Essentials to Keep in Mind While Designing A Retail Store

The Internet has redefined many facets of our lives, including the way we shop. The in-store retail shopping is plummeting as online shopping is woven deeper into the fabric of our lives. This has increased the pressure on retail store owners to lay emphasis on the retail interior design like never before. The only difference between the in-store shopping and online shopping is the shopping experience that a retail store is able to provide. Hence, creating an unforgettable shopping experience through impressive retail interiors has become the central objective of majority of retail owners. The following are the key aspects to be considered when designing a retail store:

1) Layout:

The layout plays a vital role in influencing customers’ behaviour and boosting the sales revenue. The more the products customers are exposed to, the more is the tendency of purchase. Hence, the store layout should be designed properly whilst keeping in mind the flow of traffic, products’ placement and the ambiance. Smooth and easy navigation will encourage customers to take their time and make a purchase, thus ensuring a longer stay. Proper signage would help customers locate the merchandise easily whilst making their shopping experience hassle-free. The success of the retail store highly depends on the effectiveness of its layout design.

2) Lighting:

Lighting creates the atmosphere for the store and also has tremendous impact on the perception of space. A well-lit retail store makes products look desirable and stimulates demand. As a result, getting the store’s lighting right is absolutely crucial. Lighting depends on the type of business and products that are sold. Some require harsh lighting whereas others require softer ones. It should be functional as well as aesthetic.

3) Colour:

Colour has the power to evoke emotions and create mood. The colour of the store should complement the brand whilst creating a positive feeling amongst consumers. Colour differs for different business sectors and depends on the atmosphere the business wants to create. Some colours have a calming effect whereas some promote energy and excitement. Hence, select the colour that suits your corporate identity and works well under the type of lighting selected.

4) Furniture:

The selection of furniture should depend on the space available. Avoid clutter as customers need to move from start to end. Whilst choosing the right furniture, lay adequate emphasis on its quality and material. Since a retail store is expected to have a large flow of visitors, the chances of furniture wear and tear are greater. As a result, the furniture should be pleasing as well as durable.

5) Ambience:

Ambience plays an important role in creating a memorable shopping experience for the consumers. Visitors enter a retail store not only to shop but also to relax and entertain themselves. The ambience should serve as one of the major reasons for consumers’ revisits. Music is known to create a perfect ambience. It can influence, entertain and inspire visitors, thus making their shopping experience pleasant. So, a retail store can set the right mood through proper music based on its target audience. Powerful graphics and wall arts too add to the overall ambience of the room. It sends an effective message to the visitors about the brand and its beliefs.

Retail Dashboards Monitor Key Performance Indicators

Every business unit needs to keep a track over the costs and the revenues generated over a period of time. There is every possibility of a mismatch between the two. Key performance indicators form the basis for determining the performance of any organization. The indicators are sales volume, price management, price optimization and others. These figures help the business units in increasing their sales and profits and in determining the market trends. A retail dashboard summarizes all the data in a top level snapshot. It displays the revenues received in different intervals of time as to have clear distinction of the revenue generated in a specific state in each month.

The laser focused dashboards shows the key performance indicators of every type of business models. Within a dashboard, the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) charts are different for every kind of enterprise. There is large volume of POS data and the dashboards offer retail data solutions by displaying all the KPI. In this competitive world, the retail dashboards have become an integral part of every organization. The owners cannot wait for the data to take crucial decisions. The multiple levels of data are very effective in boosting up the level of sales. The dashboards help in promotional planning, inventory management, and merchandise tracking.

eSENSE Retail make use of the latest technology and offers retail data solutions to the business firms both small and large. The eSENSE Retail solution is a web based application and it integrates various data points into the customized dashboards. Their retail dashboards help in identifying the areas which require action or follow up as to have increase in revenue. eSENSE Retail was established by a team of experts in the field of category management. They have been working with manufacturers distributing retail management tools, products and services to the retail community from many years. Get this opportunity and boost the ROI and have high sales volumes. For more details about their excellent services, please browse through www.esenseretail.com.

How To Buy Shoes Online; Get The Correct Size First Time, Every Time!

In this article I will show you how to buy shoes online, get the correct size item, the first time, every time.

Armed with this knowledge you will SAVE MONEY! Imagine owning more shoes because you’ve paid less and bought more frequently. The new way to shop, it’s the way of the future. I hope you enjoy this article.

Are you sceptic about buying shoes on the internet? It might not fit right? But… if you buy from retail stores you’ll have to pay double the price to cover the retail overheads correct? In this short article, we’d like to show you how to shop for shoes ‘CORRECTLY’ online. Get the correct size shoes the first time, every time. Use the correct size conversion charts and make sure the shoes you buy actually fit you. You see many different size conversion charts depending on where the chart originated and who wrote the size chart article. Make no mistake, there is no such thing as an international standardised conversion chart. This is because each manufacturer (or label) uses their own dimensions to ascertain sizing depending on the market they are trying to penetrate. Have you ever noticed (if you’re a regular size 8 fit) how you don’t always fit size 8 in every shoe? Sometimes you’ll fit size 7 and other times size 9 right? Here’s how you overcome this problem. DON’T WORRY ABOUT YOUR SHOE SIZE. Work out your dimensions instead.

KNOW YOUR FOOT DIMENSIONS
If you’re right handed (your right side will be a little bigger than your left) so take a pen and on a piece of paper trace around your right foot. Do this to your left foot if you’re left handed. Now measure the image you’ve created from the end of your heel to the tip of your big toe (foot length). Now measure across the widest part of your feet which will be your ball (ball width). A typical Australian size eight woman should come up with something along the lines of 25.0cm length and 9.0cm width. Now that you know your foot dimensions concentrate on the dimensions advertised for the shoes you’re looking to buy.

If the seller has advised the ‘Shoe Length’ or ‘Inside shoe length’ then your feet should be around cm shorter than the shoes advertised, in order to fit perfectly. If the ‘Inside Foot Length’ is advertised by the seller then the closest match to your foot length is the way to go. Remember this…. If you can’t find the perfect size, you can always correct shoes 1/2cm too big with some ‘ball of foot’ inserts. If the shoes are 1/2cm too small then DON’T BUY THEM. You will struggle with these and they will be uncomfortable for the rest of the shoe’s life. If the seller has not advertised the ‘shoe length’ or ‘the inside foot length’ then ask the seller this question before buying. This is the only way you can be sure that the shoes will fit you.

SIZE CONVERSION CHARTS
Again using the example above typical size conversion from European size to Australian size may convert Euro size 39 to Australian size 8. If the seller is advertising Euro size 39 shoes and telling you it converts to Australian size 9, this is vital information. It simply means that this particular shoe is of large fitting. Perhaps you should be looking at size 38 instead for this style. It doesn’t mean that the seller has got the conversion wrong, or that the seller doesn’t know what he or she is talking about. Internet shoe retailers generally know what they’re talking about when it comes to sizing as they would frequently encounter sizing issues when selling online. The seller’s information is there to assist you so please take advantage of this and use it. To be certain, remember to ask for dimensions.