Aisles Planning

The size and placement of store aisles, although easy to overlook, are very important. Where the aisles are situated will dictate the flow of customer traffic throughout the store.

Make the aisles at least 1.2 meters wide and without obstructions. Having spacious aisles is one of the key aspects of store planning. This ensures that your aisles will be comfortable for all customers, including those with strollers or those in wheelchairs.

Having aisles that are at least 1.2 meters wide will keep traffic flowing. It also ensures that customers will not bump into each other.

If the aisles cause congestion, then customers will feel uncomfortable and sales will decrease. Aisles need to be structured to expose the customers to the most products. This is why aisle placement is so important. Do the following:

Decide how you want your traffic to flow. As you plan your store layout, your general goals are to expose shoppers to product and keep customer traffic flowing smoothly.

With these two goals in mind, look at your floor plan and ask yourself, “where do I want my customers to go and what do I want them to see?” Do you want to funnel customers to the back of your store? Are you hoping to direct traffic to your wall fixtures? Do you want customers to concentrate in the centre of your store?

Pick the aisle layout that leads customers where you want them to go. Once you know where you want your customers to go, pick the aisle layout that gets them there.