Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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gondola.
• The straight rack consists of a long pipe
balanced between supports in the floor or
attached to a wall. Often found in
discount and off-price apparel stores.
• A four-way fixture (also known as a
feature fixture) has two crossbars that sit
perpendicularly on a pedestal. This fixture
holds a large amount of merchandise and
allows the customer to view the entire
garment. Commonly used by fashion-
oriented apparel retailers.
See PPT 16–32
See PPT 16-34
B. Presentation Techniques
• Some presentation techniques are idea-
oriented, item and size, color, price lining,
vertical merchandising, and tonnage
merchandising
See PPT 16-35
1. Idea-Oriented Presentation
• Some retailers use an idea-oriented
See PPT 16–36
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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2. Item and Size Presentation
• Organizing stock by style or item is
3. Color Presentation
• This is a bold merchandising technique
where products in one color hue,
especially seasonal fashion goods, are
merchandised together.
• Organizing merchandise in price
4. Price Lining
• Price lining occurs when retailers offer a
limited number of predetermined price
5. Vertical Merchandising
• Another common way of organizing
merchandise is vertical merchandising.
6. Tonnage Merchandising
• As the name implies, tonnage
merchandising is a display technique in
which large quantities of merchandise are
displayed together to enhance and
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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V. Creating an Appealing Store Atmosphere
• Atmospherics refers to the design of an
environment by stimulation of the five
senses.
LO 16-5 Understand how retailers can create a
more appealing shopping experience.
See PPT 16–37
A. Lighting
• Lighting in a store is used to highlight
See PPT 16–38
1. Highlighting Merchandise
• A good lighting system helps create a
sense of excitement in the store. At the
2. Mood Creation
• Retailers use lighting to set the mood for
their customers.
Ask students if they have ever noticed dramatic
mood changes in the ambiance of various
departments in a department store, or going from
B. Color
• The creative use of color can enhance a
See PPT 16–39
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retailer’s image and help create a mood.
• Warm colors fired, gold, and yellow) are
thought to attract customers and gain
attention, yet they can be distracting and
even unpleasant.
Have students choose two very different stores,
like a men’s and a women’s clothing store, and
compare the color schemes.
C. Music
• Music can either add to or detract from a
retailer’s total atmospheric package.
• Unlike other atmospheric elements,
however, music can be easily changed.
See PPT 16-40
Ask students if they are aware of stores that use
music to their advantage/disadvantage.
D. Scent
• Many buying decisions are based on
emotions, and smell has a large impact on
our emotions.
See PPT 16–41
Ask students if they notice a scent in a store.
Would they notice a pleasant scent or a foul scent
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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E. Taste
• It is a little more difficult to appeal subtly
to consumers’ taste buds.
F. Just How Exciting Should a Store Be?
• The impact of the store’s environment
depends on the customer’s shopping
goals.
wandering through a mall..
• When customers are shopping to
complete a task that they view as
inherently unrewarding, they want to be
in a soothing and calming environment.
See PPT 16-42
VI. Summary
• Some objectives for a store design are to:
(1) implement the retailer’s strategy, (2)
influence customer buying behavior, (3)
provide flexibility, (4) control design and
maintenance costs, and (5) meet legal
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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requirements. Typically a store cannot
achieve all of these objectives, so
managers make trade-offs among
objectives such as providing convenience
versus encouraging exploration.
• Signage and graphics help customers
locate specific products and departments,
provide product information, and suggest
items or special purchases. Digital signage
has several advantages over traditional
printed signage, but the initial fixed costs
have made its adoption slow.
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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ANSWERS TO SELECTED “GET OUT AND DO ITS”
at examples posted in the store subpage (under the design tab). How can this information of
latest trends assist with store layout, design, and visual merchandising?
The images on The Cool Hunter’s website change frequently. However, students will likely find
3. INTERNET EXERCISE VMSD is the leading resource for retail designers and store display
professionals, serving the retail industry since 1869 (then called Display World). Go to its web
trends in visual merchandising.
Some items in the current trend watch:
4. INTERNET EXERCISE Go to the homepage of Envirosell (http://www.envirosell.com). How
does this marketing research consulting firm support retailers by collecting consumer
information to assist with store layout, design, and visual merchandising?
From the company website:
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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Customer Experience Analysis
– In–Store Consulting: qualitative assessment in context of Envirosell’s 25 year
knowledge base.
– Competitor Store Audits: comparing and contrasting competitors through the
ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS
1. One of the fastest-growing sectors of the population is the over-60 age group. Customers
in this age group may have limitations in their vision, hearing, and movement. How can
retailers develop store designs with this population’s needs in mind?
Student answers for this question will vary. Some ideas to address these problems are: use
“cool” colors such as blue, violet, and green separately; use “warm” colors such as orange
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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2. Assume you have been hired as a consultant to measure a local discount store’s floor plan
and space productivity. Look back at Chapter 6 and decide which analytical tools and
ratios you would use to assess the situation.
Most retailers measure the productivity of space on a sales per square foot basis since rent
and land purchases are assessed on a per-square-foot basis. Under some circumstances,
however, it is more efficient to measure profitability using sales per linear feet. For
instance, in a grocery store, most of the merchandise is displayed on multiple shelves of
3. What are the different types of design that can be used in a store layout? How does this
impact the types of fixtures used to display merchandise? Describe why some stores are
more suited for a particular type of layout than others.
The types of design used in the layout for a retail store are grid, racetrack, and free-form. A
grid layout contains long gondolas of merchandise and aisles in a repetitive pattern. This
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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4. A department store is building an addition. The merchandise manager for furniture is
trying to convince the vice president to allot this new space to the furniture department.
The merchandise manager for men’s clothing is also trying to gain the space. What points
should each manager use when presenting his or her rationale?
The merchandise manager for furniture should emphasize that because furniture is
generally very large, then it is only sensible that a large amount of space be allotted to it.
He/she should try to convince the vice president that if given more space, then more
5. As an architect for retail space, you are responsible for Americans with Disabilities Act
compliance. How would you make sure that a store’s retail layout meets both accessibility
requirements and enables the company to reach profitability objectives?
Students should become familiar with the report “Maintaining accessible features in retail
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The ADA does not clearly define critical terms such as “reasonable access,” “fully
accessible,” or “undue burden.” So the actual ADA requirements are being defined through
a series of court cases in which disabled plaintiffs have filed class-action suits against
retailers. Based on these court cases, retailers are typically required to (1) provide 32-inch-
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of offering virtual dressing rooms from the
retailers’ perspective?
Virtual dressing rooms are advantageous for retailers because they provide additional
services for customers including: size recommendations, body scanners, and fit adjustments.
7. Complete the following table by briefly describing how different retail formats could use
each of the areas listed to enhance the store’s image and atmosphere.
Area
Drug Store
Clothing Store
Restaurant
Entrance
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
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8. How can signage and graphics help both customers and retailers? Consider the following
types of retail formats that you likely have visited in the past: discount store, department
store, office superstore, and card and gift store. Describe which retail formats have
implemented the best practices for coordinating signs and graphics with each store’s
image and which formats should improve this aspect of their store layout, design, and
visual merchandising.
Students’ answers will vary based on their own experiences with various types of retailers.
It is likely they will report larger, chain store retailers having more coordinated signage and
Chapter 16 – Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising
CONNECT ACTIVITIES FOR CHAPTER 16
Activity Title
Activity Type(s)
Topic(s)
Learning Objective(s)
Visual Merchandising
at Vintage Treasures
Case Analysis
Creating an Appealing
Store Atmosphere
16-5 Understand how
retailers can create a
more appealing
shopping experience.