Chapter 4 - Layout and Fixtures for Fashion Apparel

author of “Selling Dreams: How to Make Any Product Irresistible”

Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni

What did Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni believe about successful dream sellers?

they could create product and services that convey intense emotions

Where does effective store design place merchandise and customer service?

at the heart of the effort

What are the 10 retail store categories that describe the way stores may be designed, organized or operated?

• department

• specialty

• boutique

• discount

• dollar stores

• hypermarket

• outlet

• warehouse

• thrift stores

• pop-up stores

A store consisting of many departments, each devoted to a specific category (product classification)

department stores

Bloomingdale and Macy’s are examples of what type of retail store?

department store examples

A store with a limited amount of departments of merchandise categories, with a ride range of footprints

specialty stores

Forever 21 and Uniqlo’s Solo are examples of what type of retail store

specialty store examples

Small specialty shops featuring assorted items that fit specific merchandising themes or appeal to a specialized clientele; may also be used to describe cross-merchandising within a department store, when retailers bring items from several departments tog3ether for a special promotion

boutique

Stores with many departments that appeal to a wide variety of customers with a ride range of products at discounted prices; may also utilize custom-made fixtures or vendor supplied fixtures in a few departments

discount stores

Target, Walmart, and Kmart are examples of what type of store?

discount store examples

A store where all items fit into a specific price range

dollar stores

A store where several merchandising categories are housed under one roof — softlines, hardlines — along with a grocery store

Hypermarkets

Examples of softlines

apparel, health, and beauty aids

Examples of hardlines

home, gardening, automotive, and sporting goods

stores that sell catalogue overstocks; manufacturers’ irregulars or overstocks; or a combination of out-of-season items, special purchases, and stock consolidations from retailers who are reducing past-season inventory or from those who are going out of business

outlet stores

T.J. Maxx, Ross, and Marshals are examples of what type of store

outlet store examples

Stores built to house massive quantities of goods on grids of industrial shelving and pallets — offer no-frills shopping at reduced prices

warehouse stores

Sam’s Club and Costco are examples of what type of store?

warehouse store examples

Stores that often resemble garage sales with widely assorted merchandise categories; products are all donated by private citizens or business organizations

thrift stores

Goodwill and The Salvation Army of examples of what type of store?

thrift store examples

Temporary store concepts that blend retail with event marketing

pop-up stores

the area a person can see from a particular vantage point — the view at the end of an aisle or at the top or bottom of an escalator

sight line

a linear design for a selling floor in which fixtures are arranged to form vertical and horizontal aisles throughout the store

grid layout

a selling floor layout that has selling fixtures arranged in loosely grouped, informal, nonlinear formations to encourage browsing

free-flow layout

exposes shoppers to a great deal of merchandise as they follow a perimeter traffic aisle with departments on the right and left of the circular, square, rectangular, or oval path

racetrack layout

layout where fixtures are arranged in groups, creating natural aisles without any change in the floor covering the designate a desperate aisle space

soft aisle layout

a layout that’s gallery-like in its simplicity, shows small selections of handcrafted or very exclusive merchandise

minimal floor layout

a layout that employs the best features of several selling floor layouts in an overall plan that suits a retailer’s specific strategy

a combination floor layout

Which layouts are common in discount stores?

combinations of grid and racetrack layouts

Which layouts are common in department stores?

combinations of grid and free-flow layouts

Which layouts are common in (upscale) specialty stores?

combinations of soft-aisle and free-flow layouts

Which are the most commonly used floor fixtures in home fashion stores or departments?

risers, etageres, armoires, shelved cupboards and tables

Who do retailers discuss issues of accessibility with who know the rules for access to public spaces and can interpret these requirements efficiently and accurately?

architectural or store planning consultants

two principles of universal design speak to selling floor spaces

1. relates to “equitable use” and says that a design should be “useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities”

2. to design building elements and furnishings of an appropriate size and space for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of the user’s body size, posture, or mobility

guidelines for selling floor spaces

• providing a clear line of sight to important elements for any seated or standing user

• making reach to all components comfortable for any seated or standing user

• accommodating variations in hand and grip size

• providing adequate space for the use of assistive devices or personal assistance

What do permanent layouts indicate?

the location of departmental selling areas within a store seldom changes

What are “swing spaces” in discount stores?

a space in the store that features different products depending on the season/trends

Types of specialty stores that maintain permanent floor layouts

• designer stores

• career stores for men, women, or both

• specialty stores with merchandise for both men and women

seasonal rotation of stock allows stores to present:

• a fresh face to shoppers, implying that the store is very responsive to new and exciting fashion developments

• current season or trend merchandise in cutting edge merchandising schemes that inform and invite

• preseason merchandise at special prices in prime store locations, allowing store buyers to take an early reading on which items to buy in depth for the rest of the season

thoughtfully planned layouts that position same end-use products next to each other

adjacencies

What shape is the retail fashion cycle?

a bell-shaped curve

What does the retail fashion cycle consist of?

• testing: it begins with a nearly flat line that represents incoming or test merchandise

• pre-peak: as shoppers react, the test merchandise is either cleared out — signaling a poor response — or reordered in greater depth. If reordered, an item is expected to rise in popularity with correspondingly regular-priced sales

• peak: as sales increase, you will see the item peak

• post-peak: when everyone who wanted the item has made a purchase, the item’s rate of sale will diminish; merchandise is marked down and cleared out of the department, so that new fashion goods can move in

each department can be divided into five areas:

• trend

• test

• shops

• basics

• key items

Areas that feature merchandise that has been accepted by shoppers as hot or current fashion; items have been purchased in-depth

trend areas

Floor space to set aside to sample merchandise representing items or styles retail buyers believe will soon become popular with shoppers; they bring in small quantities of goods and watch sales figures closely

test areas

Fixtures that typically hold smaller merchandise assortments, allowing presentation of a single style (on a two-way) or a coordinate grouping (on a four-way); intended to spotlight items rather than show full category assortments

feature fixtures

Created when similar types of merchandise are bought in-depth (sufficient to fill 6-10 selling fixtures) and are pulled together into one area of a department

a shop

Make up the bulk of the stock in any department that represents its core merchandise

basics

A proven seller purchased in depth and offered at a competitive price; can be found in trend or basic areas and in shops

key items

Advantages of direct buying of key items are:

• the store creates its own specifications and has the items modified to better fit the needs of its customers

• the store creates its own unique brand name and has an opportunity to develop it to fit the image of target customers

• the store is able to offer the items to customers at the lower price

How to sort merchandise

• end use

• fabrication

• style

• color

Ways clearance items may be handled

• they may be pulled together at the rear of each department

• clearance merchandise from all departments may be pulled into one area of the store to form a permanent clearance department

• clearance merchandise in specialty stores may be pulled to the front of the store for traditional major clearance events in January or early July

• some chain retailers consolidate clearance merchandise into a few larger stores (with high traffic or ideal bargain shopper demographics), send it to a company-owned outlet store, or remove their own tags and sell the lot to an outlet store

What is the visual merchandiser’s role when presenting clearance goods?

to purchase clearance good effectively enough to sell them at their highest possible clearance price so that the company can reinvest the dollars in newer, more appealing merchandise

Guidelines to ensure that optimum presentation is achieved:

• present clearance merchandise on floor fixtures only

• never feature clearance merchandise on mannequins or in displays

• present clearance goods on large fixtures, such as round racks, superquads (extra large four-way racks with arms that may be extended) or rolling rack fixtures

• short clearance garments by size (with sizing rings or hangers with built-in size tabs) and then by color within each size range so that shoppers can readily see what is available

• always clearly sign clearance merchandise with price points, percentages-off, or at least a clearance sign

• make selling-floor maintenance a routine aspect of any clearance presentation

Store fixtures include:

• conventional metal fixtures

• furniture fixtures

• found objects

• vendor fixtures

• custom fixtures

Assortments with missing sizes, styles, and colors after sell-down

broken merchandise

The actual number used on signs to inform shoppers of prices

price point

Different fixture categories:

• capacity fixtures

• signature fixtures

• feature fixtures

Fixture that holds large quantities of merchandise, usually showing a single style in several colors and in complete range of sizes

capacity fixture

An attention-getting, one-of-a-kind unit positioned at the entrance to a store or department that reflects that store’s brand image

signature fixture

A fixture designated to hold fewer items and is used to highlight category groupings or smaller coordinate groups; they bring together coordinated outfits

feature fixture

A capacity fixture fabricated in several diameters and adjustable heights for stocking basic apparel items

round rack

Presentation guidelines for round racks

• round racks should not be positioned at the store entrance or along aisles except during special promotion and clearance evetns

• sleeve lengths or hem lengths should be the same on the entire fixture, unless the rack is being used for clearance merchandise

• for the best presentation, a single rack should old products from just one of the seven color groups

• arrange colors in a sequence that follows the natural color order of the rainbow

Aside from in rainbow order, how do some presentation guides advise arranging colors? Why is this not the best method?

from light to dark; perception and interpretation of color values is an individual thing

A four-armed capacity fixture with an adjustable height feature for showing items purchased in depth or coordinate groupings of pants, skirts, blouses, and sweaters or jackets

superquad

A versatile four-sided capacity fixture that may be shelved for folding or stackable products, and is occasionally set with garment rods to show apparel on hangers

gondola

How should clearance items be arranged on round racks"?

first by size, then by color within each size

Which side of round rack should the smallest sizes be facing?

the front of the department, then from there, working to your right

Where should the lowest level of a tri-level round rack face?

the front of a department or an aisle

Valuable display and stocking spaces at the ends of gondola fixtures. They may be used to feature a sampling of merchandise on either side of the gondola, for new merchandise offerings, for value-prices products, or for advertised specials. They may be stacked, pegged, or shelved.

endcaps

Containers that are open on their sides; containers that are open from their tops

cubes; bins

What are some examples of what bins can be used for?

bulk items such as candy, nuts and bolts in hardware stores

What are cubes typically used for?

they’re typically reserved for use in fashion stores as wall treatments or in stand-alone floor fixtures

A two-armed hanging fixture used to feature small quantities of tend apparel or test merchandise

two-way/T-stand

How many items do two-ways typically hold?

12-24 items

Fixture that features a hanging coordinate group or a small quantity of separates presented as coordinated outfits

four-way/costumer

How many items do four-way usually hold?

24-48 items

Presentation guidelines for fashion cubes

• arrange ROYGBV colors vertically

• size the cubes with the smallest size at the top, moving down to the largest size

Most common floor feature fixtures used in retail stores today

two-ways (T-stands) and four-ways (costumers)

Presentation guidelines for feature fixtures

• use feature fixtures to highlight only the newest and most exciting items in stock

• present a single color story on each fixture

• use feature fixtures to hold products from similar merchandising classifications that have the same end uses

• for maximum visual impact, use two-way and four-way fixtures to feature only one style of garment per arm face-out, only one color of garment per single arm face-out, and only one fabrication per single arm face-out

• use feature fixtures to show outfits — that is, tops and bottoms that coordinate

• reset feature fixtures with new items weekly or bi-weekly

• position feature fixtures in front of the store and along major aisles

• adjust feature fixture heights as needed

• present pants only on straight arms, never slant arms

Hardware for hanging merchandise so that the full front of the item is visible; may utilize straight arms or slanted arms that create cascading waterfall effects

face-outs

Basic fixture components used to show large quantities of goods on hangers along walls

round garment walls and flat metal crossbars

Should both round garment wall and flat metal crossbars be used in the same store?

no, only one style should be used throughout the store for continuity

How are round garment walls and flat metal crossbars secured to walls?

By inserting them into wall standards with 14-inch brackets

What tool is typically used when inserting brackets into wall standards? Why?

a rubber mallet; a gentle tap with a rubber mallet will secure the bracket and prevent the unsightly nicks that will occur with the use of an ordinary hammer

What allows the merchandiser to join lengths of rod or bar to create longer wall presentations?

removable snap-in caps with adapters

A wall system of horizontal backer panels with evenly spaced slots that accept brackets and display accessories with special fittings

slatwall

A wall system of metal wire that accepts brackets and display accessories with special fittings

gridwall

An angled display arm affixed to a wall standard, slatwall, or gridwall system; a T-stand (two-way or four-way); or another selling-floor fixture to show a cascade of hanging merchandise

waterfall

Which wall-systems can accept shelving? How?

both slatwall and gridwall systems; when used with proper brackets

What do many retailers reserve the top shelves on wall-system shelving for?

to feature displays of merchandise in combination with wall graphics

What is the waterfall best used for? What is it worst used for? Why?

best: tops, jackets, suits, and dresses

worst: pants and skirts; the hanger tops are so prominent — all you see at fixture level is a cascade of plastic

A perpendicular display arm affixed to a wall standard, slatwall, or gridwall system or a T-stand or other selling floor fixture to show a small quantity of hanging merchandise

straight arms

What items can straight walls display?

tops and bottoms

What are some different styles that straight arms available in?

square, rectangular, or round

What is some furniture that can be used as merchandising fixtures?

things such as hutches, desks, curio cabinets, and armories

What is the only requirement for using furniture as merchandising fixtures?

they must fit the brand image of the store

The single most important fixture in the retail industry

tables

Why is a table an ideal introductory fixture?

it has a low profile; it shows merchandise effectively at the front of a department while providing clear sight lines into the rest of the area