Manage the movements of your customers: it pays off!
Not only does the internal layout of your shop guide the movements of customers by steering them in a certain direction, it can also have an impact on their spending! The flow or movement of potential customers in your retail outlet can be influenced by the shop layout (arrangement of furniture, the addition of partitions, the location of lights...), as well as the position of products.
Displaying the right product type in the right place is a real art and its impact should not be underestimated. For example, if you want to encourage “impulse” buys, place products in the “hot area”, in other words the front half of the shop. On the other hand, low profit items, or items few of your customers are looking for can be placed towards the back. This is the “cold area”, where customer footfall tends to be relatively low (particularly noticeable in most hypermarkets).
Did you know?
There are three types of customer flow in retail outlets.
- Fully guided flow, which steers customers so they see every department and pass every product. This strategy is employed by Ikea, but is not always popular with customers. Some people are not keen on being forced to move in one direction rather than the other.
- Systematic, linear flow, as seen in supermarkets.
- Free, intuitive flow,which is more in line with natural human behaviour, but is not always the most effective in terms of sales.
Want to learn more about this topic?
Discover 31 tips to optimise customer flow and improve turnover!
