Unit 3: Store management and design

Recruiting and selecting

• Job analysis identifies the activities of the job; the job description lists duties; the job specification lists required qualities (communication, honesty, product interest).
• Sources: walk-ins, referrals, campus drives, job portals, social media.
• Selection tools: application form, interviews, references, tests; avoid discrimination.

Socialising and training

• Socialisation: the process by which new employees learn the store's values, norms and behaviours — reduces early turnover.
• Training methods: on-the-job (shadowing a senior), classroom, role plays, e-learning modules, structured product training by brands.
• Training content: product knowledge, selling skills, handling complaints, cash and POS, loss prevention, visual merchandising.

Motivating and evaluating

• Set specific, achievable sales goals; use incentive schemes (commission, contests), recognition (employee of the month) and a good climate.
• Evaluation: who evaluates (manager), how often (quarterly/annually), formats (graphic rating scale, sales per hour, mystery shopper scores).
• Common evaluation errors: halo effect, recency effect, leniency.

• Implement the retail strategy: design matches target customers and positioning (luxury vs discount).
• Influence customer buying behaviour: attract customers in, keep them longer, expose them to more merchandise.
• Provide flexibility: easy to change for new merchandise and seasons.
• Control design and maintenance costs.
• Meet legal requirements: fire safety, accessibility for differently-abled customers.

Trade-off: easy navigation for quick shopping vs exposure to more products for impulse buying.

• Free-form (boutique) layout: fixtures and aisles arranged asymmetrically; relaxed browsing, high cost, used in speciality stores and luxury boutiques.
• Feature areas: windows, entrance, freestanding displays, end caps (ends of aisles), promotional aisles, point-of-purchase counters, walls.

Space planning decides how much space to give each merchandise category and where to place it.

• Factors: sales and profit per square foot (productivity), inventory turnover, impact on store traffic, complementary products (shirts near ties), seasonal needs.
• Location within the store: impulse and high-margin items near the entrance and checkout; destination categories (milk, staples) at the back to pull customers through.
• Vertical placement: eye level is "buy level" — premium brands at eye level, cheaper or bulky items at bottom shelves.
• Planogram: a diagram showing exactly where each SKU should be placed on the shelf.

• Vertical merchandising: displaying vertically to match the eye's natural movement.
• Tonnage merchandising: large quantities stacked to signal low price (festive sales).
• Frontal presentation: showing the most of a product to catch attention (book covers facing out).
• Fixtures: straight rack, rounder, four-way, gondola.
• Atmospherics: lighting, colour, music, scent, temperature that influence mood and time spent.

Atmospherics is the design of the store environment through visual communication, lighting, colour, music and scent to stimulate customers' perceptual and emotional responses and influence buying (Philip Kotler, 1973).