Feedback Blog

Store Environment -- The One Thing

No one has ever asked me what I thought was the single most important element in creating a successful store environment. But I was thinking recently of compiling a list of "must dos, or must haves" for a successful retail operation. It helped me get regrounded.

For, I guess no matter how you slice it, it always comes back to people. Despite the fact that we are experiencing a paradigm shift in the way we communicate, given all of our digital interactions and the shift to social media as a primary communication vehicle, it's still always about the people who are doing that communicating. The method is much less important than the message.

Whether we market our companies through tradtional mediums or totally embrace the digital age, it's all about caring first and selling second. Make people feel like you care more about them than about what you can make from them and they will most often respond positively.

So there's nothing ground breaking about this message. It's been said a million times in a million ways. But still it's worthwhile to review what's really important. So no, you didn't ask, but I'll give you an answer anyway. The most important element to a successful store environment is insuring that you have people who care about people.

Store Fixtures -- End Caps

We recently unveiled a new floor plan outlining a distinctive store fixture layout for one of our customers. He loved it! However, he had one big question

"Why so few end caps? I thought that was prime real estate" he said.

We quickly acknowledged that his concern reflected traditional thinking. However in the stores that we have observed and many that we have actually worked with there is no end cap program. Without a program that addresses keeping the store fixture end cap displays dynamic and relevant they usually degrade into being used as additional display space or, even worse, simply storage area.

End caps work best displaying featured items. The items can be new, or special buys. A single item or at least a single price on multiple items is ideal. The problem with most small stores is that if the manager buys feature items regularly for a bunch of end caps she can quickly work herself into problems with what to do if the items don't sell. If there is not a contingency plan to deal with this scenario things can go bad quickly.

We will design a store with a manageable number of end caps. Manageable, here is unquantifiable because it will depend on the size of the store and the feelings of the manager.

But one thing's for sure. If you hire Discovery-Based Retail to help you with interior floor plan design, we'll have you thinking differently about store fixtures and end caps.