Your shop is like a well-oiled machine. Every time you walk in, you know where everything is in your design, as do your employees and customers. Things are running swimmingly.
Or are they? Have things gone stale without you noticing? Is dust collecting along skirts of your display cases?
It might be time to revamp your store layout.
Initially, the idea of clinging to the adage, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” is probably enticing. But revamps are essential from time to time. And the longer you wait, the more you likely need one. A good revamp can increase your sales, enhance your customer experience, and create better traffic flow within your store—and those are just a few reasons to consider the idea. Read on to learn why you should adjust your store’s look and feel regularly.
9 Reasons You Need A Regular Revamp
Your retail store design is much more than a system of putting products on shelves. It sets the stage for how your customers will engage with your products before they make purchasing decisions. It also influences the flow of traffic within the store, avoiding bottlenecks and customer frustration. Your store layout is the first step in providing your customers with an enjoyable experience.
Here are 9 reasons you should update your store layout regularly.
1. Enhance Customer Experience
You considered your customer experience when you designed your initial store layout, but over time, things have changed. New products
have emerged, and you’ve taken underperforming products off the shelves.
As a result, the customer experience has evolved into something different from what you initially created.
That’s why it’s important to consider your customer experience regularly. Consider how your customers walk through your store. Does each product blend into the next for a seamless experience? Is there purpose and strategy behind the flow of merchandise from row to row? If not, it’s likely time for a revamp.
2. Increase Sales
Pushing the bottom line is always job one. One of the best ways to do so is to revamp your store design. If you’ve had the same store design for a while, your regulars know exactly where to find everything they know about.
When you alter the layout, your regular customers will need to venture around your store, walking past new items and opportunities before they find the items for which they typically make a beeline. This can improve their experience by showing them products they may not have considered otherwise, which naturally, means more cash in the register at the end of the day.
3. Keep Up With Changing Trends
Trend awareness is a key to success in any business. Leveraging that awareness is next level.
As you update your store’s layout, you’ll need to consider current trends in order to place the hottest items strategically to maximize both accessibility and revenue potential. This can be tricky; there’s a tension here between the customer experience and sales optimization. Customer experience demands that the hottest items get put at the front in full view for quick access. Conversely, have you ever wondered why Walmart puts the milk at the very back of the store? Consider placing the trending items front-and-center, while stashing your staples (papers, spoons, vapes, etc.) at the back to optimize both visibility and foot traffic.
4. Organize Traffic Flow
The best store designs create a flow of traffic that avoids bottlenecks while walking each visitor past specific products that might lead to impulse purchases. As you operate your store, you may notice that some products are simply being missed or that congestion is forming in certain areas. Thus, a properly organized floor plan — a technical drawing of a room design—allows you to optimize the flow of traffic in your store.
5. Highlight New Inventory
From time to time, you’ll bring new inventory through your doors. When this happens, it’s important to let your customers know about the new arrivals. This is yet another objective you can accomplish with a floor plan revamp.
Consider placing new products on endcaps or at eye level on popular shelves in your store. The checkout counter is another great place to highlight new smaller inventory.
6. Enhance Visual Merchandising
Visual merchandising is crucial. This can be as simple as putting a high-end piece in a glass case on the wall behind the checkout counter or creating a visually stimulating scene to draw attention to a product.
No matter how you do it, take the opportunity to enhance your visual merchandising efforts with each store layout redesign.
7. Improve Employee Productivity
Your floor plan facelift can also help to improve employee productivity. Here are a few reasons this matters:
- Higher Sales Volume: Higher levels of employee productivity typically result in higher sales volumes.
- Cost Reduction: When your employees are more productive, you don’t need to dedicate as many working hours to each task. That results in reduced employee costs.
8. Maintain Customer Interest
If customers see the same thing every time they walk into your store, they’ll eventually get bored with your products. A layout update helps customers notice products they’ve never seen before, which helps drive continuing interest in your business.
9. Stand Out from Competitors
The similar designs followed by most shops can get boring for the consumer. Make your store unique by offering a fresh twist on the brick-and-mortar model. In doing so, you can ensure your smoke shop stands out from its competitors, resulting in higher foot traffic and sales volume.
Final Thoughts
The occasional store revamp can be a royal pain in the posterior, but if executed with strategy and precision, the benefits are worth the effort. If you keep your customer in mind at every step of the redesign, you can expect to generate a better customer experience, resulting in increased sales and profitability.
