1. CHAPTER 17
Store Layout, Design,
and Visual
Merchandising

2. Store
Design
Objective
 Implement Retailer’s
strategy
 Build Loyalty
 Increase Sales on Visits
 Control Cost
 Legal Considerations

3. Design Trade-Offs
stimulating impulse
purchases
making it easy to buy
products
making it easy to
find merchandise
providing an interesting
shopping experience is
determined by the
customer’s shopping needs
giving customers
adequate space in
which to shop
productively using this
scarce resource for
merchandise

4. Store
Design
Elements
• Layouts
• Signage and Graphics
• Feature Area

5. Grid Layout
• Grid layout has parallel aisles with
merchandise on shelves on both
side of the aisles
• Cash registers are located at the
entrances/exits of the stores
• Easy to locate merchandise
• Cost-efficient
• Most supermarkets and full-line
discount stores use the grid layout
Limitation
Does not encourage customers to
explore store

6. Racetrack Layout (Loop)
• Loop with a major aisle that
has access to departments
• Draws customers around
the store
• Provide different viewing
angles and encourage
exploration, impulse buying
• Used in department stores

7. Free-From Layout
• Fixtures and aisles
arranged asymmetrically
• Provides an intimate,
relaxing environment that
facilitates shopping and
browsing

8. Graphics can reinforce a store’s image

9. Category Signage
identifies types of
products and located near
the goods
Promotional Signage
relates to specific offers –
sometimes in windows
Point-of-sale Signage
near merchandise with
prices and product
information

10. Digital Signage
• More effective in attracting
the attention of customer
• helping customers recall
the messages displayed
• Provides appealing
atmosphere
• Overcomes time-tomessage hurdle
• Eliminates costs

11. Feature areas
• Areas within a store designed
to get the customers’ attention
• Feature areas
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Windows
Entrances
Freestanding displays
End caps
Promotional aisles
Walls
Dressing rooms
Cash wraps (POP counters,
checkout areas)

12. The space within stores and
on the stores’ shelves are fixtures
is a scare resource
• The allocation of store space to
merchandise categories and brands
• The location of departments or
merchandise categories in the store

13. Space
Allocated to
Merchandise
Categories
• Productivity of allocated space
(sales per square foot, sales per
linear foot)
• Merchandise inventory turnover
• Impact on store sales
• Display needs for the merchandise

14. Impulse merchandise
near heavily trafficked areas
Demand merchandise
back left-hand corner of the store
Special merchandise
lightly trafficked areas (glass
pieces, women’s lingerie)
Category Adjacencies
cluster complimentary
merchandise next to each other
Location of
Merchandise
Categories
and Design
Elements

15. diagram that shows how and
where specific SKUs should be
placed on retail selves or
displays to increase customer
purchases
Mark&Spencer in UK uses a planogram system developed by
Marketmax to develop a layout that maximizes space productivity
Location of
Merchandise
within a
Category
Planogram

16. Location of
Merchandise
within a
Category
Learn the best place to merchandise
and test how customers react to new
products
Virtual-Store
Simulation

17. • Learn customers’ movements,
where they pause or move quickly,
or where there is congestion
Location of
Merchandise
within a
Category
• Evaluate the layout, merchandise
placement, promotion
Videotaping
Consumers

18. Visual Merchandising
Fixtures
A. Straight rack
B. Rounder (bulk
fixture, capacity
fixture)
C. Four-way fixture
(feature fixture)
D. Gondolas

19. Visual Merchandising
Presentation Techniques
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Idea-Oriented Presentation
Item and size Presentation
Color Organization
Price Lining
Vertical Merchandising
Tonnage Merchandising
Frontal Presentation

20. 



Lighting
Color
Music
Scent
Store Atmosphere
Creating
an Appealing
Store Atmosphere

21. How Exciting Should a Store Be?
Depends on the Customer’s
Shopping Goals
– Task-completion:
• a simple atmosphere with
slow music, dimmer lighting,
and blue/green colors
– Fun:
• an exciting atmosphere with
fast music, bright lighting, and
red/yellow colors

22. • Simplicity Matters
• Getting Around – Easy
Navigation
• Let Them See It
• Blend the Web Site with
the Store
• Prioritize

23. Web Site Design
• Type of Layout
– When shopping on the Web, customer are interested
in speed, convenience, ease of navigation, not
necessarily fancy graphics
• Checkout
– Make the process clear and appear simple
– Enclose the checkout process
– Make the process navigable without loss of
information
– Reinforce trust in the checkout process