Has your sales floor changed?

When customers change the way they buy, your sales floor should change

Many things are different now. The list of differences will vary from person to person, but one thing is definite; every person has many things that are different from what they were used to in February 2020.
The question we ask today is, “What have you changed in the way your business looks to your customer?”
Even in areas of the country where people demonstrate less concern for safety using masks and other preventive measures, you cannot help but notice the way people are acting when in a store.
If your sales floor looks exactly like it did two years ago; if you have a tasting bar and nothing has changed; if your shelves and checkout counter have remained the same, we think this is an opportune time for you to consider observing customers in other businesses and give consideration to potential changes.
We are not suggesting that you start putting the “six foot distance” stickers on the sales floor and requiring everyone to wear masks if that is not the norm in your area. Instead, we are making suggestions for changes that help customers enjoy the shopping experience more as well as feel more comfortable while doing business with you.
Let’s start at the top. Take a look at the air returns and registers in your ceiling; are they clean or is there dust hanging from them? While we are at the top, let’s suggest you look at the lighting. Replacing those old T12 and T8 fluorescent bulbs with LED bulbs can do two things for your business.
One is to throw more light on the sales floor. Especially in the corners where you may want to add additional light fixtures. The new LED bulbs can be had for as little as $4 each, and they allow you to remove the ballast in the fixture which is the big energy eater.
Let’s look at the shelves. The old adage of, “face and front” that was learned in a grocery store is very appropriate. All merchandise is turned so that the attractive label is what the customer sees, as well as the merchandise is pulled to the front of the shelf. If you have shelves of various depths, the narrow shelves should be at the highest.
And as you set your shelves, you should do so by placing the top shelf merchandise first. Space between shelves should be at a minimum but not so close that items have to be wiggled to get them off the shelf. If there is additional space leftover, it should be between the bottom shelf and the first shelf above it.
Stack outs and end cap displays should be no wider than the adjoining counter. There can be a feeling of claustrophobia when a customer gets to an end of the aisle and they have to wait for one customer to pass before proceeding. These stack outs and end caps should be themed or be singular in the product. Properly created, the stack out area and end cap can produce twice the sales per square foot as the rest of the sales floor.
Putting bottles on a shelf so that the only way a customer can pick one up is by holding the bottle by the neck could be a sign of too many choices. We understand the store that wants to take care of the customer’s needs. However, research shows the closer a store gets to having everything that everyone wants leads to slower inventory turn and decreased profits. You can’t be everything to everybody.
Last point; what about the floor? Has it been cleaned? Waxed? Polished? A floor well maintained is going to do a much better job of reflecting those new LED lights so that the store appears bigger because of the extra light.
The last word is that of cleanliness; definitely a phrase we have heard over the last two years. This effort we have outlined helps the customer to have a more comfortable feeling as they shop.

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This article is copyrighted by Tom Shay and Profits Plus Solutions, who can be reached at: PO Box 128, Dardanelle, AR. 72834. Phone 727-823-7205. It may be printed for an individual to read, but not duplicated or distributed without expressed written consent of the copyright owner.