How to Perfectly Design Your Retail Store Layout

Even though many things influence in the shopping experience, the look of a store holds the most important role in attracting us to enter into it.

When we talk about the first impression, we always speak in visual terms: a store is well-organized, clean, full of light, exciting, or on the other hand, messy, dirty, dark and boring.

## Start From the Entrance

The first thing the customer sees is the store entrance. So, do your best and make them feel welcomed. If possible, let the entrance be wide and open. Use interesting and catchy signage to attract people, and put some intriguing products on a display, so they can see them while passing by your store.

Don't forget to clean your windows.

Also try adding motion to your window with animated displays, turntables, fans, video screens or motorized pulleys. You can use a wide variety of retail store signage, like banner hangers, to make people aware of sales, promotional messages and department locations.

## Turning Right

Upon walking into your store through the "decompression zone", most customers will turn to the right. Some think it is because the majority of people are right handed. It would be good then to put a prominent display there.

As most people are right handed, you could position the merchandise you want to promote just to the right of major items, so that it's within easy and natural reach.

## Choose Your Floor Plan

Consider which floor plan would be best for your store and then decide on your size and placement of aisles. You could choose between a grid layout, a loop layout or a free-flow layout.

This is your basic structure. It will help you to lead your customers where you want them to go and what do you want them to see.

## Decide Where You Will Put Your Various Products

It can be helpful to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Walk through the store and visualize your space.

Some already did that – and came to these conclusions:

1. Put necessities near the back

2. Put seasonal items and new products in prime locations

3. Stock small impulse items near your registers

## Place Your Registers

The ideal place to put your registers would be where they'll not distract customers, but still be easy to find when needed.

We already mentioned how people usually turn right when entering a store. Then we talked about them moving around the store according to your wise floor plan.

In the end you'll see that the best and natural solution for placing registers is at the front left of your store. There you'll catch them when they are ready to pay and leave your store satisfied and undisturbed.