The basic rules of organizing a retail space in a shoe store of the mass market segment

We are publishing an excerpt from Dmitry Galun’s book “Visual Merchandising for One-Two-Three-Four-Five”, the circulation of which was completely sold out in a few months.

Dmitry Galun - Specialist in visual merchandising of clothing and footwear stores with experience in retail chains such as Steilmann, InCity, ZimaLetto, Sela. The author of the book “Visual merchandising for one-two-three-four-five”, published by the publishing house “Peter” in 2012 and completely sold out in a few months.

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You can sell shoes in almost any environment. For example, in Milan, during the tourist season, boxes are put on the streets and create conditions for trying on. In this case, the trading equipment is a stool, horn and rug. At a store sale, trade equipment for the presentation of shoes is divided into wall и insular. Wall-mounted equipment is located around the perimeter of the store, usually along the right, left and central back walls, it is attached to or located near the wall, standing on the floor or hanging from the ceiling. It is for this reason that it is called wall.

Island equipment is located inside the trading floor. In practice, you can also find the name "floor" or "free-standing." Trading equipment can be mobile and stationary. Mobile island equipment provides for the possibility of rearrangements both inside the trading floor and its individual elements (shelves) within the framework of one design. Mobile wall allows you to rearrange the shelves in height. As a rule, these are various kinds of perforated guides with removable elements.

For the presentation of shoes are mainly used shelves and tables. This is dictated by the small volume of the product, its relatively small width and height. The dimensions of the trade equipment for the presentation of shoes are determined, first of all, by the dimensions of the product itself.

Depth of shelves. Presentation of one shoe model of the same color of the same size usually requires at least 35 cm of depth. This depth will allow you to vertically expose men's shoes of the largest size and the toe of the shoe will not go beyond the shelf. Mass market stores are characterized by a very large capacity of goods on the trading floor (up to 30 units per square meter or up to 10 units per linear meter or up to 1200 models per season). For this reason, the task of the architect is to free up as much space as possible for the presentation of the goods (especially in small areas). In this case, the depth of the shelves can be reduced to 25 cm, while the shoes will be placed diagonally, otherwise the toe will go beyond the shelf.

Height between shelves Depends on the assortment of shoes.

So, for the presentation of medium-height boots, 45 cm is necessary. Since boots are more characteristic of the women's assortment, a similar height between adjacent shelves is necessary for sections of the trade equipment on which the women's collections are located. With mobile trading equipment, shelves can be rearranged to increase the height; with stationary equipment, this need to be taken into account in advance when designing, or only the upper shelves should be used for the presentation of tall products. For the presentation of shoes and ankle boots, the height of the shelves in 30 cm is enough.

Number of shelves on walls or island structures depends on the quantity of goods, but, as a rule, does not exceed six, while the lower shelf is at floor level, the upper one at the level of human eyes, i.e. approximately 150 cm from the floor. Placing shoes at a higher height is ineffective for sales, since the shoes are visible from below (heel and sole). When making a purchasing decision, the look of the sole and heel is of secondary importance. And although a person can take goods from a shelf at a height of 180 cm, the percentage of purchase of products from these shelves will be minimal, since this is not very convenient.

The number of shelves, the distance between them can vary due to the use of mobile trading equipment, in most cases representing perforated axes (guides) in which the shelves are mounted.

We should also mention the growing presentation method. shoes on hangers... This method is used both by specialized footwear brands in the mass market category and by fashion brands of the same price segment that offer a comprehensive purchase of clothing and footwear (H&M, Bershka and others). For such a presentation, wall and island equipment can be used. In both cases, you will need perforated hook guides and hangers for presentation. This method of presenting shoes allows you to increase the capacity of the sales area by 30% compared to the presentation in boxes and by 60% compared to the presentation of single samples.

Trading equipment located in the hall forms customer flows. According to statistics, it is believed that a typical customer flow is directed counterclockwise, i.e. 80% of customers entering the store turn right and go around the store around the perimeter counterclockwise. The explanation of this is the law of the right foot - a person with his right foot takes a step longer and therefore gradually turns left. This direction of human movement is also considered comfortable for him, since most people are right-handed. Obstructing this direction is not recommended. Although the direction of the consumer flow can be changed by means of different distribution of the trading equipment across the trading floor, the construction of various kinds of “barriers”, which can be tables, racks with shelves, furniture for fitting shoes.

In the trading floor should be the main walkways, dividing the trading floor into distinct zones, there must be additional passages that serve to move from one island structure to another inside the same zone. Additional passages must be at least 90 cm. This is the minimum distance within which two people of average physique can disperse. This distance also corresponds to the so-called. "Personal space" of a person. The indicated width of the “corridor” is extremely comfortable for a person from the point of view of psychology. The accumulation of people in the store can lead to a reduction in the visitor’s stay in the store; the lack of people can sow doubt that the store is popular. Therefore, a store is attractive from the point of view of the buyer, in which there are always visitors and at the same time the ability to move freely around the trading floor.

Trading equipment in a separate store, a separate corner (corner) in the shop-in-shop department should be built according to the so-called arena principle. This principle is to gradually increase the height of the trading equipment from the entrance to the far wall. The principle of the arena allows you to view all levels of the store from the entrance to it, the entire product offer is visible from a distance, the panorama of the product unfolds as you approach it. In this case, the likelihood of “catching up" the buyer's eyes with goods located in different parts of the store at different visible levels increases. It follows that it is not recommended to put walls or island structures at the entrance to the store that are more than 120 cm in height.

According to Webster’s dictionary, attention is the act of retaining a thought on an object or the ability to do so. The above definition reflects the fundamental element of attention - focusing. Your focus is currently focused on these lines. If you hear a phone ring, attention will switch to a new object. Before convincing the consumer to pay money for the goods, the company should attract his attention. It is for this purpose that the so-called. "focal point"Or" point of attracting attention. " In the case of a cheap shoe store, a presentation table with shoes and related POS materials will most likely be the point of attracting attention.

Principles of global constellation

Any trading floor can be considered for the distribution of customer activity in a particular area. Thus, the concepts of active and passive zones were introduced into practice. Some experts call them hot and cold, respectively. There is a difference in the definition of active and passive zones in the context of what is considered activity - the percentage of purchases in the store zone in question or the visibility of the zone, the accumulation of customers in it. These two signs of activity may coincide, but this does not always happen. In this case, the pattern identified by retail analysts can serve as a clear analogy - buyers are attracted by bright colors, and sales are dark. The situation resembles the choice of partners: men look at bright women, and take modest wives.

When zoning the space, you should place bright, fashionable color themes in places that are active from the point of view of their visibility by customers, but remember that the store’s turnover is most likely to be achieved by sales of basic colors - black, brown, blue.

The field of view of the human eye is approximately 200 degrees, of which the zone equal to 30 degrees is more active in the sense of perception, the remaining two segments of lateral vision are considered passive. First of all, the consumer’s attention will be attracted to goods falling into the central 30 degrees of the angle of view, i.e. the one that a person sees right in front of him.

Active zones also include the right side of the store. Most people on our planet are right-handed due to the more developed left brain. Most of the movements we make with the right hand, moving from left to right is more natural for most people.

The ticket office belongs to the active zones, there is a large concentration of people paying for purchases. As a rule, queues are formed in these zones, standing in which people are somehow forced to wait and look around. A product that is in the field of view of consumers at this moment will inevitably attract attention. It is in these areas that spontaneous purchases are likely.

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Passive (or cold) zones are formed because people by their nature do not want to change the direction of movement. These areas include: the left side of the store, dead ends, corners of the sales area. The merchandiser has the opportunity to increase the degree of activity of cold zones by attracting involuntary attention. Irritants such as loud sound, bright light, movement in passive zones attract the attention of the consumer in addition to his will. In addition, the merchandiser can use other methods: change the movement of customer flow by creating a barrier from the trading equipment or by placing a cash register in its path; affect the direction of movement by reducing lighting and widening the passage, placing more attractive goods in the passive zone.

When deciding on which groups and in which areas of the trading floor it is more convenient to locate, one should remember the potential of each zone in relation to the potential of the product group and the time factor. That is, we are talking about regular rotation of the goods. So, the same group of shoes cannot constantly be in the same active or passive zone. During the season, sales of each product group must be stimulated by its placement in the active zone for at least 14 days.

The positions of goods or individual brands must be changed until the main goal is achieved - to obtain economic benefits and increase sales. If, in a comparative analysis of the positions of goods and the effectiveness of individual tables and shelves, significant differences are found, they proceed as follows: goods that are poorly sold are moved to the most advantageous positions.

Principles of local placement

There are two principal ways of arranging shoes in the direction of eye movement of consumers: vertical and horizontal.

Vertical arrangement provides for the arrangement of homogeneous goods in several rows on all shelves of racks from top to bottom. This display of goods is convenient for buyers of any height. With the horizontal arrangement of goods of one group, one product is located next to another. It is believed that the vertical method is more effective than the horizontal, because provides quick orientation in the trading floor. When serving officials and their families, the vertical way is simply a must.

These two methods of placing shoes are due to the theory of structurality, according to which the image is created by several expressive lines, although it may not get much in it. Those. the arrangement of points (pairs of shoes) creates a tendency to group them in different ways so that some are perceived as belonging to one structure, while the rest are rejected or organized into other structures. In our case, the points of the pairs of shoes are grouped into vertical and horizontal lines.

For the presentation of shoes, the use of a shoe spread in front, in profile and half-turn is characteristic. There are brands that adhere to only one of these three areas. But to create a more dynamic presentation of the product, it is most effective to use at least two of them. For ease of maintenance of the presentation of goods by staff, merchandisers often develop a system of alternating profile and front-end presentations.

For the mass market category, the height of the shelf on which the shoes are placed is of fundamental importance. So suppliers of goods to hypermarkets in the figurative sense “fight” for placing goods on shelves placed at the height of human eyes. This is because they account for 40% of human cognitive resources, therefore, they provide the highest sales figures. Shelves at arm's length are also considered active in terms of consumption of products placed on them (30% of cognitive resources). In the mass consumption segment, low shelves and shelves at the floor level are considered ineffective (20%), because with a characteristic large accumulation of goods, attention is concentrated at eye level, and at the floor level there is no incentive that can distract attention and make the consumer bend over. In addition, dust and dirt accumulate at the floor level in stores with high traffic, shoes in this situation may lose their presentation. Often, buyers have a prejudice that these shelves are used for displaying stocks. Thus, the activity of the shelf is reduced from the level of 160 cm down.

In a shoe store of the mass market category, it is possible to use standard compositional principles that determine the integrity of perception. The fact is that with any perception, the image as a whole is most striking, and only then the details emerge; due to the integrity of perception, individual lines and points of the visible are combined into a figure. Take a look at a piece of paper that shows three dots. In accordance with one of the laws of psychology of perception, you will see not only three points, but also a triangle, i.e. figure. Such a figure can be formed using the principles of symmetry, rhythm, contrast, color.

The principal differences from the presentation of luxury shoes are the much more saturated trade equipment with shoes. The consequence of this is the inability to present each model as a complete pair. In addition, there is another argument against exhibiting pairs of shoes - safety. For stores offering consumer goods, there is a large crowd of people and, accordingly, a high probability of theft. For safety reasons, it is customary to display only the right half pair of each model in shoe stores. The pair in this case consists of two right half pairs of different colors of the same model or different models of the same block of the same or different colors. Half-pairs can be placed together in three and four.

With the local placement of shoes in conditions of widespread consumption, merchandisers appeal more to logic than to aesthetics. For buyers, a logically justified group of shoes locally placed on shelves based on an assortment basis may well be sufficient. That is, on the top shelf are all the boots of the group, on the next - high-heeled shoes, even lower - low-heeled shoes, on the lowest - shoes without heels. Thus, the following relationship can be realized: the higher the heel of the shoe, the higher the shelf on which it is placed.

In the event that all sizes are not displayed in the store and grouping by size is not implemented, the question arises for the merchandiser: “What size of model should I put in the hall?”. It is recommended to exhibit shoes of the most proportional size (women’s 37, men’s 41) on the trading floor so that a buyer with a larger or smaller foot can directly evaluate the shoe model. There is also the practice of setting the smallest sizes for ease of communication with the buyer regarding the availability of sizes, as in this case, the seller always knows that the smallest size is presented on the trading floor. If the smallest size is difficult to see, put the largest. If the largest does not fit anywhere, decide what to do, yourself. In the case of the presentation of shoes on hangers, the minimum shoe size is placed closest to the buyer, then the sizes are arranged in ascending order.

The appearance of the shoes on the shelves is important, it should seduce the buyer. Dust is unacceptable, it is important how the shoe laces are tied. For sports shoes, tying shoelaces with a bow is customary, for classic shoes with a “hidden knot,” the tongue is placed inside the loop.

When arranging shoes on the trading floor, you should also remember about inserts in boots to maintain the shape of the shaft. The mass market is characterized by the use of cardboard inserts with which the boots are delivered in a package.

Galun D. “One-two-three-four-five visual merchandising. Practical course ". - SPb .: Peter, 2012. - 128 c .: ill.

The book was released in a small print run and pretty quickly completely sold out. And this is not surprising, because it describes in detail the working rules and practical methods of merchandising for a clothing and shoe store. In addition, in the book, Dmitry Galun shares his observations on how to influence the behavior of the buyer by using the location of the product, color, light and other psychophysical characteristics of the trading floor.

You can read about how to arrange shoes on shelves in the article “Everything on the shelves: four ways to arrange shoes”, published in the Shoes Report magazine No. 106. Don't have this number? We have it, and we are ready to offer it to you at a bargain price! Call: 8 (495) 925-75-03