One of the most important factors for a physical store's success is the effective use of physical space. The space in your store is an investment but for more than just holding the actual business. When used correctly, the physical space of your store can function as a brand touchpoint and enhance both the customers' shopping experience and their perception of your brand.
Planning how to use retail space can be challenging. Various factors need to be considered, like intentionally guiding customer foot traffic and product display placement. The way a retail outlet's space is designed can have a negative impact on both sales and the brand if not done effectively.
Planograms solve this problem. Planograms are tools to help retailers plan the use of store space effectively and make informed visual merchandising decisions.
What is a Planogram?
A planogram is a detailed schematic diagram of your store's layout that is specifically concerned with product placement. It is an essential tool for retailers to make the best use of their space. Planograms visually represent the layout of your aisles, displays, points of sale and entrances.
Planograms show exactly where specific products are placed, down to the exact shelf in some cases. They tend to be one component in a much more comprehensive visual merchandising document. A planogram can help retailers modify product placement to increase sales.
These documents generally vary by the retailer because they are very specific to the individual goals, size and product catalogue of each store. They also vary in complexity depending on the retail outlet's needs.
What are the benefits of planograms?
Planograms are excellent tools to help you strategically plan the layout of your retail space and have several advantages, including but not limited to:
Make the Most of Your Shop Space
Space is a valuable resource in retail outlets and it needs to be optimized to ensure the store can facilitate the maximum sales volume possible. Planograms help organize and strategically place shelves and product displays to optimize for sales. Merchandisers can make optimal use of the whole retail space and stay organized while they are at it. By using a planogram, you can make the most efficient use of your retail space, avoiding wasted space and creating an environment that can maximize sales.
Make the Store Aesthetically Appealing
A shopper's ideal retail experience involves the simple and intuitive organization of all the shelves and displays in the stores, and each individual shelf. This facilitates an efficient and pleasant shopping experience. Beyond that, the customer expects to be delighted in the store. The foundation of a delightful retail experience is a store layout that's functionally optimized and visually pleasing. A planogram gives you the capacity to arrange shelves and product displays. This means you can plan a variety of visual merchandising techniques that are eye-catching and invite the consumer to fill their shopping cart.
Maximize Sales
There is a wealth of psychological research around consumer behaviour. Over the years, this research has been used by the retail and visual merchandising industries to come up with shop layout strategies that leverage consumer behaviour to ensure they purchase as many products as possible. Planograms help increase sales in two intertwined ways. First, they help retailers gather data about in-store foot traffic visually. Secondly, planograms help make use of the data to generate actionable insights. Retail outlets can then make informed decisions on shelf placement based on consumer behaviour in their space. For instance, bread and milk are sometimes placed as far away from the entrance as possible to maximize the number of products seen by the customer before they reach their actual objective.
Conclusion
Visual merchandising and retail space planning are crucial marketing activities for physical stores. The optimal use of physical space presents opportunities for retail outlets to create an immersive and delightful experience that encourages customers to purchase more. Planograms are therefore indispensable tools for getting the best results from your shop space.
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