Daily Research News Online no. 2098 - Store Design Attractions

Store Design Attractions

January 10 2003

Latest research from Mintel on retail store design questioning 1,058 adults, finds over half of consumers having walked out of a store when they were going to make a purchase because of long queues.

A further 35% have left a store where they were going to buy goods because they could not find the product they were looking for or the price of the item. The same number of consumers have been put off certain shops due to unattractive store design.

Too frequent changes in layout at stores irritate over four in ten consumers, this is considerably more likely to irritate female consumers (at 46%) compared to male consumers (at 37%). Meanwhile, 13% of shoppers have walked out of a store where they were going to make a purchase because they could not easily access certain areas of the store.

In 2002 retailers in the UK were estimated to have spent £1.6 billion on shop fitting and interiors, out of a total £3 billion on store design and refits. This represents around 1.3% of retail sales in the year.

There is a growing trend for retailers to refurbish, as many have store chains that are already reaching their optimum numbers in the UK. Difficulties in finding new sites, tougher consumer expectations and increasing competition are fuelling this refurbishment trend.'The benefits of good store design in all retail sectors are becoming ever more apparent, with an increasing number of retailers including those in the value sector investing in upgrading their stores. This is a response to highly competitive market conditions, and better store design is vital if companies are to increase their average 'baskets' and deliver long-term growth' comments Richard Caines, Retail Consultant.

Over four in ten consumers tend to spend more time in shops which have an attractive store environment. Good facilities such as cafes, restaurants, toilets and baby changing will encourage 30% of adults to spend more time in a store.

Over a quarter of adults are frequently tempted by a window display to enter a shop and make a purchase, while the same number are tempted to buy new products by promotional displays, sampling or demonstrations in shops. By contrast, a third of consumers don't care what the store looks like providing the products are good value.

The top priority for supermarkets is to make the shopping experience as easy as possible for their customers, while encouraging them to spend more time at the store through the provision of facilities to improve the comfort factor. Some 45% of adults would like to see more service counters/checkouts, while some 32% would like more toilets and 31% clearer signposting in the store. Other key areas identified for improvement are more space/wider walkways (28%), better layout (25%), seating areas (22%) and clearer product/price information on shelving/displays (20%).

Now that supermarket shopping has become mostly self-service, the opportunity to encounter the smell or taste of the goods before purchasing has often disappeared. The interactive experience of being able to smell or taste the food is one that has become rarer. Many consumers enjoy the opportunity of seeing demonstrations or testing and sampling goods. More than one in five consumers feel that testing and sampling is a feature that they would like to see in a supermarket.

For clothing and footwear shoppers the key priorities are factors that make the shopping experience more comfortable such as the provision of toilets (31%), seating areas (29%) and more fitting rooms (25%). The provision of more fitting rooms is twice as important to women at 32% than men at 18%. These types of facilities are important to shoppers but can be limited in smaller clothing stores due to space restrictions. Retailers operating smaller stores are reluctant to allocate too much space to facilities if it takes space away from displaying merchandise, although the provision of such facilities undoubtedly encourages customers to spend longer in the store. The provision of more service counters/checkouts (24%) as well as better layout (24%) and more space (21%) are also important, but not as much as in supermarkets.

Apart from the provision of toilets (27%), which many household goods stores lack, the main areas that retailers operating in this sector could improve upon are providing more conveniently located helpdesks (22%), providing more demonstration of products (22%) and more service counter/checkouts (20%). Having knowledgeable staff available to explain products and/or demonstrate them is clearly important in this sector, particularly for electrical goods where the current pace of change in technology is rapid.