Cracking the perfect grocery store layout is tough — and when you hear stories of the various consultants and researchers that big chains use to optimize their store design, it might seem futile to try something new.
That’s simply not the case. Refreshing the design of your grocery store is one of the most impactful ways to retain customers, boost sales, and cut costs.
Not sure where to start? We’re here to help. In this article, we’ll break down essential design elements and give you six easy grocery store design ideas to try in your store.
These are some of the major elements of grocery store design.
You probably won’t have the time (or money) to tackle all of these elements at once. Instead, take an honest look at your store and start with the most impactful areas for your business.
Refreshing your grocery store design doesn’t mean completely tearing down your store and starting from scratch. Instead, take a more deliberate approach to where you place products and what styles you use.
Here are six ideas to try out in your store.
While we could give you plenty of examples of how big chains calculate their look or show research into the careful arrangements of big grocery stores, a simple fact remains: you are not a big grocery chain.
Nor should you try to be. While following grocery store layout best practices is not a bad idea, you can’t build a unique identity trying to imitate your bigger competitors.
Instead, build a layout and personality that reflects your passions and customers. People go to local grocers and food markets for a unique experience, and the more you can deliver on it, the more successful you’ll be.
A few examples:
When considering the rest of the items on this list, try to balance what’s effective with what feels like you. A personal approach will pay off and help your store stand out.
Have you ever wandered into the chip aisle and suddenly hankered for salsa? Lo and behold, there’s a selection of salsas nearby! Is it cosmic coincidence or just good planning?
Cross-selling is a highly effective grocery store design idea. Done well, it’s not just a sales technique but can also make your store more convenient for customers.
Here are a few more examples of cross-selling in grocery stores:
Educational signage is a great tactic to make cross-selling even more effective. Imagine a small display next to your apples, with a sign that says, “Want to make a fantastic fruit salad?” The sign could include a recipe and the ingredients for the salad right there.
You can also use the sales data on your POS system to see if any items are frequently bought together.
You can still cross-sell even if dedicated aisles already exist. Take the chips and salsa example above. If you already have a separate condiment aisle, you can still set up a small standing display near the chips with some best-selling salsas and dips.
A surprising amount of thought goes into the colors stores use on their logos, signs, and materials — and for good reason!
Color can directly affect how people perceive your brand before they even start exploring your store. If you look more closely, you’ll notice that companies within the same industries often use similar colors in their stores and logos.
Whether you’re creating signage, choosing paint, or designing a logo, be deliberate with your color choices. We recommend using warm, pastel colors to create a feeling of freshness and vitality throughout your store.
Over time, customers will learn your brand colors subconsciously (e.g., if you always use the same shade of orange sticker for sales items).
The materials you pick have a similar affect on customers. Handmade materials like stone and wood can create a more “homemade” feeling than metal and wire.
Once you have a color scheme picked out, don’t forget to apply those colors to your online accounts to create a consistent feel between your online presence and your physical store.
This includes things like your:
The more consistent your branding is, the more it will stick in people’s minds. It will also help build trust using your website for local pickup and delivery.
Imagine you go to a great local grocer and want to buy from them online, only to find a website that aesthetically looks nothing like the store you went to.
You’d probably assume you found the wrong website or that it’s out of date. And just like that, you’ve lost a sale.
Signage is an incredibly common fixture in retail and one of the most undervalued tools in effective grocery store design.
Investing in clear and effective signage serves many useful functions in grocery stores.
Create a mixture of permanent signs (e.g., wayfinding signs for your deli section) and reusable signs (e.g., a standing chalk sign for short-term sales and promotions). For best results, make sure any printing on your signs is large and in legible font.
You’d be surprised how many small grocery stores we’ve visited that have enormous displays for their fresh produce. So big that a lot of that produce will go bad before it gets a chance to sell.
Bigger isn’t always better, especially if you have a small space to work with. Investing in smaller displays maximizes your space and reduces food waste. You can then use that saved space for promotional displays or more product variety.
Not sure where to start? Use the reports on your POS systems to see inventory turnover and bestsellers metrics and decide which sections you could safely downsize.
Implementing a new grocery store design idea isn’t guaranteed to work — and that’s OK. The important thing is to be deliberate.
Every layout change you make should have a distinct goal associated with it. For example:
They don’t necessarily have to be precise, but having a metric in mind will help you measure their success. Grocery store layout is an iterative process, so don’t be afraid to try different tactics out until you find some strategies that work for you.
You'll need the right tools to keep track of those key metrics. IT Retail has over 25 years of experience working with independent grocers and supermarkets to make products tailored to their unique challenges.
In addition to simplified inventory management and reporting, our software includes customer loyalty, e-commerce support, and other features that make modernizing your grocery store a breeze.
Schedule a custom demo today to learn how IT Retail can make running your store easier than ever.