Creating an inviting and efficient showroom or retail store layout is essential for driving sales and enhancing customer experience. Just as grocery stores strategically place items to maximize visibility and prompt the customer to think about various price points, retail shops can benefit from thoughtful organization and creative displays. Below are a few strategies to make all your items shine.

Enhance Your Retail Space

Tips to Make the Most of Your Store Layout and Improve Customer Experience

By:Christina Ross

(Originally printed in the July/August 2024 issue of Insights.)

Creating an inviting and efficient showroom or retail store layout is essential for driving sales and enhancing customer experience. Just as grocery stores strategically place items to maximize visibility and prompt the customer to think about various price points, retail shops can benefit from thoughtful organization and creative displays. Below are a few strategies to make all your items shine.

Take Inspiration From Grocery Store Layouts

Think about shopping in a grocery store. Things aren’t just randomly shoved onto shelves. There’s a method to the madness. Our showrooms and retail stores should be laid out similarly. Look at your favorite grocery store aisle and take note of how things are arranged. At your eyeline, you’ll typically find items on sale, mostly name-brand merchandise and deals from weekday ads. They are easily accessible and the first things you see. The top shelf often has more expensive items, while lower-priced and closeout items are all the way at the bottom. Endcaps or special stands and tables scattered throughout the store hold featured items and aim to catch your eye immediately when you enter.

Highlight Featured Items

Have a featured item section in your showroom or store. This can highlight bestsellers or serve as a testing ground for new items. You can also make this a seasonal section with items appropriate for weddings during the wedding season, gifts for graduates at the end of the school year, or perhaps clocks and acrylics for the end-of-year sales season. If you focus on trophies, display items related to seasonal sports in this section. Before investing large amounts of money and back room storage space in an item that may or may not sell to your demographic, consider using your suppliers' sample programs to get new and seasonal items in your stores for little to no out-of-pocket investment.

Create a Closeout Section

Reserve one section of your showroom strictly for closeout or sale items. Use this area to help get rid of things that don’t sell well or items discontinued by suppliers. You can additionally appeal to your customers by giving them “free” engraving on these items. I use the term “free” loosely. If you account for engraving costs in the item’s price, your customer perceives it as a better value for their dollar, and you still get paid. Regardless of what you put in your closeout section, use bright, eye-catching colors and signs to draw attention to this area.

Make Sure Prices Are Clearly Marked

Clearly display prices on your items. Customers typically have a budget, and having pricing information readily available eases purchasing decisions. Clear pricing can also reduce the number of questions you and your staff need to answer, making the shopping experience smoother all around.

Refresh Your Layout Regularly

Don’t be afraid to move items around. This makes your store look updated, and your regular customers will get the impression you have new items to offer (even if it’s something you had in the store all along). A simple rearrangement can give your store a fresh look and keep customers engaged. Don’t forget to also regularly clean your display pieces and shelves to remove dust and customer fingerprints. Letting customers touch and interact with items is key, but that often means you’ll want to tidy up after they’ve left the shop.

Display Trophies and Awards Creatively

For shops specializing in trophies, resins, and medals, maximize your space with creative displays. Trim about one inch off each column choice and create a trophy of column options, using round check rings to separate them for easy viewing. Place resins in their own section as they tend to have a higher price point and unique look. Use boards with nails for medals and trophy rods with hooks for neck drapes. For plaques, make sure similar-sized items are displayed together. And be sure to place some in the landscape orientation and others in portrait orientation. Use boards with plaque mounts to show customers various options.

Display Personalized Items

Showcase items that are already personalized, even if they have minor errors or imperfections. Perhaps you accidentally engraved 2012 on an item when it should have been 2021, you misspelled a name, or maybe after you put your item together you found a chip or crack that could not be repaired. These pieces do not need to go in the trash; they can be displayed as samples of what the product looks like personalized. Plus, it gives people ideas on what they may want to put on the item they’re looking to purchase. You don’t have to display personalized examples of everything in the store, but having a few things in each category will help.

Try Something New

The last piece of advice, and probably the most important, is don’t be afraid to try something new. If something doesn’t look good, change it up! Reach out to some of your trusted contacts and ask them to come to your store and find out what catches their eye and which things they see. When you go into a boutique shop or other store and see something displayed a certain way, go ahead and borrow the same layout. Imitation is the best form of flattery.

By thoughtfully organizing your showroom or retail store and continuously experimenting with new layouts and displays, you can create an inviting and dynamic shopping experience that will engage new customers and give regular customers a reason to keep coming back.

Christina Ross is the owner of Blue Pineapple Trophy and Gifts in Lugoff, South Carolina, which has been operating since February 2020. The shop is named in remembrance of her and her husband’s late daughter. Ross’ husband is on active duty in the South Carolina Army National Guard. They have two other children. Her shop offers a variety of gifts, trophies, and plaques that can be lasered, sandblasted, engraved, sublimated, or UV printed.