Make the most of your retail space to increase sales

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Michael Benarroch
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Make the most of your retail space to increase sales

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Michael Benarroch
 

With the right fixtures and accessories, you can refresh the look of your retail space and drive sales.

The chances of succeeding in a new business are bleak. Only about 20% of new businesses make it through their first year. From these survivors, half of them disappear after five years. And then, only one-third of these new businesses make it to their 10th anniversary. It’s a harsh reality and you’ve made it, you’re on your way to being the creme de la creme. And you know that you can do more, it’s not time to settle down, but to face new challenges and grow your success by focusing on your retail space.

Staying The Same Is Boring

Your retail store’s layout works. Of course it does, it’s helped you make it this far. But now, it’s time to improve and increase your sales without having to buy more product or expand into a larger retail space. Customers are familiar with most store layouts as they have been established over the years. Apparel stores, grocery stores, and hardware stores are just a few examples where most people know the general layout, but can have something unique for every store.

Hardware section in a retail store

In a hardware store, for example, staple products like lumber and building materials, electric, and plumbing products are covered around the perimeter. Everything else like houseware, seasonal, and apparel are in the middle. These are all located according to the basic flow that hardware customers follow. But the real challenge is, how to continue to improve sales by using your retail space more effectively.

Customers like stores that follow a standard layout so that they know where to find what they need easily. As a sales strategy, stores regularly make subtle changes to their layout to introduce new products along the usual path a customer follows.

There are two types of customers: mission-oriented – “get in, get out” and browsers who like to explore. Browsers look forward to seeing what new deals are happening during their weekly visit and you can rely on sales from this group. Your goal should be to interrupt your get in-get out customers on their path with a strategic product display right at the front of the store for a special promotion like a Weber Genesis II barbecue sale with free delivery and assembly. This will improve your product margins by adding to your regular sales by browsers who avoid purchasing barbecues because of the work that goes into bringing it back home.

How You Can Use The Same Retail Space to Sell More

Retail space displaying products

Each section of your retail space serves a purpose. With the hardware store example, some sections or departments are Appliances, Backyard Living, Everyday Living, Paint, and so on. In each department, similar items are grouped together for customers to find the item they need easily.

Here’s how you can maximize the retail space in different departments in order to sell more product:

The Appliance Department

Countertop appliance products come in boxes. Basic retail 101 for shelving says you would organize these by type and stack each box. However, you want to interrupt your customers so they see more options rather than a shelf of boxed stock. Enhance the standard method with the following accessories and strategies so that customers who need a toaster will stop and take notice of the many different types of toasters or stop a customer who didn’t come in for a toaster to see the ones on display and contemplate bringing one home.

A woman looking at an appliances on display in a retail store

The Gondola:

The key idea of using fixtures strategically to make the most of your retail space is to improve customer experience. Customers rely on knowing how a product works and want answers to questions like, “Does it have to be plugged in? How many buttons are there? Is the lid separate or connected?” With tester items on a shelf where most customers can reach, customers can touch and get the answers to most of these questions to see their options and choose which would fit better with their lifestyles.

With the must-have, staple fixture, the gondola, you can use accessories to improve customer experience with product displays like a shelf dedicated to tester items like countertop appliances. Dividers, cubes, or crossbars can create custom displays and tester items to go beyond using shelves to stack your items. This gives you the opportunity to increase sales from interrupting the attention of more customers with a product display that stands out with an accessory like a crossbar for a product like a Keurig coffee maker and when a customer buys one, they can get a discount on K-Cups with more discount for multiple boxes. These assorted K-Cups can surround the Keurig on the crossbar shelf to entice a customer to take a deal and buy more than one item that they were not intending to purchase.

Using cubes gives each appliance a dedicated space for customers to return it instead of haphazardly placing it on the shelf or pushing it out of reach for others as well as aligns the products clearly with price points. Cubes raise kettles of different brands on a pedestal and, again, interrupt more customers passing through since the display contrasts amongst the rest of the items. When they stop to consider purchasing a kettle, they have access to touch and play with each kettle and look at the prices to see which one they want. Lights help enhance visibility for the kettle that you want to push onto customers and can act as a beacon for customers looking for appliances. You can use these techniques to increase sales by defining a particular, noticeable display for whichever product you want customers to buy.  Essentially, items with the most visibility can attract more customers outside and raise your sales.

Dividers, cubes, or crossbars in a retail space

Other organizing accessories like bins and trays can help give the shelf a different visual than just shelved items. Small items like accessories for dishwashers such as vase bottle holders, and clips, can be kept together in bins so customers can easily grab which they need. This helps keep your items organized and neat, something that customers expect. Organization is a small detail that should not be overlooked because a messy shelf indicates poor management. In addition to keeping things neat and tidy, you can use pushers for items in smaller boxes so that when a customer takes one, another one comes to the front – instant facing! Less time facing gives you and your associates more time to spend with customers and their needs.  

The Everyday Living Department

By far the most general department, this department can hold a wide variety of items with some that can be lost among bigger items. The Pet Supplies department, for example, houses large and small pet beds, heavy pet food packs, cat litter, collars, clothes, and toys. Display each type of item like heavy bulk food and cat litter on the bottom shelves for easy access, small, colourful collars at eye level, and small toys closer to the bottom so pets can reach and sniff the toys they want. This will guide customers to what they need while also looking at other special deals like a sale on a brand name food and products like popular dog toys that sell out quickly.

Slatwall panels

Visually appealing product display using hooks

You can switch up the monotonous gondola shelf by converting them to gondola slatwall backs. As you know, different sized and types of hooks can help you set up your items in a visually appealing manner rather than just a wall with the same length hook or another shelf with stacked boxes. Deliberately section a part of the wall for an item that needs more sales with brackets of different lengths to physically interrupt a customer’s path and then surround it with related items that will make a customer think that they need to bring the rest of the items home. From your one sale, you can make five more with this strategy.

Using Security Products to Maximize Retail Display Case Space

The best experience for customers involves using and testing electronic products, but this raises security concerns. Scorpion anti-theft display devices can mount and charge electronic products and prevents theft. With less than a minute for installation, your customers can hold and test products without having to ask an associate close by. We exclusively offer Scorpion anti-theft display devices and your customers, from opening to closing, can try the products and base their decision with actual use. Testing electronics gives customers more confidence in the product and raises sales much better than evaluating them from a locked case. Maximize the space your display cases use and display tester items for your customers.

For even more added security, attach LM tags to your high-value items. If someone tries to take an item and hide it in a bag or under a jacket, light sensors and motion detectors sets off an alarm and locates the culprit before the item leaves the store. Tamper-proof and compatible with EAS gates, you can reduce your shrinkage by 50%!

Customers checking out secured products

Reducing your shrinkage can help you keep more of the money you earned, rather than losing sales on stolen goods. Tighten your security and improve customer experience with more product display accessories for high-value items like phones, laptops, cameras, and others. Fortunately, advances in technology have helped store owners keep their products secure without the need for constant monitoring.

Take The Next Step

Fixtures used for displaying products

The suggested strategies above are just a few examples of how you can use fixtures to take advantage of your retail space and optimize product display so you can increase your sales. With the right fixtures and security products, you can increase your sales as well as reduce your shrinkage with security products. Your success should continue to push the limit with new imaginative strategies and design. You’re the best at your business and we’re the best of ours. Let our team of professionals help you from step one of creating a plan to make the most out of your shelf space all the way to completing your strategic product displays. We provide professional opinions on retail design and product placement. Call us today to discuss how we can help you re-imagine your store to make even more money than you’re making now.