How much thought do you give to your retail shop fittings? The layout of your shop and the general fitout you choose can have a huge impact on the success of your business and whether you are able to grow and outperform your competitors. Shop fitouts are not cheap and if you want to maximise the return on your investment then you must be sure that you design your premises to encourage sales while helping your customers to quickly find what they need and to move freely around the store.
Planning ahead is key
Whatever the nature of your business advance planning is vital if your new fitout is to be a success. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve and ensuring that your design can be physically accomplished on your premises is essential. Spend some time thinking about the features of the design that are most important to you.
Are you optimising your design to make better use of your space? Is the new layout intended to drive an increase in revenue or to improve customer flow around the store? By settling in advance what you want your layout to achieve you stand a much better chance of reaching your goals and knowing whether or not your new fitout is working.
How will people use your shop?
If you are a retail business, then you will need to purchase retail shop fittings that make buying products an easy and pleasant experience for your customers. Customers will generally walk around the store interacting with your displays and picking up what they need before coming to the counter to pay. If you are opening a pharmacy or a similar establishment then your requirements will be a little different, often there will be less self-service and greater interaction with your sales staff. Pharmacy fitouts must allow prescriptions to reach and leave the prescription counter in the shortest amount of time, and they must also ensure that the dispensing area is separated from the customers by a barrier, but that isn't all you want from your pharmacy store.
Don't neglect impulse purchases
Pharmacies and every other retail establishment thrive on the impulse purchase. Most people have had the experience of going into a shop for one item and coming out with a bag crammed full of items that they didn't know they needed. By carefully thinking through your retail shop fittings you can arrange your shop so that when customers enter they will be confronted with plenty of 'good to have' items which they may not immediately need, but which they may want to buy 'just in case'. This approach manages to drive your sales while keeping all your customers happy.
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