The Online Tsunami Has Hit the Retail Shopfront
Loads of shop owners and retailers are fighting serious battles to overcome the online shopping tsunami that’s hit over the last few years. The surge towards retail online away from physical retail shopfronts has well and truly
arrived.
What to do next?
How can we cope with this shift in shopping habits?
What’s the answer?
Well, there’s always a solution to a problem and as fitout builders, it’s easy for us to see how shopfitting design can adapt to this shift.
Just consider these points:
The Typical Shopper
The typical online shopper will do a deal of research prior to making a purchase, checking out whats out there,
deciding on a style, on sizes, colours, availability, price, shortlisting choices.
From armchair comfort, the transaction then usually follows.
What we’ve gotta do
So how can the retailer step in and take the lead with providing a physical shop layout which helps this type of shopper?
Simple. …if we re-build our idea of what the future of retail shop fitout is!
Simple ….if we give the online shopper something extra that they cant get via phone, Ipad or laptop.
Let’s re-think the physical retail space.
Let’s reinvent shop layout to cater for new shopping habits!
How?
Shop Layout
Less storage, more display for a start.
Give the onliner a fitout which is more like a gallery than a shop. A gallery offers clear, uncluttered space, with only
the artwork on show.
Allocate plenty of floor / wall space to showcase stock to its absolute best: one sample of each style, size, and colour.
Provide easy-to-read information and codes to order from – clever layout, clever merchandising.
Provide the opportunity to touch, to test, to try the merchandise on display. Let it shine! Then the transaction can be done online or in-store.
Get Smart
Create an App for the onliners to tap into, so that when they touch, test and try, they’re sold!
A conversion to purchase straight away!
This all means a smaller retail footprint than before, but greater display. Stock in store is actually reduced.
Its all about a clean-lined shop layout with your very best on show.
Its Time. Lets do it!
So, Shop Layout and Display of merchandise has never been as important in retail fitout as it is now.
It’s time to re-think, adapt to the shift and turn a negative into a positive.
