Chapter 17 - Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising

What is the main idea of the ADA retail requirements?

ADA requires stores to provide reasonable access (aisle width, reach ranges, accessible checkout). Retailers must design layouts that all customers can navigate.

What is the main idea of the Design Principles video?

Vertical merchandising, tonnage displays, and color blocking guide the eye and increase sales by matching natural scanning patterns.

What is the main idea of the Product Contagion video?

Customers avoid items that look contaminated or touched; retailers must keep products clean unless using controlled messiness to signal value

What is the main idea of the Planograms video?

Planograms standardize product placement to increase sales and improve customer navigation.

A customer enters a store and immediately sees a visually appealing display that sets the tone for the store.

Strike zone

A shopper wants to get in and out quickly and easily find items like cereal or detergent.

Grid layout (utilitarian benefits)

A department store wants customers to walk past many departments and make unplanned purchases.

Racetrack (loop) layout

A boutique wants a relaxed, intimate shopping experience with asymmetrical aisles.

Free‑form layout

A retailer wants to reduce labor costs and shrinkage by improving store design.

Store design objective: control costs

A store must widen aisles and lower fixtures so customers with disabilities can access merchandise.

ADA requirements (“reasonable access”)

A grocery store places milk in the back so customers walk through more aisles.

Destination/demand merchandise placement

A retailer places gum, candy, and small items near the checkout.

Impulse merchandise

Whole Foods places apples next to cheese to encourage customers to buy both.

Complementary merchandise / category adjacency

A retailer uses a diagram showing exactly where each SKU should go on a shelf.

Planogram

A store uses heat‑tracking technology to see where customers touch products the most.

Heat maps

A retailer wants to highlight outfits and show how items can be used together.

Idea-oriented presentation

A clothing store organizes shirts from top to bottom so customers scan naturally.

Vertical merchandising

A retailer piles large quantities of merchandise together to signal value.

Tonnage merchandising (“stock it high and let it fly”)

A store uses mannequins to show full outfits and attract attention.

Mannequins (feature area)

A retailer places a messy dump bin at the end of an aisle, and customers buy more.

End caps + product contagion effect

A store uses digital screens instead of printed signs to update promotions quickly.

Digital signage

A retailer wants to attract customers into a department using a freestanding display.

Feature area: freestanding display

A store places seasonal merchandise in a special aisle that appears only during holidays.

Promotional aisle / promotional area

A retailer wants to reduce store size to lower rent and payroll costs.

Determining store size (smaller stores benefit from lower costs)

A customer enters a store and needs a fast, task‑oriented shopping experience.

Utilitarian benefits

A customer goes to Starbucks to relax, socialize, and enjoy the atmosphere.

Hedonic benefits