Retail Design is one of the few interior design disiplines where the design impacts a bottom line and determine the success of a business. The most important aspect of store design was not addressed in this article which is baffling as the color of the store is the last factor to impact the bottom line.
A Retailers success is a simple mathematical equations. If your Staff, rent, electric and other operating costs require a store volume of $300,000 how much product do you have to sell to make that volume requirement?
If you make $20 as an average on each item you sell and your average turn is 10 times a year, you need to sell 1500 items ten times over a one year period to break even. If your store does not have the capacity to hold 1500 pieces of inventory, you might as well not open your doors and certainly don’t worry about the color of the walls.
The biggest mistake made by interior designers and Architects is that they do not understand nor lived the dynamics of retail. As a result of this lack of understanding, year after year the design award stores go out of business because they looked good but could not meet the basic requirements to stay in business. As a Store Planner for almost 30 years, Form follows function and that is the bottom line after you do the math. Color, finish materials are secondary. Displays that properly hold the correct inventory level, in the best flexible presentation is critical. Lighting comes in a close second because of the cost of electricity and the color renditions impact on the product color.
All of the above are the essentials of store design.
Jerry Birnbach F.I.S.P.