When retailers design their brick-and-mortar locations, they have to keep a number objectives in mind. We’ll cover each of these.
First, is implementing the retailer’s strategy. The primary objective of any retail store design is to implement the retailer’s strategy. More often than not, the strategic requirements for a store design are that if must meet the needs of the target market. Will the customer you’re trying to sell to want to visit and spend time in your store? The design also needs to help build a sustainable competitive advantage. Are you using your store design to create shopper experiences that can’t be had anywhere else? And the design should effectively display the store’s image. Does the store design reinforce what you want your target customers to know about your brand?
For example, McDonalds is in the process of redesign many of its retail stores to appeal to a younger demographic. And Target has recently starting redesigning its stores to better communicate its new branding and reflect its new in-store strategy.
Store design that appeals to your target customers will also create loyal customers. If you have designed your store around utilitarian benefits, enabling customers to locate and purchase with minimal hassle, then the utilitarian customer will stay loyal. If you’ve designed your stare to appeal to the hedonic shopper who wants an entertaining and enjoyable shopping experience, then they will likely be loyal too. Not every store design is going to work for every customer. The smart retailer embraces this and ensures that their key customers are the ones who get the most out of their store design.
Store design can also have a big impact on increasing sales on visits. Store design and everything that entails, including the store layout, color scheme, merchandising fixture and other elements, will impact which products customers buy, how long they stay in the store, and how much they spend during a visit.
Store design also has an important role to play in controlling costs for the retailer. Every decision a retailer makes on the store design can have a direct impact of the shopper’s experience. A footwear retailer like this might be more cost effective to use less expensive fixtures to display shoes, but the higher end materials help communicate luxury, which in turn may increase the ability to raise margins and be more profitable. A good store design can also decrease labor costs. For example, if cleaning the store is made difficult due to certain design decisions, then employees will have to spend more time doing that when they could be doing something else. Finally, store design can also impact inventory shrinkage. If your store is designed in such a way to provide cover to shoplifters you’ll likely see shrinkage grow.
Finally, there are laws that must be considered when designing a store. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed and signed into law by George H.W. Bush and it protects people with disabilities from discrimination under many scenarios including retail. Since 1993 retailers are required to provide fully accessible stores, which means aisles are 32 inches wide minimum, cash wraps and fixtures must be reachable by people in wheelchairs, and all bathroom and fitting rooms must be fully accessible as well.
Ultimately, retail store design is about making trade-offs. Do you want to make products easier to find with signage and an easy to navigate store, or do you want to encourage exploration of the store and impulse purchases? Do you want the productivity of using every square inch of the store to sell merchandise or do you want to give shopper plenty of space to be comfortable and roam?