The Psychology of Retail: How Placement Influences Purchases

Having the right display and storage products in your business is just one step in setting up your retail store. Clever product placement and merchandising are crucial and shouldn’t be overlooked. Just adding stock onto shelves is not enough for retail success. A thoughtful and strategic approach is required, with factors such as the product height, layout, as well as surrounding elements such as colour and signage, all significantly influencing the customers’ actions and purchasing decisions.

No matter the size of your space, it’s essential to consider all these aspects and tap into the psychology of retail. From organisation, accessibility and visual appeal, the aim is to create an inviting shopping experience for your customers and encourage them to keep coming back. In this article, we’ll explore the considerations for effectively merchandising your store to encourage more sales, with a focus on  Retail Shelving.

If you haven’t already, we recommend reading our  Getting the Best From Retail Shelving article, which offers valuable insights to help you get started.

How should I arrange my retail shelving?

Retail shelving can be used to create pathways to guide customers around your store. How customers navigate a shop can influence what they buy.

One common layout is the grid layout, which is an efficient option, often seen in grocery shops and DIY stores due to their large selection of products. However, it can be uninspiring and might not attract customers' attention.

Other layouts, such as the looped floor plan or forced-path layout, provide clearer and more guided paths for customers. The looped floor plan forms a loop or racetrack-style path, while the forced path layout creates a specific and potentially unconventional route, making it more interesting.

or clothing stores and high-end retail, the free-flow layout is typically used. This layout can rely on a variety of displays, as well as inventive colour and product groupings to draw interest. This method of floor plan requires careful planning on product placement so as not to look disorganised and cluttered. If executed well and creatively, it can look appealing to customers.

Where and how should I place products on my retail shelving?

The challenge which every retailer faces is how to get their products in front of potential customers. Simply put, what the customer doesn’t see, the customer doesn’t buy. As the popular saying goes, “The eye level is the buy level.” Popular and premium brands are always competing to be placed at this point at which the customers’ gaze naturally falls, as this position converts to the highest sales. The only exception to this rule are products aimed at children, whose eye levels are lower.

Products which are placed higher can be more difficult to see or reach, and products lower down may be difficult for certain customers to reach. But not everything can be placed at the ‘buy level.’

That’s why other visual placement techniques are used such as grouping blocks of similar products together or vertical and horizontal placement, trying to take advantage of most people’s natural eye pattern of looking up and down and left to right.

Often having large variety of products available, Trade Counters should consider how and where to place products.

Where should I place products in my store?

Now you have some ideas on what layout to arrange your store and also some suggestions on where to place products on shelving and displays, but where should you place products within your store exactly?

You’ll usually find similar products or brands arranged together, more obvious in larger stores such as supermarkets or department stores. On the other hand, in a clothing store for example, new, popular or high-value items are placed near the entrance to entice customers to come inside and encourage sales.

If using retail shelving, end units (also known as end caps or bays) are great for displaying complementary products and grouped items, especially within grid layouts. With people naturally pausing and slowing down around these end caps, they mark a good location to capture impulse purchases. You could use them to showcase themed product selections for special occasions or seasonal shopping such as Easter or BBQ season.

End units have been shown by research to have a high 'eye-fixation' amount (essentially displays that customer were drawn to look at), with 13% of all eye-fixations drawn to in-store displays, with 44% of these in-store displays being end units (1). Whilst this may not seem like at large amount, it is actually quite high in terms of neuroscience.

Add End Bays to highlight popular product groups.

When considering product placement, it’s also important to think about where you’ll position items to encourage customers to explore your store further. For instance, in a DIY store, if a customer is picking up some shelves, you can place tools and fixings for mounting the shelves towards the back or in another location. Supermarkets often place essentials like milk and bread further into the store, which makes customers more likely to pick up extras along the way.

By using all the techniques above and tailoring them to your store, you can effectively tap into your customer’s psychology to encourage more sales and find success.

Our team of experts are always on hand for everything from personalised assistance on project planning, such as a shop fit, and to offer recommendations to help you choose the right products. Find out more about our  Business Services.

Find more information on Retail Shelving, as well as on other products and topics, view our  Knowledge Base.

Or view our  Retail Shelving collection.

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