Traffic patterns in your retail environment are more important than you may think. The eternal quandary over maximizing inventory presentation vs. your customers’ ability to navigate in the store is alive and well. While other venues need traffic patterns that are reasonable for patients (medical and dental facilities) and clients (professional services and corporate offices), those venues do not face the problems typical of retail environments.
Presenting retail inventories is a skill in itself, and there are qualified merchandizing experts who have long grappled with the issue and its challenges. Presenting a variety of inventory is essential, of course, but that reality presents the secondary issue of quantification. And that’s the place where sensible, safe and workable passage throughout a retail facility can become unreasonably compromised. The desire to present “as much as possible of each item” can actually negatively impress customers — when quantification impedes comfortable passage through the aisles!
Planning for inventory display and presentation goes hand-in-hand with good overall space use planning and design, and that includes appropriate customer traffic control. Most of us have probably experienced the frustration of trying to negotiate a shopping cart through the clothing racks of an over-stocked department. A typical fiasco is snagging oneself, the cart and the merchandise; thus, abusing the merchandise and annoying potential customers.
It is also very important to adhere to the American Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements concerning aisle widths, comfortable access to check-out counters and other stipulations. Those considerations are now a matter of law — as well as simple courtesy and consideration. When maneuverability is impeded, so is attention, specific notice of inventory detail and patience. Frustration caused by confusion, crowding and excessive inventory of the same item is a negative you don’t want to nurture.
At the heart of over-crowded, over-inventoried retail spaces lies the contemporary trend toward more self-service and less customer service. Lack of sufficient storage space for “back-up” inventory is another reason. When there is no warehouse space, the full inventory just has to be accommodated by the racks and counters. Additional movable racks are placed in the aisle space; special “display units” are placed where a shopper might just appreciate a chair.
There’s no lack of reasons why some retail environments are crowded to the point of disadvantage. Owners of small retail environments are especially challenged because “back room” storage space is usually inadequate. The temptation to show more variety, present more categories and quantify them “out front” is not necessarily the consequential path to more sales. Fostering customer comfort zones is really important. Over-presentation is sometimes off-putting — simply because it can convey crowding and pressure.
The good news is that there are solutions to even the smallest retail Interiors with limited area for storing backup merchandise. It only stands to reason that when maneuverability is a problem or annoyance to a potential purchaser, you might lose that customer for all the wrong reasons. Pacing purchasing and delivery to match your presentation space is a possibility; some distributors may offer to warehouse large purchases and deliver as space becomes available. Certainly worth an inquiry if it would allow more “air” in your merchandising and more space for you and your customers to navigate.
Another important consideration is safety. In addition to consideration for shoppers, in emergency situations, having narrow aisles impinged upon by extra display units and over-crowded racks, is an invitation for trouble. Whether it’s customers, the EMT’s or firefighters — clear and reasonably wide aisles can make the difference.
Robert Boccabella, B.F.A. is principal and founder of Business Design Services and a certified interior designer (CID) in private practice for over 30 years. Boccabella provides Designing to Fit the Vision© in collaboration with writingservice@earthlink.net. To contact him call 707-263-7073; email him at rb@BusinessDesignServices.com or visit www.BusinessDesignServices.com or on Face Book at Business Design Services.
