In a retail store layout the common goal is to expose customers to product and to gain maximum traffic flow. In every case, the layout is affected by the shape and size of the available space.The layout that fits most selection rooms is commonly called a Free Flow Layout because it allows the product and fixture placement to determine for the most creativity. In a Free Flow layout, there are no set aisles or straight lines. Instead fixturing is placed at angles, encouraging shoppers to easily move throughout the room, where they will find new merchandise displays at every turn. This layout offers the most flexibility.
If you already have a blueprint of your selection room then you are ahead of the game. A blueprint will help you determine layout and appropriate locations for merchandise departments. If you don?t have one, don?t worry! Get a large piece of paper and draw a schematic of your own. Measure the sales area, carefully noting all the nuances including columns, doors, etc. Next, mount your schematic to a piece of foam core board, and overlay it with transparent tissue paper. Now, you will be able to merchandise and re-merchandise your arrangement room on paper before you touch a single fixture.
LAKE FRONT PROPERTY
Some areas of the selection room are more important than others. Think of them as prime real estate or lake front property. As soon as the family walks in the door and through the Decompression Zone, they should be surrounded by merchandise. This is not the place for desks or racks of brochures. If you mis-merchandise your lake front property, it can cost your funeral home in sales. Here are the key areas you need to pay close attention to throughout the selection room:
SPEED BUMPS
Just past the Decompression Zone (see previous post) you?ll want to place what store planners refer to as Speed Bumps. These merchandise displays work much the same way as speed bumps in parking lots work ? they slow you down. Speed Bumps capture the family’s attention and introduce them to items you don’t want them to miss. Speed Bumps are best used to tell product stories and to feature new items.
ATTENTION: RIGHT TURN AHEAD
We American’s shop the way we drive, so we have a tendency to turn right when we enter a room. So unless there is something peculiar about your selection room that causes you to enter and move to the left, your clients will do the same thing. In fact, 90 percent of people will move to the right. That?s why it?s so important to properly to merchandise the front right side of the selection room with care.
