Palmer Retail Solutions Blog

How Store Fixtures Affect Your Customer Service

Posted by Kathy Heil on Nov 12, 2015 11:39:23 AM

How store fixtures affect customer service

There is no better customer service than giving people such a great experience they can’t wait to come back. The store fixtures you choose and how you use them throughout your store set the tone for each customer’s entire shopping experience. Your store layout can subtly beckon and lead shoppers on a pleasant (and successful) browsing and buying journey.

Without proper forethought, however, your layout can create literal and psychological barriers. No sale there.

How layout works

Fixtures provide the foundation of your store’s visual appeal. They make shopping easier and make sure people get to see all your wonderful merchandise. This last element is crucial, because impulse choices represent an increasing percentage of retail sales.

There are two basic ways to arrange your fixtures.

Grid layout typically features gondolas or similar shelving units, slat grid and wall-mounted fixtures that help give “depth” to display areas, so this layout makes it easy to visually divide your store into “departments.” A grid setting is designed to enhance self-service style shopping such as in grocery stores, where little customer interaction is needed or expected.

Informal layouts can form a variety of geometric patterns that draw customers in a generally circular pattern from the entrance throughout the store. Specialty stores like this layout because:

  1. A more informal arrangement encourages browsing. Customers feel comfortable enough to stroll around and see everything, and there’s plenty of room to stop and inspect items that interest them.

  2. By using lower profile store fixtures toward the front and keeping taller units in the back and along the walls, employees can see where customers are browsing. That makes it easy to approach them for personal interaction. They can show customers how the accessory works on their phone. Or cross-sell: That color looks great on you, did you notice we have a brand new sweater in that same shade?

There’s one critical factor that says “customer service” in ways your store fixtures cannot. Your people. Happy, well-trained sales staff add the all-important human touch that seals the deal with shoppers. You can show off your customer-centric service right off the bat, by greeting everyone who enters with a friendly hello and smile. That gives you an immediate connection with each customer.

Interactive in-store opportunities of the electronic kind are much-appreciated today, too. Fortunately, there are innumerable ways to incorporate video displays and touchscreen kiosks to augment traditional merchandise displays and enhance customer experience.

Remember that fixtures (including mannequins) are there to show off merchandise, not compete with it. Augment them with color, but don’t overdo it. Colors and your store’s overall look should consistently reflect your brand. Add LED shelf lighting to highlight products. And use space-saving digital visuals and backlit posters to show merchandise in real-life scenes. That helps customers see themselves “in the picture.”

Finally, store extra inventory down low and use higher-up shelves for “suggestive” displays that cross-sell. That way available merchandise is always within easy reach. Now that’s great customer service.

Download Retail End Cap eBook

Palmer Retail Solutions strives to offer our clients the absolute best combination of innovation, quality, service, and value for our diversified custom store fixtures and merchandising displays. For more information about our designs, retail fixtures, cash wraps, kiosks, or point of purchase displays, visit our website at: http://www.palmerretailsolutions.com.

Topics: Store Displays and Fixtures

Leave a Comment