The one thing retailers should do – which some have and many have not – is remove fixtures in the middle of aisles which create pinch points for consumers. I realize these are great for selling but they are annoying at the best of times, and not really suitable for social distancing. This must be part of a wider effort to reduce clutter in stores which is ultimately a good thing: attractive displays and stores should not be crowded with stock. Less is often more.

The science of COVID-19 suggests that surfaces are less concerning than viral transmission through the air. So stores may not see an immediate need to remove fixtures from their selling floors, but overcrowded conditions make social distancing difficult.

On a variety of recent shopping trips (Kroger, Kohl’s, Costco, Marshall’s and a few others) I see very little evidence that stores have created more spacing between fixtures. Retailers need to do a better job, and it might also help their inventory management in light of uncertain demand.

While displays have changed in terms of items promoted during the pandemic, things will return to “normal” sooner rather than later as displays play a critical role for retailers and brands to promote their products and a critical role in the’ bottom line of retailers.

We continually have told retailers that when customers re-start their in-store journeys, the store must not look like the same store they left. Merchandise presentations must create excitement, desire and product “lift.” Music is essential along with great service. The importance of projecting safety is on the top of the lists well. When Disneyland opens, the castle will thrill, the music will ease tensions, and everything will shout that you are in Disneyland. Now that’s a store!

Rich and I are presenting a virtual store tour tomorrow at the Retail Transformation Live virtual event, so in addition to our normal scouting of what’s happening in-store, we’ve been in hyperdrive. It’s interesting to note that even with all the talk about how the retail sales floor will evolve there really has not been a lot of change. Grocery stores are still loading up merchandise outposts and strike zones. End features are still prominent as are stocked in-line displays. In some retailers we are seeing power aisles emptied of merchandise and fixtures, but in many cases this is because the stores just don’t have enough merchandise to stock the rest of the store so these aisles are masquerading as being open for safety. Michaels and Target are still working their power aisles as normal. As we move forward we will continue to see health and safety measures in full effect, but when it comes to store layout and display it’s back to the future. Most stores do not look markedly different than they did… Read more »

In the near-term, I suspect we will see a varied approach to displays. Certainly retailers in all categories need to find ways to increase impulse spending. Safety concerns, lower store traffic, and curbside fulfillment have all devastated impulse-driven revenues. Retailers will get creative within the confines of current store designs, to be sure. However what we really need is a revolutionary change to store design and visual merchandising that both reflects and adapts to the new normal. I suspect soon I will be wishing Aptos had a planogramming solution to offer!

As most retailers’ in-store traffic is down 20-50 percent, and will likely be down at least 20 percent for the next 18 months, in-store displays will simply work less hard than they used to.

Now that retailers are having to live with artificial caps on their maximum capacities, the whole strategy around the in-store experience has changed. We used to want to maximize traffic and dwell time. Now we want to maximize conversion and basket size, while minimizing visit time.

This means in-store displays have to strike a tricky new balance. Increasing basket size means we want displays to drive unplanned purchases, but minimizing visit time means that we don’t want experiential displays that increase dwell time.

In practice, given the new in-store traffic realities, most retailers are simplifying the shopping experience. Fewer SKUs, less discovery, more efficiency.

Effecting change in large organizations is cumbersome, time-consuming and most of the time stuck in groupthink aka incremental innovation. These days there are so many moving parts between employees, corporate, COVID-19 the disease, vendors, customers, and on and on. Change — real physical change — to in-store displays designed to promote customer safety barriers between humans and COVID-19 might not be implemented prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The merchandising of a store has always been of prime importance in maximizing sales in-store, whether that be of items needing clearing or to drive traffic. What is often missed is the need to also be local and feature what is in demand in the local area and not just national plans. Most retailers still use national plans for their stores and leave it to the store staff to adjust for their assortment. With modern technology this is firstly not necessary but also leaves this vitally important aspect of your operation to chance. Store specific plans based on store specific forecasts are now possible. They can then be linked to the supply chain and inventory management plans to ensure that good availability and supply chains that are optimized at all times. When items are displayed off-shelf they do create a buzz and increase sales. These displays need to be managed to build stock beforehand and then the stock wound down towards the end so that you do not get left with too much stock when… Read more »