of products.
Making Space for Snacks
Supermarkets and department stores rarely think about providing food services. Value propositions are greatly enhanced by the on-site snacking area, which significantly increases client engagement and interest. These areas may be tiny, have little room for seats, and serve light to medium-sized meals. Imagine using QSR-like services while grocery shopping. YRC emphasises how important it is to leave space for innovations that improve value propositions while designing the layout of convenience stores.
Fast Shopping
Numerous well-known retail companies have employed the tactic of portraying themselves as locations for fast shopping, particularly in the grocery and convenience store industry. It presents a vibrant image emphasising easy and rapid buying or shopping while on the go, which is highly compatible with the eCommerce shopping style of today. This tactic also helps maximise impulsive purchases in convenience stores and larger grocery stores, such as department stores or supermarkets. Here, it is impossible to ignore the importance of retail visual merchandising tactics and store layout development.
A Wide Range of Shelves
The majority of retailers today choose hybrid layout formats for their establishments. Using a variety of shelf and rack types is both possible and required in hybrid arrangement configurations. Fruits and vegetables, for instance, are frequently placed on slatted slaves. Better drainage and air circulation are made possible by these shelves. Additionally, it contributes to a visual appeal that highlights freshness. This is also how fruits and vegetables are arranged at outdoor marketplaces, however the degree of technology may vary. YRC emphasises how various elements of store layout planning affect the shopping experience when developing solutions for grocery stores.
Span and Spic
Cleanliness is another desirable quality, much like simplicity. Customers certainly want stores to be clean both inside and out when they are shopping. And when it comes to retailing in today’s world, anything short of ‘spotless’ may be a red flag from the customer’s perspective. For retail establishments to have a powerful and alluring visual appeal, cleanliness is essential. Experienced convenience store consultants would agree that there must be robust SOP-based systems in place to consistently maintain high levels of cleanliness in retail stores. The size and scale of the store are immaterial here.
Concerning Your Retail Coach
YRC is an eCommerce and retail consultancy company with a growing global presence. With a success rate of more than 94%, YRC has over ten years of experience working with more than 500 clients in more than 25 sectors.
Please feel free to message us, and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible to discuss your needs with a qualified convenience store business expert.
FAQs
How should visual merchandising and store layout be approached to give customers the ability to shop when they’re on the go?
A rapidly growing trend in the supermarket retail industry is on-the-go or pit-stop shopping. It calls for certain adjustments to visual merchandising and layout. Two ways that should be considered for implementation following appropriate improvisations are briefly illustrated below:
Product Grouping and Positioning according to Purchase Combinations and Consumption Methods
For a rapid and meaningful shopping experience, shelves on the store’s perimeter could be stocked with fast-moving or fast-selling commodities that are typically purchased and consumed on a daily basis, such as milk, bread, and eggs. People who are searching for these things in the morning, for instance, shouldn’t have to go through the entire store. Their purpose is to make a specific purchase.
Similar products, such as coffee and tea, or various kinds of rice or pulses, could be arranged on the same or adjacent shelves. It eliminates the possibility of omission and aids in decision-making. Having things that way serves as a reminder service even if customers are not carrying a shopping list. It speeds up and adds purpose to shopping.
Signage Use for Easy Navigation
Customers should be able to quickly choose which aisle or zone to go to as soon as they enter a supermarket. The purchasing intent of the buyer is frequently the basis for this choice. For instance, any product that needs to be stored on shelves in refrigerators and freezers (such as butter, sweets, and aerated drinks) should have its own area, and each area should have strong signage. These signs ought to be observable from close to the entrance.
Please contact us if you have any questions or need expert assistance.
How should an omnichannel strategy be framed for a grocery business?
The concept of omnichannel marketing is often restricted to having both online and offline sales channels. As seasoned omnichannel consultants for grocery stores, we uphold that omnichannel is about ensuring that customers have a flawless online and physical shopping experience. Almost all of the important indicators for determining what an omnichannel strategy has to include are provided by understanding how to go about developing one.
Mapping the current (offline) customer journey is the first thing we do or advise in multichannel consulting. The mapping of the anticipated online purchase path should come next. The term “customer journey” refers to the period between advertising and post-purchase customer service. When consumers interact with a brand for the first time, the customer journey starts. Search engine results, social network posts, or any other planned point of contact could be used. Multiple touchpoints that affect both online and offline channels then appear as the trip goes on. From that point on, the customer’s shopping experience should not differentiate between online and offline channels, regardless of whether the customer begins with a social media post or visits the store with a friend (of course, except where it is not possible, e.g. delivery of goods must be offline). Similar to this, a client should have the option to file a complaint via phone, the company’s website, or its mobile app rather than having to come into the store in person.
For any doubt or professional assistance, feel free to let us know.
What creative approaches may be used to enhance the shopping experience in supermarkets?
The ratio of perceived advantages to perceived expenses is known as customer perceived value. Both of these concepts are inherently subjective and qualitative. Retailers can, however, create a scale or measurement system and give each variable a numerical value.
Features, performance, longevity, usability, brand reputation, ease of access to customer care, after-sales services, returns, refunds, exchanges, payment options, rival products, exclusivity, and premium elements are some examples of variables that fall under the category of perceived benefits. Money, time, effort, opportunity costs, and other material and immaterial expenses are examples of variables under perceived costs.
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