Opening a store is all in the details - lots of details. With Indoff Store Fixtures and Equipment on your team, opening and operating a retail store has never been easier!
Indoff SF&E can assist you with store design, planning, fixturing, merchanding hardware, and back room equipment. We have thousands of products available to give your store that unique look that will draw your customers into your store.
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Need a quote now? Contact Joe Solinsky @ 410.494.4598 or at Joseph.solinsky@indoff.com. Indoff offers net 15 day credit terms with approved credit. $1,000.00 instant credit on initial orders. Visa, Mastercard, and American Express is also accepted. Long term leasing arrangements through Indoff Capital is also available.
Joseph Solinsky, with over 25 year experience in store planning & fixturing is also available coast to coast for design consulting & site visits. Please contact Joe at the above number to schedule an appointment.
In the popular media we are reading almost daily of warnings of a downturn in the retail sector. A downturn pushed by the home mortgage crisis as well as the soaring price of fuel, food, and just about everything else. If this pessimissim has translated into slower sales at your store there are a few practical things that you can do to turn the tide and get your sales plan on track. Author Charlotte- Dennis Jones of the British trade jounal Retail Week wrote recently that; " The only way to keep ahead of the pack is to help your store staff persuade cutomers to part with their cash. Focusing on customer service has never been more important.". Many retailers, especially the larger chain stores staff operate on a payroll formula that empties the sales floor of sales clerks when business slows a bit. This leaves the remaining clerks harried and short tempered as well as the customers frustrated having to wait for assistance . Try to keep staffing levels flexible to meet the demand at your peak traffic times of the day.
Is your store as clean and stocked as it could be? Nothing is more of a customer turn-off than a dirty store with empty shelves. Remember to keep your endcaps fresh and well stock. Take advantage of vendor promotions and point of purchase selling programs when offered. It also might be the perfect time to cut lines of merchandise that are not selling and replace them with new in lines that will sell.
Every budding enterpreneur has aspirations of being the Next Big Thing or at the very least making a living and putting a little away for retirement. The following are some points to consider as you are putting together your business plan.
For fresh store design ideas, attractive fixtures, and retail equipment to wake up your customers and give your store some POP! Please contact Joseph Solinsky by telephone at 410.494.4598 or at joseph.solinsky@indoff.com. I am always delighted to assist you.
The following is an excerpt from the current Retail World magazine concerning a speech given the The Retail World Congress going on now in Barcelona, Spain. This excerpt is concerning the concept of community and it's affect on store design.
"In a debate on store design trends, Fitch chief creative director Tim Greenhalgh said shoppers are looking for places where "you can go and feel comfortable, rather than just somewhere you go to shop."
Paul Lechleiter, chief executive of US based FRCH Design Worldwide, concurred. "People want to belong to something bigger," he said. "A sense of community can guide people and create an identity."
Lechleiter highlighted how US retailers are focusing on connecting their brand with their customers. He identified social consciousness, the provision of style for less and adventure and thrill as three of the key themes in the market.
Greenhalgh explained how a new generation of consumers are looking towards what he called generous brands that give something back to shoppers and to the wider community.
He believes that grocery retailing of the future would be defined by "rituals", most notably what he called "the ritual of bringing food alive" through how it is merchandised in store."
The design insights I gleaned from these statements are that shoppers want to shop in a store enviroment that is comfortable and where fellow consumers of like tastes and attitudes will do the same. The astute merchant wants to brand his/hers store with the community that is serve. This includes Knowing your customer, listening to what they want and looking for the underlying need - goods or services that is in demand for that community. No matter if it is organic products, "green" products, or whatever. All in a store environment that the shopper can identify with or call their own.
Consumers also want to shop in a store that in visually exciting to be in ( this mean circus as well a just bread ). Shoppers want to be entertained as well as educated as to what to buy.
Store brand identification does not have to involve product. Supporting and promoting a popular local charity or civic cause goes a long way in building good will in your store.
Looking for assistance in building your store brand and image? Contact Joseph Solinsky @ joseph.solinsky@indoff.com or at 410.494.4598. I will help you identify your strengths and develop them into a store format that will build traffic for your store
End Caps are those short sections of gondola shelving, bulk racking, or even a bulk flat that finish off the end of the aisles of merchandise. Often time they are filled with seasonal merchandise or merchandise that is hard to fit on the shelves in other parts of the store. The back end caps are the most neglected shelves in the store half empty with odds and ends and often bare of goods to sell. If this describes the condition of your store, valuable profit dollars are evaporating in thin air and not going through your register. Endcaps are prime real-estate and are the 1st items your customer see's as he or she is going down the aisle or entering a department. In many stores endcaps are often used for the weekly promotional items on sale. However for the savy merchant the endcap should be used to promote and feature items or categories of merchandise that are at a higher margin. Seasonal or holiday merchandise make great endcaps as well as items that tie in or cross sell with merchandise categories in that department. And tie -in or cross sale merchandise are perfect items to stimulate impluse sales.
The savy merchant puts high demand categories of goods in the rear and corners of the store and creatively merchandise each end cap so the customers will be enticed to buy as they walk through the store.
Visual Merchandising is Key
Boxes on a shelf, or bulk stack and cards on peghooks does not instantly make a creative endcap. To create interest, each endcap should be decorated with sharp P-O-P artwork , shelf talkers, and signage that catches your eye and imagination. This is especially true for holiday or seasonal merchandise with a short shelf life.
Rotation, Rotation, Rotation
If your customers visit your store at least once a week that is at minimum 52 trips to your store a year. That is 52 opportunites to introduce your customer to more of the goods you have to sell and they need! Byy changing and rotating your endcaps your store will look fresh and up -to- day each and every time your customers enter the store. One of the fundaments of store planning is that customer spend more in stores that are an comfortable and attractive environment to shop in. Rotating your endcap will help keep your store fresh and interesting.
Planning a new store or remodel - or just looking for fresh merchandising ideas? Contact Joseph Solinsky at 410.494.4598 or at joseph.solinsky@ indoff.com. I will be delighted to assist you.
In the end we are all visual beings. I hear time and again from friends, family, and associates " Don't tell me how do it - just show me!". I guess this is just human nature or a statement of our time-pressed society. People today do not have the time or patience to read, research and do their due diligence. Shoppers are drawn to displays and merchandise presentations that are attractive as well as informative. Proper visual merchandising and space allocation makes it easy for your customers to buy - and make impulse purchases. Always good for the bottom line.
Space Allocation to Maximize Profits
Customers buy more when the products they are looking for are easy to find. Two techniques in making your store more shoppable are allocation of space and location with the store. Merchandise with the best exposure and the most allocated space on the proper store fixture will sell more. In allocating space - prime selling floor square footage or shelf linear footage should be given to those merchandise departments and categories that generate the most profit. Receiving, backroom or pre-sales areas of the store need to be efficiently designed to give more square footage of the total store footprint to selling yet enough pre-sale storage space to prevent stock-outs. Choosing the right store fixtures to merchandise and display your products will maximize space utilization with in your store.
Planning a new store or remodel? Contact Joe Solinsky for expert store planning/ design and store fixtures. I can be reached at 410.494.4598 or at joseph.solinsky@indoff.com
Global Shop 2008 is history and my feet are still killing me. For those who did not attend, the event was held at McCormick Place West, March 18th - 20th in Chicago. The scope of the show was huge - encompassing store fixtures, P-O-P visual merchandising, flooring, lighting, technology, marketing, construction & and in-store services . It truely ( following my tips ) took a good two days to review 85% of the show. I know that I did not see everything. The following are my top 10 highlights that caught my eye as I walked the floor.
Keep this page bookmarked to this blog for updates and more information on these and other display and design ideas exclusively for the retailer. For a quote or to schedule a consulation, please contact me at joseph.solinsky@indoff.com or at 410.494.4598.
Global Shop 2008 is just around the corner. This years event is back at Chicago's massive McCormick Place on the lakefront. It is being held on Tuesday March 18th - Thursday March 20th. As in years past the floor will be packed with exhibitors & attendees. There are conferences, seminars, and an awards dinner. through out the show. Topics are on issues facing different segments of the industry for the coming year. Most of these special events require pre-registration prior to the show. I think most people who are in the market for or professional buyers of store fixtures are here for the vendor exhibits. The following are some tips from experience to do the show with out wearing yourself out.
The floor is divided into different sections: store fixtures, visual merchandising, P-O-P displays, ect. so you can focus on your specialty with-out walking the entire floor looking for a vendor that interests you.
Have a good show!
How "shoppable" is your store? Does your customers spend time browsing in the aisles or are are they in and out in a flash with their purchase? Or perhaps no purchase at all? The goal of a good floor plan is to direct traffic flow through the farthest reaches of your store. The more time the customer spends in your store, the more exposure the customer has to the merchandise for sale. The more exposure to the merchandise, the greater propensity to buy.
Traffic flow patterns and sharp merchandising are elements that you can control by careful placement of your store fixtures and merchandise categories. Utilizing all the linear footage of selling space available and placing high demand categories of merchandise in the far corners of the store will drive. customer penetration in your store. Creating power departments with visually interesting fixtures, endcaps, displays, and merchandise mix will expose the customer to new buying opportunites for a longer period of time.
But good fixturing and merchandising is not about throwing up fixtures and slapping merchandise on shelves to fill up space. There is a reason for every fixture and display element in the store. Two popular traffic flow patterns used in hardlines store fixturing is the Race Track and Power Aisle approach.
The race track utilizes an wide square or oval " race track " aisle around the store with departments and aisles branching off the race track to the perimeter. The race track aisle is designed for two way traffic flow and exposes your customer to more end-caps , 4-way displays, and Pp-o-p promotions than they would be if they walked staight to the merchandise from the front door. Inside of the race track should be prominent higher margin departments or categories of merchandise.
The power aisle approach, utilizes a main aisle approach utilizes a wide main aisle front to back of the store with departments branching off. This layout works well with a "X" pattern of two intsecting power aisle with the branch aisle coming off the power aisle at a diagonal. The endcaps feature prominent promotions or displays of high margin goods.
Department branch aisles should not be longer than 12ft to 24 ft with end caps at each end and should lead to the perimeter aisle or another power aisle or race track.
Planning for a new store or remodel? I can assist your with the process from space planning, fixturing, and installation. Call Joseph Solinsky @ 410.494.4598 to schedule an an appointment. My e-mail address is joseph.solinsky@indoff.com.
There are three major points that dermine a sucessful store layout. They are atmosphere, traffic flow, and merchandise prominence.
Atmosphere is the initial impression the customer gets of the store when they walk through the door. The goal is to present a store environment that your target customer is comfortable in and will shop longer. The longer the customer stays, the more they buy. There are many factors help define the atmospere of a store. They include the overall theme of the store, color schemes and store decor items that supports the store theme. Other important factore include floor and ceiling treatments, store signage, visual merchandise presentation,lighting, music, and overall store cleanliness.
The type of store fixtures used to display merchandise and how they are positioned within the store affects the store atmosphere. The type, size, and quantity of store fixtures chosen to display your merchandise depends on the size of the sales area and the traffic pattern you wish to establish.
If you would like to request a store planning consultation, have questions concerning planning for an upcoming new store/ remodel project or just need an equipment quotation, please contact Joseph Solinsky @ 410.494.4598 or at joseph.solinsky@indoff.com. I will delighted to assist you.