Have you thought about it? Is your store layout successful? Does it create interest and allow your customers to move through your store in a manner that is natural, comfortable and intuitive? Does it foster longer shop times and encourage browsing?  Does it pull customers through the store? Does the store layout introduce your shoppers to large quantities of your featured merchandise? Do the lines of sight increase your customers’ perception of your store’s size? If you answered no to any of these questions, then your store layout is probably not as successful as it can be.

Communication is the essence of retail. For example you communicate your offering, you communicate your pricing and you communicate a certain level of customer service. But a successful store layout takes communication to another level. A successful store layout communicates that you are customer friendly. A successful store layout communicates that you want your customers to linger longer in your store. A successful store layout can communicate that your store is senior friendly. In fact, the list of things that a successful store layout communicates is too long for this short writing, but you get the point.

Discovery Based Retail teaches a system called PDQ. PDQ is an acronym for Penetration and Dispersion Quotient. PDQ is a study of how people move through your store. It can tell you how effectively you are managing your floor space. Consider this: if yours is an 8,000 square foot sale space and for any reason shoppers avoid even 1,000 feet of it, then your sales space is not as productive as it can be. A successful store layout enhances the production of the entire area. The PDQ is a great system to help you determine how effectively you are using the space. Once that determination is made then you have to begin to look for the culprits that are causing the ineffectively. The answers may lie in lighting, product adjacencies, locations of your key or driving departments, locations of your customer service area, cash wraps etc.

Discovery Based Retail can help you with a more successful store layout.