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Supermarket Layout / Grocery Store Layout Design Services

Supermarket Layout / Grocery Store Layout Design Services

The Strategic Significance of Supermarket or Grocery Store Layout

Layout planning & design has a vital role to play in the performance and success of a supermarket or grocery business. Layout planning is capable of enhancing footfall, revenue, and customer gratification. Firstly, a good layout makes it easier for customers to conveniently locate their products in the stores. Secondly, it also encourages purchases that might have evaded customers’ shopping lists. A poorly designed layout carries adverse implications. Among other things, it can make the shopping journey frustrating for customers. This will surely lead to adversely affecting customer retention efforts. Therefore, careful consideration and planning of layout design are essential for supermarkets and grocery stores. Let us delve into the strategic significance of supermarket or grocery store layout.

Focal Point & Visual Merchandising

The use of visual features or elements like signages, shades of colour and lighting, product placements, etc. falls in the ambit of visual merchandising. Visual merchandising helps create an eye-catching and pro-shopping environment in retail stores. Whether customers are new or routine, a visually-appealing environment evokes feelings of engagement. Also, when a store looks good from the outside, it encourages non-customers to pay a visit.

Very close to visual merchandising is the idea of focal points. The utility of focal points is to highlight special areas in a store. It could be a new product on a new shelf or a kiosk for any newly-launched brand or anything else that a store wants its customers to pay attention to. For example, many supermarkets use a separate corner with decorative design, distinguished lighting and signages to let customers know and enquire about new offers or services.

Display Strategy: Eye Level/ FIFO Display

Two important considerations in a merchandising display strategy are keeping things at eye level and FIFO-based displays.

In eye-level displays, efforts are made to ensure that products are placed on the shelves in such a way that it is aligned to the eye level of the onlookers i.e. customers. Apart from customers’ convenience, eye-level displays help retail stores put emphasis on priority products. Products positioned in such a way tend to sell better than those not aligned with the eye levels.

FIFO displays, on the other hand, are products that are arranged in such a way that the oldest products are used or sold first. This ensures that products are always fresh and minimises the risk of waste or spoilage. FIFO displays are especially important for perishable items such as dairy, meat, and produce.

In-Store Technology

In-store technologies refer to any technological solution or applied technology in retail stores for better management and/or convenience to customers and their shopping journey and experience. In-store technological solutions are increasingly becoming a critical component of supermarket and grocery store design layouts. One of the strategic reasons for this is that it changes how retailers can utilise the available space. Here are some prominent examples of in-store technology commonly found in supermarkets and grocery stores.

In self-checkout systems, customers need not wait in queues for checkout. All they have to do is simply scan their selected merchandise and pay their bills. Retailers benefit by not needing to depute cashiers except maybe for emergency or ad-hoc situations.

Smart carts are a step ahead of self-checkout systems or these could be also referred to as an advanced version of the self-checkout mechanism. In this technology, merchandise put by customers in shopping carts are automatically scanned and bills are prepared accordingly. Customers can pay by interacting digitally with the smart carts.

With the use of electronic shelf labels, retailers can display information about products, prices, promotions, offers, etc. in real-time from one centralised location. There is no need for human mediation or intervention in this process. The same thing could be achieved over smartphone shopping applications and notifications with the required permissions of customers.

A relatively recent development is the use of AI-enabled cameras in retail stores. These are used to keep an eye on inventory levels, analyse footfall during busy hours for necessary spatial adjustments, etc. Retailers should seriously consider and follow the due regulatory conditions when using cameras in their stores.

Lighting and Music

We all realise the significance of lighting and music in our moods. Two common things one can observe almost in every supermarket or departmental store are bright lighting and soft music. Bright lighting is important for ease of visibility. A retail store is not a café or restaurant where dim lighting or partial darkness could be used in elevating the ambience. Lighting is also a sign of transparency. Music might not be a necessary component but done right, it could add to the magic. Loud decibels should be strictly avoided. Retailers should also keep sensitivity and sentiments in mind in the selection of music or song.

Type of Layouts and its Ramifications

Grocery stores or supermarkets or departmental stores have certain standard layout types. These types are universal and can be found in every part of the world. Some of the most prominent layout types are briefly mentioned next.

  • Grid Layout: As the name speaks, in this supermarket aisle layout, shelves are laid out in a grid-like pattern. It is simple and non-messy. It allows easy navigation and grants a lot of scope for space optimization.

Grid layout for Supermarket

  • Loop or Racetrack Layout: In racetrack type, the central and only path and flow for movement are around the in-perimeter of the store. The shelves remain in the centre all along the full in-perimeter aisle. This is a good option for relatively smaller stores.

Racetrack Layout for Grocery Store

  • Free-Flow Layout: Free-flow design is ideal for retail stores that seek to give their customers a more engaging and visually interactive shopping experience. It reflects an open supermarket floor plan with more dimensions and scope of displays and product placements. The design is quite intuitive to guide customers through the store in certain intended ways.

Free-flow layout for Supermarket

  • Fixed Path Layout or Forced-Path Layout: In fixed path or forced-path layouts, the aisles and shelves are laid out in a predicated fashion. There is a specific way/path/flow that covers the store and the given flow of traffic is linear. The last checkpoint is the checkout counter or the checkout activity.

Fixed Path Layout for Grocery Store

  • Hybrid Layout: The hybrid layout is a combination of two or more layouts. It gives the flexibility to have a layout that serves the unique business, marketing, or CX objectives.

Data-driven Planogram

In data-driven planogram planning, the decisions on product placements are made using data analytics. This data could be pertaining to shelves and shelf levels that are most interacted with, sales data, the flow of traffic, etc. The idea is to place products in such a way that it is convenient for customers to spot and pick products and increase sales.

How YRC Can Help in Retail Layout Planning and Designing

1. Supermarket Functional Layout Design & Conceptualization

Designing and developing an effective supermarket layout plan involves consideration of hundreds of factors. These factors are space optimisation, visual merchandising, capability to showcase the required inventory, focal points, promotion, memory hooks, the flow of inventory, convenience of customers and employees, movement of customers, ease of cleanliness, special precautionary measures, handling of emergencies handling, safety and security, etc.

YRC’s supermarket layout design experts understand the significance of considering the relevant factors while working on building a functional and efficient supermarket floor plan and layout design. Overall, YRC’s attention to these crucial factors is an effort to ensure that the layout solutions delivered to its clients meet the best standards and requirements of space optimisation and functionality.

2. Grocery Shop Layout Strategy and Interior Design

As in the case of supermarkets, a grocery store layout or a kirana store layout calls for a well-defined strategy that takes into consideration several factors such as merchandising capabilities, visual merchandising, serving requirements, movement of staff and inventory, the convenience of customers, eliminating the scope of damage and pilferage, focal points, store facade, visibility, ease of cleanliness, safety and security, etc.

YRC’s priority in developing grocery store map layouts and grocery store layout designs is to secure operational efficiency, enhance the quality of customer experience and their shopping journeys, and create a scope for handling additional business volumes.

After a functional layout has been developed, the focus is directed towards building store aesthetics.

YRC’s interior design experts work on the following scope:

  • Furniture/ Fixture Layout
  • HVAC Layout
  • Plumbing Layout
  • Electrical Layout
  • Civil Layout
  • 3D designs

3. Tech-Enabled Store Design Consulting

In store layout and design service, YRC’s team of experts also assesses and identifies the best-fit technologies for its retail clients. The team helps in the integration of these technological solutions with the business. YRC also assists in identifying and selecting vendors to execute these implementations.

Few popular in-store technological solutions (some of these are already discussed earlier):

  • Self-Checkout Systems
  • Smart Carts and Baskets
  • Electronic Shelf Labels
  • Display Screens
  • Beacons (new)
  • Omnichannel Systems
  • Smartphone Applications
  • AI-based solutions

About YRC

Your Retail Coach (YRC) is a retail and eCommerce consulting brand with more than 10 years of experience and a growing international presence. We have worked with and delivered business solutions to 500+ clients in 25+ verticals.

YRC’s team of qualified and experienced supermarket and grocery consultants have handled numerous projects in delivering professional and world-class retail layout designing services and solutions.

For service-related enquiries or a quick conversation with one of our experts, please drop us a message on our website.

For service-related enquiries or a quick conversation with one of our experts, please drop us a message on our website.

Frozen Section

Salad Station

Wide Isle for Free Shopping

Fresh Guacamole Counter

Juicery Station

Fresh Meat

Special Category

Homeware Section

In-Store Cafe

Bakery Section

FAQs

What is the objective of supermarket layout

A successful supermarket layout design shall help to achieve 04 major objectives:

  1. Increase Sales (Promote Cross-selling/ Up-selling/ Impulse Buying)
  2. Reduce Pilferage
  3. Easy replenishment
  4. Enhance Customer Experience
How to design a supermarket layout/ grocery store layout

As per YRC supermarket design consultants, there is a 10 steps process to design an efficient and optimized grocery store layout as follows:

  1. Competitor Research
  2. Finalization of Business Model
  3. Brand Positioning
  4. Product Category Finalization
  5. Target Group Research/ Catchment Research
  6. Business Plan – Budgeting
  7. Functional Layout / Layout Map
  8. Store Interior Layout
  9. Emergency Evacuation Plan
  10. 3D retail store design & Finalization

 

To know more, get it touch with YRC Supermarket design experts today.

What is the typical layout of a grocery store?

A layout of the supermarket differntiates it from being an go-to shopping destination or just another store nearby. Typical layout of supermarket are Grid Style Layouts allowing easy navigation for shoppers and efficient use of space. Though there are various layout types which can be considered as per the product categories and size of the store. YRC Experts recommends to initially work on the supermarket functional layout design & conceptualization before finalization of interior design layout.

Things to consider while designing grocery store layout strategy?

A well-defined strategy is crucial for designing a successful supermarket layout. To achieve this, several factors must be considered, including the needs and preferences of the target customer base, the desired brand positioning, competitor layout gaps, convenience for shoppers, pilferage reduction, high-value goods positioning, reduction of manpower costs, positioning of special product categories, focal point, store façade, visibility, and other critical factors.

How can I improve my supermarket layout?

Improving a supermarket layout requires careful consideration of over 300 parameters, grouped into major clusters such as security and safety, convenience of shoppers and staff, cross-promotion of categories, focal points and memory hooks, flow of goods and walk-in shoppers, ease of cleanliness, COVID precautions, and emergency situation handling.

YRC supermarket layout design experts take into account all these parameters when designing a grocery store layout. By doing so, they ensure that the supermarket is optimized for both customers and staff. This approach can ultimately improve the shopping experience and drive sales.

How to do electrical lighting layout of supermarket?

Designing an electrical lighting layout for a supermarket involves several steps:

  1. Determine lighting requirements based on store size, layout, and merchandise
  2. Choose energy-efficient and long-lasting LED lighting fixtures
  3. Strategically place fixtures for even illumination throughout the store
  4. Create a lighting plan that details the placement and purpose of each fixture
  5. Consider lighting controls such as occupancy sensors or timers to save energy
  6. Work with a licensed electrician for safe installation in compliance with building codes and regulations.

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    We work only for Visionaries.

    PROCESS AUTOMATION

    The idea of having Ecommerce Consultants on-board from the beginning itself points towards reducing the involvement of the promoters in daily operations. Ecommerce Businesses willing to be a brand reaping profits & sustaining the competition must ensure that most of their processes should be automated. The more the manual intervention, the more would be the errors.

    In Ecommerce business, you get only 1 chance to impress the customer & if you mess up there, you lose the customer for long.

    Process automation in respect to all the activities pertaining to customers from order receiving to order fulfilment is a must for a seamless experience for the customers.

    Task Management is another grey area where most deadlines fail as 90% of the tasks are assigned manually & are forgotten, unheard, misunderstood or mistaken.

    YRC Team of Ecommerce Management Consultants helps to make maximum of the processes system-driven to ensure minimalistic manual intervention.

    VIDEOGRAPHY & PHOTOGRAPHY

    No matter how good your product is, the customer would know only if it looks good.

    Photography includes the following steps:

    • Cataloguing your products
    • Cataloguing your images
    • Backup your images (A few cloud storage solutions include Dropbox, Google Drive, Bitcasa, Apple’s Cloud Storage etc.)
    • Choose the right camera & lens (You may also outsource the photography to a third party agency)

    DIGITAL MARKETING

    Digital Marketing includes SEO & SMM. SEO i.e. Search Engine Optimization includes activities like back-linking, meta tags, blog-writing etc. to ensure your website ranks on the 1st page on Google Search.

    Next comes SMM i.e. “Social Media Marketing” which as the name suggests including promoting your products on all the social media sites, email marketing, influencer marketing & several other BTL activities.

    These activities are going to be recurring & would decide the traffic on the website, the conversions, whether the right target market is tapped, the likes, the views, the orders, the reviews & much more. YRCs Ecommerce Consultants create a budget for digital marketing right from pre-launch to launch & for each month thereafter.

    Building digital marketing strategies in coordination with the agency, selecting them to signing them off would be the role of YRC.

    This ensures seamless coordination, detailed interactions & desired execution as it is always advisable to work with a single agency than multiple of them.

    IT INTEGRATION

    Selection of the right software for smooth functioning of back-end operations right from production to webstore display would be suggested and integrated by YRC Team.

    YRC’s Team defines SOPs of Product Movement, maps it with the locations & people. They then create a blueprint of all the features required in the software & help in shortlisting & selection.

    IT Integration involves connecting your offline inventories with real-time online webstore so when a sale occurs, inventories get deducted real time across offline as well as online platforms.

    This helps in accurate inventory management, maintaining the MOQs, re-order levels & achieving the optimum inventory levels.

    Some popular software include unicommerce, viniculum for your front-end website management & Genisys for your entire back-end Purchase, Production, Accounting, Invoicing etc. management.

    WAREHOUSE & LOGISTICS PLANNING

    • How many cities or countries you wish to sell in?
    • Where should your Warehouse be located?
    • Should you have one warehouse in each country or city?
    • Should you be having your own delivery team in your base city?
    • Would the 3rd party vendors be reliable? What happens when they lose or misplace your product during delivery?
    • How should I manage the logistics if my goods are coming from different countries?
    • How should the goods be stored and barcoded?
    • How much space do I require for warehouse?
    • I am sure several such questions must be haunting you while you think of starting your own fashion ecommerce brand.

     

    At YRC, our warehousing and logistics experts can help you devise a strategy for all of the above mentioned queries and much more.

    We design the layout of the Warehouse considering the inward, goods processing, software entry, barcoding, outward, goods return, scrap storage, goods stacking & much more.

    Logistics route plan is devised considering the manufacturer to your warehouse and from there to last mile delivery locations.

    UI & UX DESIGNING

    This Step involves 03 distinct parts:

    Part 1: Choosing the right Platform:

    From several platforms available in the market right from Shopify to magento, woocommerce, prestoshop, wordpress etc. you must choose the one that fits best for your business

    Part 2: UX Designing:

    “UX” denotes User Experience, which if put in simple language is building the functional requirements of the website.

    UX Designing includes designing the features required in the website, customer journey map, website features, the browsing features, navigation features, ecommerce order management process flow, checkout cart features, catalogue management, ecommerce payment system, cross selling features & much more.

    “As per statistics, 68% of the customers abandon the carts before payment”

    An interesting UX ensures the customer sticks on to the website for a longer time.

    Part 3: UI Designing:

    UI stands for User Interface, which means designing the look and feel of the website. UI includes using the right colours, elements and the entire aesthetics of the website.

    A good User Interface ensures the user completes the task that he has come for. It navigates the user through the journey of the brand in the simplest but most effective way.

    The UX designer maps out the bare bones of the user journey; the UI designer then fills it in with visual and interactive elements.

    If User experience is the bare bone, user interface wraps it up with an attractive cape.

    At YRC, our team if experts can help you develop the entire User Journey to ensure it is engaging!

    SAMPLING & PRODUCTION

    This step follows the “Designing” Phase, whether you have an in-house design team, freelance designers or an outsourced design company. It is one of the most exciting phases, as here you see your designs turning into products & your ideas turning into reality.

    In most start-up cases, production is outsourced i.e. brands tie-up with the established manufacturers/ job-workers to get their products manufactured.

    Sampling involves multiple 04 Stages, Fit-Sample, Prototype Sample, Pre-Production Sample & the Production Sample.

    Prototype Sample is the first sample provided to the buyer. It can be in any fabric/ colour. This sample is just to understand whether the product design looks equally great in reality.

    Fit Sample, as the name suggests is prepared to check the fit of the garment i.e. the various sizes, length, width etc.

    Pre-production is made by the actual production line. Here the stitching quality and other aspects related to manufacturing are checked. This is the last stage where rejection can be accepted.

    Production Sample is made before the production which is the replica of what is going to be finally produced.

    Once you are through with all this, you are good to go ahead & get your goods manufactured.

    PRODUCT DESIGNING / SOURCING

    Product Designing or Sourcing is the heart of the Ecommerce Fashion Brand.

    Product Designing / Sourcing can be done in several ways, as follows:

    • In-house Design Team
    • Freelance Designers
    • Outsourced Design Team
    • Ready Product Sourcing (From Manufacturer or Wholesaler)

    At YRC, we evaluate your business strategy & business model to arrive at the decision, which of the above ways would be best-fit for your business. In certain cases, product sourcing may be a combination of the above.

    These are the people who are going to build your brand! Whether they are the designers or merchandiser, your brand look is going to be in their hands.

    If you are designing each garment from the scratch, the sourcing would play crucial role in developing design identity of your brand.

    Sourcing includes fabric, trims, lining & all the raw material required to build the garment.

    BRANDING

    Branding is the “Look of the Brand”, right from logo to tagline, the colours used, the brand story, the brand communications on social media, the packaging & all the other aspects which speak directly or indirectly to the customers. Branding constitutes the look & feel of the brand & hence must be thoughtfully planned to match with the product that we are selling.

    Branding must appeal to our target audience. Example : A golden colour logo depicting finesse, art, richness, premium, however beautiful it may be individually cannot go with a brand selling affordable kids wear products. So, your logo must be in-line with your brand positioning, whether you are an expensive brand or a luxury brand or a value for money brand, it must be depicted from your “Branding”.

    It is an integral part to attract the target audience.

    ORGANOGRAMS & SOP’s

    Organogram is the “HR Blueprint” of the business which is created at the onset, to map out the team required across each function at various stages of the business. At the launch, only key people need to be got on board to ensure the project gets started & at this stage, all of them need to multi-task. Similarly, certain financial as well as operational goals are set for addition of the further team. Example, for the operations team, we hire 1 operations manager during the pre-launch phase & we add 1 more only when the business kicks-off & we reach a volume of selling more than 1000 pcs/ month or a turnover of more than 0.1 million USD.

    SOPs are Standard Operating Procedures, a bible to run the entire organization right from Sales, Purchase, HR, Order receiving to Order fulfilment, Inventory Management, Accounts, Warehouse, Logistics, Supply Chain, Production & all the other relevant functions for the business. Business must be organized from its first day of operations; only then the tasks can be delegated.

    At YRC, we design the organization structure, the processes, and approximate time taken to execute each process, job profile of every member within the organization, their KRAs, KPIs & the Reporting Structure.

    CRITICAL PATHWAY

    Critical Pathway Analysis (CPA), is a project management technique which cannot be overlooked while launching an ecommerce fashion brand. Brand launch process is cumbersome with multiple inter-dependent & time-bound tasks involved, which need to be tracked to ensure the project remains on track.

    CPA outlines key tasks across the project, their turnaround time (TAT) & the dependencies of tasks upon each other. It identifies the sequence of tasks, their interdependent steps from inception to completion, their criticalities, and their dates of onset, target dates of completion along with the key responsible person for the respective activities. Critical Pathway helps in understanding the unimportant & not urgent tasks which may jeopardize the execution of the project because of an unexpected snag! It also maps out the potential bottlenecks which might be posed because of the dependencies of tasks upon each other & cases where the next task cannot be commenced before the completion of the previous one.

    CPA detects the minimum & the maximum time involvement of a particular individual or team to execute the task, thereby arriving at the overall deadlines associated with the project.

    At Your Retail Coach, we design the Critical Pathway & review it periodically to ensure the project is on track & the progress is measurable.

    BUSINESS STRATEGY & BUSINESS PLAN

    Business Strategy includes the vision, mission, goals, business model, business plan & strategy for all the functions within the organization.

    Business Strategy is a well-defined plan that outlines who, what, where, why, how & when for the company; for example, who would be the target market, how to attract the target audience, when to launch new products, where to operate from, how to handle competitors, what would be the USP, what would be long term goal of the organization & several other answers to the 5Ws of Strategy.

    Business Strategy aligns the organization towards a common goal. Business SWOT helps company to identify & overcome their weaknesses & focus to sharpen the strengths. Business strategy forecasts future risks and helps business in building skillsets to overcome the potential threats.

    YRC’s Business Plan focuses on creating a “Blueprint” of the business, thereby deriving the feasibility of the concept & gauge whether the opportunity is lucrative to invest time, energy & effort. Business Plan creates cash flow understanding i.e. building inflow & outflow cash projections from Week zero to week 60 i.e. 05 year projection. Business Plan calculates the capital investment, operating costs, one-time costs, recurring costs & all the other numbers relevant to obtain the breakeven sales, return on investment, return on capital, internal rate of return & several other ratios. Business Plan is also one of the important requirements if you are targeting the “Investor Route”. Fund raising becomes extremely transparent & channelized. With business plan panned out clearly, the business will know until what point must it be stretched & where to stop, which reduces the probability of unplanned investments.

    MARKET RESEARCH

    Starting the concept of Ecommerce Fashion brand with Market Research ensures we get detailed understanding of the industry & this research report also acts as a social confirmation for your concept. Market Research helps in understanding the target locations, their population, potential online buyers for your product, competitors for each category, and top selling products of the competitors, competitors’ price range, offers & their responses & much more. Market Research helps in thorough understanding of your brand position as compared to our competitors. It helps in identifying gaps in the market, in your category along with the scope of the said product in the desired market. This will help in validation of your concept & prevents you from making the same mistakes as your fellow brands, eventually saving your time, energy & efforts. This phase is also a make or a break phase, as the market research study may at-times come up with some eye-popping numbers & statistics which might compel you to re-think on your product or category that you are planning to sell or alter your entire concept itself!! Market Research Reports analyse the competitors’ webstore for their traffic, conversion & sales. This is extremely valuable information to derive our inventory budgets & projections, which takes us to our next phase.