Convenience Store Shelving Solutions

Drew Aston

HOW TO INCREASE STORE SALES WITH CREATIVE GONDOLA SHELVING AND FIXTURES

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MOBILE FIXTURES:

Shelving and fixtures on castors is a creative way to draw interest to your store.  Many progressive retailers have used this approach to help catch the customer’s attention and also guide them through the store.  While it may not be practical to change the primary layout of your store on a frequent basis, having one or two specialty fixtures or small gondolas on castors can have a dramatic effect on the visual perception of the store by the customers.   Most c-stores have some primary gondola shelving runs that should be fixed in place.  However, a 4-way gondola unit or a short 3-foot gondola shelving unit with attached end frames, can be used to highlight special sale items or special seasonal merchandise in the center of the store.   The use of mobile gondola shelving should not be widespread throughout the store.  Rather it should be used to focus attention on certain distinct displays to which the retailer wants to draw attention.   This differentiation can be extremely effective for key merchandise.   This especially true of big events and upcoming holidays where merchandise relating to these events can be highlighted for the customer’s attention.

Another aspect of mobile displays is day part merchandising.  Mobile fixtures give retailers the ability to easily change the store layout to fit the changing needs of shoppers, whether this is over a period of weeks or throughout the day.  One creative retailer had two mobile merchandiser units at the sales counter and two identical mobile merchandiser units as end caps across the aisle at the ends of two gondola shelving runs.  One set of mobile merchandiser units had pastries and breakfast treats. The other set of mobile merchandiser units had chips and salty snacks that were big sellers in the afternoon. In the morning, the units with the pastries were positioned at the sales counter.  In the afternoon, the units would be switched, with the salty snacks and chips positioned by the sales counter to capture the attention of that daypart crowd.

 

Or do you have an overstock of some merchandise that might take weeks to clear out? Use mobile fixtures to create sales opportunities throughout the store. There are many possibilities for the creative retailer.

The ability to easily change the store layout to fit the changing needs of shoppers, special sales, and events is an important part of the gondola shelving layout in any store and should be thought out carefully.   SHOPCO’s experienced professional design team can assist with this and other design considerations for the gondola shelving layout.

SPECIALTY MERCHANDISERS: 

Specialty merchandisers are another tool in the savvy merchandiser’s toolkit that can be used to attract the customer’s attention.   A small merchandiser unit (like a wrap unit, a small 4-way gondola, a pyramid table, or a circular display) can be used to accent special merchandise.  Placing a few mobile merchandisers around the store in non-obvious locations almost always increases sales of those products and creates interest among customers.  These displays can be used for seasonal merchandise, special sale items, and are especially good for experimentation of various items to see what works in different areas within the store.

These spot merchandisers should complement the primary gondola shelving layout of the store.   They can be used to tie product categories together without totally realigning product groupings or fixtures. For example, certain types of ethnic foods could be promoted in adjacent areas without having to totally realign the store’s merchandise layout.   And they can be used to test new products or product categories on a trial basis, without having to adjust the primary gondola shelving layout.

IN STORE MARKETING: 

Signage and in-store marketing can be extremely beneficial to the store’s impulse sales and often creates sales opportunities that would otherwise have been missed.   Signage can help brand recognition and also help the creative retailer direct the customer’s attention to what the retailer wants to sell (higher profit items and/or special sales items that the retailer wants to move out).   Signage can help the customer find the type of merchandise they are looking for, but can also alert the customer to a type of merchandise that is available that they haven’t thought of as a need and actually help to stimulate impulse sales.

However, any signage for the gondola shelving should be tastefully done and should be consistent throughout the store and fit with the design of the store.  In other words, the store shouldn’t have several different style signs on the gondola shelving.  It should be a carefully coordinated sign program with each sign of the same design and size as the others on the gondola shelving.  There should not be temporary looking signs, but rather a signage that looks like it was designed for the store, to fit with the gondola shelving, and help direct the customer.

Another type of signage is the graphics on the walls of the store.   These should be attractively designed to catch the customers attention, help them find the section of the store with type of merchandise they are looking for, and to add to the aesthetics of the store.  Large graphics that are backlit and attractively designed can contribute to the stores overall appearance and help create the feel of an upscale environment.  This will enrich the customer’s experience and make them feel like they are in a clean and welcoming setting.

Additionally, many c-store operators think that they need to put as many banner type signs in their windows as possible to show to the customers at the pumps.  This is often counterproductive, as it tends to block the view of the customer to the inside of the store.   It has been shown to be a powerful means of attracting customers into the store when they have a clear vision to the inside, especially when the inside is clean and attractive.  Many customers are wary of walking into stores that are dark or not very visible from the outside.  It is the view into the upscale image of the store that actually attracts customers to come inside.

Finally, the smart retailer will have a few special signs that focus on merchandise with a higher profit margin, or new, or innovative type products.  Maybe they have something that their known for, particular point-of-difference from other c-stores in the area, such as a special candy or treat, or a special type of jerky, or a special sandwich, which they want to emphasize to the customers.  This type of signage should be kept to a minimum and only used in a few spot for special items.   Such signage can be designed to educate, entertain and engage shoppers with key messages they might not otherwise see.

C-STORE LIGHTING: 

Another important aspect of store layout and design is the lighting in the store.  This is one of the most misunderstood design features that often goes unnoticed.  Done correctly lighting affects the customer’s mood and the overall ambiance of the store.  It can have a tremendous effect on the customer’s shopping behavior as well as their perception of the store.   Lighting can help focus the customer’s attention on specific product areas, such as the candy section of the gondola shelving, or a specialty product section that the retailer wants to emphasize.  And it can change the customer’s mood and mindset from “hurry to complete the purchase”, to “look around and see what other needs and wants could be addressed”.

It is important to understand customer psychology and break the usual mindset of trying to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible.  If the retailer can use a creative arrangement of gondola shelving that catches the customer’s attention, then use lighting to direct their attention to certain areas, it can have a tremendous impact on impulse sales.  Properly designed, the ceiling lighting can help the customers navigate the pathways between the gondola shelving runs and make them feel comfortable. Then spot lights and lighting on the gondola shelves themselves, can help focus attention on the desired areas of the store.

Also, lighting of certain areas can draw attention to sale items, or even better, high profit items that may otherwise be neglected.  People’s eyes are generally drawn to bright lights and their curiosity is aroused to see what is being lit up and why.    SHOPCO’s shelf lighting on individual gondola shelves can help with this lighting effect.  In fact, many retailers are using SHOPCO’s lighted shelves for wine end caps and gondola candy displays with outstanding results.

You can use illuminated graphics to guide customers to various areas of the store, and also create a feeling of an upscale environment rather than another mundane c-store.   Well designed and attractive illuminated graphics can significantly add to the aesthetic quality of the store and go a long way toward making the customer feel at ease and also impressed with the cleanliness and attractiveness of the store.   Remember, customers are several times more likely to purchase food items in a store with an upscale environment.  It is tied to their perception of cleanliness, which is paramount for food purchases.

Enhance customer flow:

Most shoppers tend to have the mindset to select their planned purchase merchandise and hurry to the register, especially when they can see no lines.  The whole purpose of a convenience store (in their mind) is for them to be able to get and get out quickly and as conveniently as possible.   If the retailer can break this mindset and get the customer to stop and look around the store, then they will consider their other needs and wants.   Something as simple as turning the gondola shelving at a 45-degree angle can have an amazing effect on customer behavior.   Sometimes adding a smooth curved section to the gondola shelving and having it direct the customer back toward the walk-in cooler will break their mindset and attract their attention toward other items on display on the gondola shelving.

There are patterns of movement in a store which driven more by open spaces and natural flows than products.  Along the way and throughout the entire store, the goal should always be putting the “right” products in the direct path of the customer so that they are exposed to a many impulse items as possible.   Often the most important determinant for sales is based not on price, but on the placement of store fixtures displaying those goods.

Complementary merchandising is a technique that retailers use as a way of upselling to customers that already know what they want.  It is basically locating related merchandise that goes together so that the customer is actually tempted to buy that one additional item to enhance their experience with their planned purchase.  They may be in the store for a six pack of beer, but when they turn around from the walk-in cooler they see chips, dips, and other salty snacks on the end caps across from the cooler.  Or maybe placing bananas alongside boxes of vanilla wafers will awaken their desire for the combination.  Or offering some exotic cheese across a wine display could temp the wine enthusiast.    There are many countless opportunities for the creative retailer to use the concept of complementary merchandising, but it is most effective when it is combined with a creative gondola shelving and an effective store layout designed to enhance customer flow.

Product samples can be a consumer-friendly way to assist customers and stimulate their thought process while generating incremental sales. Merchandising theory states that impulse marketing takes place on a subconscious level, and that placement of foods in prominent locations increases the rate at which they’re purchased.  Of course, if a customer can sample something and they like it, they are many times more likely to purchase some of that product for a larger sampling if nothing else.

THE END CAP EFFECT:

End caps are often the most misunderstood and underutilized spaces in the retail store environment.  There is an old axiom that “you merchandise on gondola shelving, but you sell off of end caps”!  In fact, only a small percent of the total items in a typical store are on end-of-aisle displays, or other secondary promotional displays, but may constitute a much larger portion (often up to 30-percent) of all store sales from gondola shelving.

While retailers often use this space to promote sales or highly discounted merchandise, the fact is that half of the shoppers purchasing an item from such end caps are unaware the goods are being sold at a reduced price.  So in other words, many retailers are simply giving away profits to their shoppers because they are misled into thinking that price considerations dominate shopping decisions when research simply doesn’t support that point of view.  Customers are willing to pay for convenience.

SUMMARY:

In summary, a well-designed store layout should include staggered gondola shelving runs with more and shorter sections of fixtures. Shoppers are more likely to enter a center store area that utilizes shorter, less daunting gondola shelving runs. The staggering of the runs greatly increases a shopper’s exposure to end caps as they walk through the store.  And even using different heights of gondola shelving, lower in front and higher in the back, can create the illusion of a more open and inviting store environment.

Integrating specialty merchandisers into the center of the store will improve incremental sales. Utilize special spot merchandisers, including signage and/or graphics, to draw attention to merchandise within specific merchandising categories and catch the customer’s attention.  The proper layout will also make room for shoppers to navigate around the specialty displays between the aisles.

The correct customer flow expands the sales potential of end caps. Not only can the layout increase the end cap’s merchandise potential, but it should also make the merchandise on the end cap visible from various and wider angles.  A proper store layout with well-designed gondola shelving runs will create an inviting and friendly store that encourages impulse sales, which in turn leads to repeat customers and return visits.

How To Increase Convenience Store Sales by Adapting Your Shelving Layout

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Every convenience store owner wants to increase their total retail sales. Doing so depends on utilizing the limited space of their store’s layout to present as many potential purchase options to customers as possible in a way that grabs their attention and creates a feeling of need for items that they have not yet considered. The problem is that when they start designing the layouts of their store, most convenience store owners frequently make several intuitive mistakes. Some of the most common mistakes include making the gondola shelves too tall, underutilizing end caps, making aisles too narrow and incorrect placement of the checkout counter.

The first mistake too many convenience store owners make is laying out tall long runs of gondola shelves like a series of massive library style bookshelves. The problem with this is that most people cannot stand being stuck in a library. When a customer feels like they are stuck in a library, the customer is sure to rush to the checkout counter and then rush out of your convenience store without looking at your products. While the convenience store owner’s instinct to want to display as many potential purchases to the customer with tall long runs of gondola shelves stacks is understandable but ultimately counterproductive. It both encourages your customers to ignore your products while requiring you to purchase more stock to keep your convenience store from looking like a ghost town. Consumers do not like to see partially stocked shelves. Instead, modern marketing research shows that to increase sales convenience store owners should lower their gondola shelves, shorten gondola shelves into several smaller runs, and widen the space between each gondola shelf. Now before you quit reading this article because this advice seems to counterintuitive to be accurate let us explain the research behind these statements. They are based on both market research & customer psychology. Most customers do not enter your store with the intent to take their time and browse the products on your gondola shelves. Customers come in with a mindset to get in and out as quickly as possible. To increase your sales you need to break that mindset and to do that means you need to be more creative and welcoming than an over packed library of products. Narrow, mile-long aisles with products stacked as high as the eye can see do not market your product to your customers, they tell your customer to run to the checkout counter and run out. Instead, lower the height of your gondolas shelves, remember your customers are most likely in a hurry and are not going to take the time to walk down each aisle so you want them to be able to see at least a portion of each aisle from anywhere in the store. This is how you present more products to your customer without them becoming overwhelmed. If your customer is presented with too many products at once they may feel like they need to know the Dewey Decimal system to find anything. Having gondola shelves beneath eye level not only lets customers see what is on the other aisles but also makes your store feel more open and less claustrophobic. Keep in mind people do not like to feel hemmed in, the smaller and more claustrophobic your convenience store feels the more likely customers are to rush thru it. Maintaining an open and welcoming atmosphere has a noticeable impact on customer’s willingness to pause, look around, and shop as opposed to rush thru the convenience store. Also when the Gondola shelves are beneath eye level and a customer sees a product they are interested in they can see a clear path to the product. This is important because most convenience store owners mistakenly think a customers’ number one motivation is price but a customers’ greatest actual motivation is convenience and speed. If the customer was primarily worried about price they would be shopping at Costco or on Amazon. The customer is at your convenience store for the convenience and every conceivable inconvenience you can eliminate is just a bit more likely you are to making a sale. However, if you are short on space and must raise your gondola shelves for adequate product space, a potential compromise is to have the upper shelves of the gondola recessed from the lower gondola shelves. Having the upper gondola shelf recessed allows for the products on both the upper and lower gondola shelves to stand out while also granting a sense of increased space. Needless to say, you can also have gondola shelves recessed that are beneath eye level but that mostly works to bring attention to products on the lower shelves. Wall shelving is another great way to take advantage of the space in your convenience store while displaying more products without making the store feel congested. You will want to leave the windows open for natural light but any wall without a window should have wall shelves as high as possible with as many products as possible. This works because it allows the center of the store to still feel like an open area and because a convenience store will only cover one or two walls with shelves. So as long as one or two walls are left for open windows it will not be overwhelming to the customer the way having every aisle stacked like a bookshelf would be.

The next mistake convenience store owners make is the very narrow aisles. Again it seems counterintuitive since narrow aisles mean more space to display products. However having more products on display does a convenience store no good if it is selling less of them. It only increases the cost of inventory. The advantage of wider aisles is that it prevents a single customer from being able to block an entire aisle, which is even more important if the aisle is long. We have all had the experience where we are in a grocery store with narrow aisles and we need a product from the other end of the aisle but somebody has parked themselves squarely in the middle of the aisle. So we are left with the choices of either sucking in our gut and struggling to squeeze past them, take the long route and go around, or just give up on finding the product. This experience is not unique to any of us and most people are shocked at how many other people chose to just give up on looking for the product. Marketing research shows that not only will customers not bother to go around but will avoid even entering an aisle if another customer is in the aisle and they cannot immediately perceive if there is enough space to comfortably walk past the other customer. Basically, if you have narrow aisles one customer ends up taking up the whole aisle but if your convenience store has wider aisles then several customers may enter an aisle so long as there appears to be enough space for them to comfortably walk by each other. This is important because 75% of all sales still occur in the center of most retail stores. Making sure the aisles of your convenience store are wide enough for customers to comfortably walk by each other is paramount to allowing them to get to where they will make the majority of their purchases. This may seem like a small obstacle to the center of the store but remember customer’s value convenience more than anything and every little inconvenience means fewer sales.

Breaking up long run shelves is another key feature of increasing a convenience store’s retail sales. Shorter shelving runs have three major benefits, they allow customers to more easily navigate the store, provide a more open and welcoming environment, and allow convenience stores to take advantage of the end cap effect. Long run aisles not only look like bookshelves but have a sort of tunnel vision effect on customers. Where rather than looking at the products on the gondola shelves the customer focuses their gaze on what is at the other end of the aisle, most often the checkout counter or the exit. As we’ve been over before that is bad. Having a store with a more open atmosphere is part of what keeps customers from developing this tunnel vision and shorter aisles offer a more open and welcoming feeling to people in general. Also, the space between separate shelving runs causes the customer to have a subconscious recognition that they have gone from one category of products to another. Usually, customers do not pay very much attention to the different categories of products on the shelves they have passed by but having the products physically separated by breaking up shelving runs works to highlight the difference between product categories. The shorter shelving runs make it more convenient for customers to navigate the store and as we have mentioned before convenience is the most important factor in encouraging customer’s purchases. More shelving breaks make getting around the store more convenient because it means there are more pathways to every corner of the store and most importantly to the center of the convenience store where most retail sales come from. Also while being able to see over the gondola shelves to see other parts of the store is a good idea, the customer and the cashier should be able to see the center of the store from any part of the convenience store. This is important for two reasons. One the cashier needs to be able to see all parts of the store to prevent pilferage, a surprising amount of theft happens from unlawful persons being able to hide their actions from view while behind a gondola shelf. Secondly, if the customer is going to enter the center of the store they are going to need to be lured there by being able to see the products on display in the center of the convenience store. Having the shelving broken up helps both the cashier and the customer see around the store; in particular, it helps the customer see more end caps and the center of the store from more angles.

The greatest advantage of having more breaks in the shelving run is the increase of the end cap effect. End caps are one of the most useful and misunderstood points of sale in any retail & convenience store. In most retail stores end caps display only about 2% of the total products in the store yet make up almost 30% of store sales. This makes end caps incredibly valuable to convenience stores and a prime location for high margin goods. There are lots of reasons products on end caps sell better than products in other parts of the convenience store. In part products on end caps stand out thanks to them not being located on the main shelf next to many similar items. End caps also stand out visually from the shelf and give any product on them a sense of distinction from being located in a more prominent position, a subtle advantage but a useful one for increasing sales. However, perhaps the biggest advantage products on end caps have is they usually do not offer the customer the chance to price compare them against other products in their category. End caps usually only display two to three products of different categories due to the end caps limited size. This helps customers not feel the need to compare the price of the product they are currently looking at to other products of a similar category because the competing products are not directly in front of the customer’s face. This grants two advantages, one the customer has less to think about and is, therefore, more prone to impulse purchases and two it makes the products less price sensitive making end caps an ideal place for high margin products. That is correct, end caps are not the spot to place items on sale, which is a mistake that tons of convenience store owners make. End caps are the place for the products you actually want to sell, the products with a high margin of return. If you place items on sale on the end cap you are most likely giving away otherwise earnable revenue because we go back to customer psychology, they put convenience first and price second. Research has shown that often customers who purchase items from end caps were not aware of the price before they reached the checkout counter. This makes products on end caps the least price sensitive products in the store, so placing them on sale is reducing their profit margin without adequately increasing their rate of sales.

Of course, these are just a few of the ways you can use the layout of your convenience store’s shelving to increase sales and if you retain Shopco’s committed and experienced design team we will be happy to provide you with even more great advice on how to improve the sales prospects of your convenience store.

2014 NACS Trade Show – Las Vegas

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[box] A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth this year at the 2014 NACS trade show in Las Vegas. It was our distinct pleasure to introduce a combination of new innovative products, as well as display some of our long time favorites. SHOPCO has proudly been one of the leading suppliers in the convenince store industry for over 29 years now, and has continued to produce stylish, long lasting fixtures, that have proven to not only generate a warmer store appeal, but lift overall sales. Contact us today, and find out what we can do for you! [/box]