When it comes to managing your retail store, organization matters. A well-organized store that is conducive to browsing and allows consumers to quickly and easily find what they are looking for means happier customers, more sales, and increased revenue. To optimize the organization of your retail store, you will want to avoid these five mistakes.
1. Failing to consider inventory turns. When organizing your retail store and choosing fixtures and furnishings, you need to think in terms of product turns. Crunch some numbers to determine how much merchandise you are going to sell and how much inventory you will need to keep in the store. Once you have some solid numbers, you can make decisions about furnishings and organize appropriately.
2. Choosing cheap lighting to cut costs. While you likely only have a limited budget to design and furnish your retail space, lighting really isn’t the appropriate place to try to cut costs. The bottom line is that when it comes to lighting, quality matters. ‘It’s not about being able to see. It’s about coloration and temperature of light,’ explained Jerry Birnbach, an experienced store-planning consultant. ‘Cheap lighting doesn’t make your product look good.’ Always invest in high-quality lighting that will enhance the appearance of your product.
3. Lazy organization schemes. The easier you make it for customers to browse your store, the more they will buy. That means you need to do a bit of research about how your customers shop and make smart organization decisions. When Jim Broadhead opened Pipestone Travel, a Calgary, Alberta-based travel apparel retailer, he grouped everything together by type. So, pants for example, were all grouped together, regardless of style or function. Last year, however, Broadhead totally reorganized his store, helping customers browse more efficiently and conveniently by grouping items together by category. All the casual wear was put in one spot while all of the active wear was put in another. The result? Sales increased an impressive 15 percent in just one year.
4. Ignoring the checkout area. The checkout area is one of the most important areas of your store, and it absolutely needs to be well-organized. ‘Your checkout counter is what customers experience last,’ explained Seanette Corkill, a retail design consultant. ‘Yet, retailers often don’t factor in enough room for their staff (at least 3 feet per person behind the cash register), don’t build enough storage space, or skimp on the quality of countertops and fixtures. While it may be tempting to load the counter with impulse items, avoid overcrowding.’
5. Forgetting about flexibility. The organization scheme you have today might meet your customers’ needs today, but that doesn’t mean it will meet their needs tomorrow. Make sure you invest in display fixtures that are flexible so that things are easy when it comes time to modify your store.
Ultimately, spending the time and money to put together your retail space in a way that is organized and efficient is in your best interest, as it will boost your sales and your business’ bottom line.
Sources:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223767
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223183
