Ever wondered why leading retailers choose to place their best-selling products in the most accessible places for buyers to purchase them? The technique of placing popular items where customers can easily find is called space planning- The art of making the most value out of every square-inch of retail display. The main purpose of space planning is to aid retailers in determining where, and how, to place merchandise within a store to increase visibility and sales.

The visible output of space planning is usually in the form of planograms. Planograms are diagrammatic representations that illustrates how and where retail products should be displayed, either in the store or on the shelf, or both. A well-designed planogram can increase sales, reduce overall costs and provide better shopping experiences to customers. Let us now discuss how planograms eliminate common retail store problems.

1.Store layout inconsistency

Inconsistent store layout can be a major concern for retailers since the positive or negative image a customer gets from a store can influence their perception of the brand and even future purchases. Since customers today have a variety of options to choose from, even a single disappointing experience can impact brand loyalty.

Studies have shown that customers crave easy accessibility and familiarity. They prefer being able to find what they are looking for straight away without any hassle, even if they are vising a store for the first time. For example, for a retail store having multiple outlets across different locations, a customer expects to find store layout that is similar and thus recognizable. A consistent store layout not only ensure that customers enjoy their shopping experience, it can also make them feel satisfied, comfortable and trusting of the brand.

2.Optimizing available retail space

Considering the limited amount of retail space available, retailers are constantly looking out for innovative methods to maximize selling space and increase profits. However, failing to follow space to sales, using days of supply can result in space misallocation, creating an impression of a messy unorganized store for customers. Not just that, it could also result in over or under-stocking leading to a considerable loss in revenue.

To avoid such situations, retailers often rely on space planning software or planograms. They help retailers stay organizes in order to take full advantage of retail store space. With planograms, retails can know how and where to place the products, how many facings each product should get and how complimentary products should be placed within each other’s reach. Moreover, they also help in creating a logical product flow that not only increases product visibility but also eases customers shopping process.

3. Handling peak hour store traffic

During peak hours, stores experience greater number of visitors than anticipated. Hundreds of customers crowding aisles in search of products at the same time is not a pleasant scenario for anyone. Not managing store traffic can result in confusion and disorder among visitors, making shopping process tiresome and stressful.

However, creating a strategic floor plan keeping customer’s expectations in mind can avoid this problem to a great extent. With the right planning, retailers can organize spaces where customers would want to spend more time. One way of doing this by spreading out high traffic categories evenly across the store rather than grouping them all in one place. Here, by analysing data planograms help retailers in understanding the sales and unit movement of each product category so that they can know which are their high trafficked items.

Retail planogramming with Nexgen POG

Nexgen POG is a powerful and cost-effective visual merchandising tool that facilitates quick and effective planogramming. It is a robust cloud-based planogram software with multi-device and multi-browser compatibility. Nexgen POG is equipped with a vast array of features like customizable templates, manual and automated modes, shelf compliance, online sharing– making it an ultimate choice for retailers globally. Nexgen POG’s affordable pricing and practical licensing models ensure full value for your money.

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