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June 1998 |
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| What’s In-Store for You? |
by Stephen J. Alexander
President, Automotive In-Store Marketing |
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| Stephen J. Alexander |
DESIGN IS THE ESSENTIAL element of in-store marketing and merchandising.
In the first What’s in-store for you column, I noted that all auto parts stores are not alike. Design is one key element which sets the good, the friendly, ones apart from the other auto parts stores.
Good store design lets customers “understand” the store. Most people who walk into a store, including you and me, subconsciously wonder “What’s here?” and “Where is it?”
Good store design provides easy, obvious answers to these questions. It helps customers locate the product assortment they seek. It prevents or eliminates confusion.
The important strategy is to position and place the merchandise so that this particular store’s customers can find it...without confusion, without hassle, without wasting time.
All store designs should have the same goal...to sell as much product as possible to people who are happy to buy it.
There ARE certain mandates to efficient store design. These dictate that signs be correct in relation to the merchandise. They ensure that customers can move through the merchandise easily, comfortably, without confusion. These mandates make the design make sense to the customer in the store environment so that the customer doesn’t have to change focus, or change his/her thinking from topic to topic. (That’s why grocers put dairy products in close proximity to each other.) They dictate logical traffic flow so that the customer doesn’t have the hassle of having to go back to get something stocked out of order.
Auto parts stores, even within the same chain, may have varying store designs, depending upon the shell of the building, its entrance locations, parking, traffic count, neighborhood demographics. There is no “cookie-cutter design grid” for successful stores.
Be a customer every day in your own store. Look around. Are signs describing a certain type of merchandise actually in proper proximity to the item? Are the product adjacencies logical? Check for dirt and dust and get rid of it immediately. Is your parts counter cluttered and projecting a ”stay away” message?
Be particularly sensitive to obstacles in the aisles as they will instantly discourage customers from concentrating on shopping. Replace malfunctioning lighting as customers tend to avoid dark spots and shadows. Dirty restrooms can undo every other effort made to have a nice looking store environment. A mandatory requirement for today’s level of customer expectations.
The effort spent to walk in your customer’s shoes through your store every day is one of the most valuable time investments you will ever make.
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“A power aisle” that leads to the heart of the store works well for some auto parts stores; in others, it just splits the store in half. Training centers, accessory centers, or parts centers may be the ticket to effective store design, depending upon what market research has shown to be the best use of the store’s square footage. Does the neighborhood have intense hardcore, under-the-hood, do-it-yourselfers? Or, is it filled with people who like to accessorize their cars, vans, SUVs and light trucks but are first in line at dealership service bays when it’s time to open the vehicle’s hood?
The answer makes a difference in how you design your store or stores.
Think of store design as matchmaking: you want to match your store’s physical presence, merchandise presentation and its personality with the customers nearby.
Stephen J. Alexander, president of Automotive In-Store Marketing, is a member of Aftermarket Business’ Retail Advisory Board. To reach him at his Sanibel Island, Florida headquarters, call 239-395-9203, or e-mail, salexander@autoinstore.com.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE:"Reprinted with permission from Aftermarket Business, June, 1998, pages 9-10. Copyright by Advanstar Communications, Inc. Advanstar Communications, Inc. retains all rights to this material." To subscribe to Aftermarket Business, call 1-218-723-9477 or email fulfill@superfill.com.
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