It is important to understand the needs of your potential customers when planning a grocery store.

By doing so you can make good plans that will result in better customer experience and increased sales.

• Difference Between a Grocery Store and Convenience Store

While the two are similar in the the products they offer there are still some key differences between the two. For example grocery stores offer perishable items like meat and fresh produce, but convenience stores don’t. They tend to stock just the basics food items that are commonly used such as soft drinks, and prepared foods. Also a convenience store may sell petrol, offer money transfers, and other administrative services. As far as size goes, grocery stores tend to be larger and owned by national brands. Convenience stores on the other hand tend to be smaller and independently owned.

Choosing your floor plan

The floor plan is the foundation of a stores layout, it provides the base structure for organising everything else.

• Types of floor plans

There are several types of floor plans available to any retail store. The straight floor plan use fixtures and displays placed at right angles and the angle plan use a lot of curves in both the fixtures and the displays. The diagonal floor plan places the fittings and fixtures diagonally, and the geometric floor plan places them in a geometric in shape. The mixed floor plan is a combination of diagonal and angular layouts.

• Deciding on Your Size and Placement of Aisles

Having spacious aisles is one of the key aspects of store planning. The minimum recommended size is 4 foot wide without distractions so your customers can move comfortably around the store without bumping into each other, including those with wheel chairs and push chairs.

The placement of the aisle is important as this will dictate the flow of your customer traffic within the store. The aisles need to be placed in such a way that they expose your customers to most of the products. So you need to work out where you want your customers to go and what you want them to see.

Once you know this, it is then a case of choosing the type of isle layout that matches your objectives, bearing in mind the available space and the floor plan. There are 3 common layouts to choose from, these are the grid layout, the loop layout, and the free-flow layout.

The grid layout runs parallel and perpendicular to walls. The loop layout consists of one main isle that loops around the store. The free-flow layout is open plan.

Display and Sales

• Mapping out your product, displays, and registers

A good way to start is by walking through the store so as to see it from a customers perspective. It will then be easier to figure out where to put what. Place new products in the best locations and everyday favourites near the back. You can keep some small items near the cash register. Fixtures and displays should emphasize the product and should be adequately spaced apart with cash registers placed away from the front of the store.

Your Store Lighting

• Types of lighting

There a 4 types of lighting that can be used in a grocery store. There is general lighting for whole store, ask lighting for the work areas, accent lighting for specific areas of the store, and finally decorative lighting to beautify your store. All types must be used, however the most important are the task lighting and accent lighting, because they highlight your product and illuminate your work areas.

• Setting Up Your Grocery Store Lighting

There are a few key point to take into consideration when setting up your store lighting: Make sure to factor in replacement and energy costs. Then use mirrors to reflect light and dimmer switches to control the atmosphere while reducing energy bills. Most of all the lights must not be in the customers way as it may get too hot.

Conclusion

In summary, planning a grocery store requires a lot of attention to detail. However the results are worth it for you and your customers. Also while the store layout is important, so is the way the shelves are stocked, as this has just as much of an impact on the shoppers buying habits.