Latest features Retail design revealed

Date Published:

27/05/2009

It’s no coincidence that the sweets are right by the till in supermarkets, nor that the one thing you really came for is at the far corner, past the pet food you don’t need

Supermarkets have designed their layouts to control the way you move around their stores and what you buy. Craig Butcher talks to the retail design experts to discover what the supermarkets are up to.

What the gurus say

In the world of retail design, Rodney Fitch wrote the book on it. That book and his leading retail design consultancy Fitch earned him a CBE. "There are many overt and covert signals to customers," says Fitch. "Most retailers want their customers to shop the higher-margin components of the store, and to fulfil their needs. They also want customers to fulfil their wants. But in order to get their needs, they may have to pass their wants."

Having designed two new stores for London's Planet Organic, Gabriel Murray of design agency Studio 48 agrees: "The big four supermarkets are designed to be a pleasant experience, but it’s a shopping machine. Their layouts are allegedly brought together to ease the shopper experience, but that’s open to debate."

Fitch says, "What you put in the back of a big supermarket will be the most visually attractive of your offers – the bakery, fresh fish and meat etc... The have-to-haves are put at the back of the store because you know people will go to there to get them. In a convenience store, what people want is put right at the front – the sandwiches or salads."

First impressions

As ever, first impressions count. "It’s illogical to put grapes and tomatoes at the front of the store, only to be squashed by tins of tuna," says Fitch. "But retailers are always trying to deliver a powerful experience - particularly in big stores. If a customer is making the effort to get there, it has to be an experience and the best are delivered by fresh, colourful foods. People judge the rest of the shopping on the quality of the fresh offer, so if it doesn’t look very attractive or can’t be seen, the rest of the store suffers."

For organic supermarkets like Planet Organic and Fresh & Wild, first impressions are just as crucial. "They have to differentiate themselves from someone like Tesco’s to earn the premium on their products. The experience has to be an experience," says Gabriel. "The ambience is much more luxurious, it’s got to be touchy-feely - the level of light will be a little lower, the feel will be more relaxed. When presenting the product there’ll be less of each of them with more attention to detail of presentation."

Supermarkets then use a variety of tactics to manoeuvre customers through the space, increasingly using in-store media but even the aisle signs. Fitch notes, "Some are loose and vague and others are quite specific – for those things we want people to buy, the signage may be very specific. Those for more optional wants will be less so."

A winning formula

Woe betide any supermarket that messes with its own formula. "Customers get accustomed to the layout," says Gabriel. "Once they're familiar with a store, the shopping process is pretty robotic. There is an emotional context but it's not the same as buying a suit. When supermarkets mess with their layouts, customers respond badly. They do come back, but it frustrates them." So next time you want to stick it to the man, head straight for the cleaning products – "they’re the lost area of supermarkets," according to Fitch, they won’t be expecting you.

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