Types of Retail Store Layouts

A store’s floor plan can guide customers through the shopping experience, shaping how they interact with your merchandise and whether they decide to purchase any products. Creating a retail store design from scratch and revamping existing store displays require a fundamental understanding of the various retail management options.

This guide explains nine different store layouts and what makes them so critical in retail. Learn about the advantages and drawbacks of the most effective retail store designs so you can increase shopper engagement and drive sales.

What Is a Retail Store Layout?

Also known as layout design or store design, store layout describes how retailers set up their merchandise, product displays and fixtures in a store. Because the way customers interact with products affects their purchase behaviors, a retail store layout involves strategically using the space available to influence the customer experience.

Store design and customer flow are the two most persuasive components of retail store layouts used to convert browsers to buyers. 

• Store design encompasses the intentional use of space management and floor plans, including displays, furniture, fixtures, signage and lighting. The structure is highly influential in the customer experience.
• Customer flow is how shoppers find their way through a store’s aisles. Understanding buyer behavior patterns is an essential part of retail management strategy.

How Does a Store’s Layout Affect Product Sales?

Though there’s no right or wrong retail design, you should base your store’s floor plan on your target market’s behavior. The ideal way to optimize space and showcase products can impact your sales in several ways.

• Customer flow: A well-designed layout logically guides customers through the store, increasing their exposure to products and encouraging exploration, which can lead to higher sales. Most shoppers who enter a store tend to head toward the right-hand side and move counterclockwise. You can use this consumer behavior information to design a retail floor plan that subtly guides people to the right, ensuring they see every product.
• Product placement: Strategic product placement can increase their visibility and likelihood of purchase. For example, you can put high-demand items at eye level or near complementary products. A store’s layout can either guide the customer’s path past the most popular, highest-selling items or to a section of the store that doesn’t generate many sales.
• Impulse purchases: Effective layouts can prompt impulse buying by strategically positioning enticing displays or promotions along high-traffic areas, leading to additional sales.
• Enhanced customer experience: An effective retail store layout subtly leads customers through the store, rather than leaving them to figure it out on their own. A thoughtfully planned floor plan considers factors like ease of navigation, aesthetics and comfort to improve the shopping experience, fostering customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Brand image: A store’s layout can also influence how customers perceive a brand or product, impacting their purchasing decisions and overall sales performance.

Regardless of which floor plan best suits the store’s sales goals, designing the layout based on customer flow and behavior patterns can impact your success. Those responsible for choosing a retail floor plan layout should always consider traffic patterns and how they want customers to interact with products.

Top 9 Store Layouts

Your store can combine these floor plans with high-quality displays to sell more products.

1. Forced-Path

The forced-path layout puts customers on a predetermined route through a retail store, guiding customers past whichever products need the most attention. Walking shoppers in a set path around the store exposes them to more items, which may entice them to make an impulse buy. Ultimately, this layout maximizes every aisle and piece of merchandise.

Customers who already know what they want and are disinclined to browse may not appreciate a forced-path retail layout. Instead of allowing people to grab a product and go on their way, a forced-path layout compels them to follow the predetermined path until they reach the item they want, then continue to the checkout before finally exiting the store.

Here are a few pros of a forced-path layout:

• Direct control over customer flow
• Can guide customers toward popular items or underperforming products
• Streamline foot traffic
• Maximize every aisle
• Promote profits by encouraging unplanned purchases

A forced-path layout has possible drawbacks:

• Can feel restrictive or frustrating to customers who already know what they want

Some of the best product displays for forced-path stores include endcaps and temporary displays. Caps at the ends of aisles help your products stand out to customers, particularly if they have to walk past them. Temporary displays for promotions or competitions can also catch shoppers’ attention, driving them to buy your products. Allowing consumers to interact with your products can influence their purchase.

2. Straight

The straight retail store layout, also referred to as the spine layout, is effective, easy to plan and generates space for customers to fully peruse the store. Essentially, one aisle — the spine — runs down the store and connects the various sections on the rest of the floor. This store design uses space wisely by optimizing the store walls, corner spaces and shelving fixtures to show off products everywhere customers look.

The straight retail store layout is a popular floor plan because it is so intuitive. Engaging signage, product displays and well-placed merchandise keep customers interested and moving down the store’s spine. A straight layout guides shoppers to the back of the store, essentially guaranteeing they see every produt.

Many small markets, department stores and food stores benefit from this retail layout because it offers customers the chance to see everything in the store or go directly to an aisle if they want to cut their shopping trip short. A straight floor plan can be especially beneficial for newer, local businesses that may not have the financial means to purchase an expansive store building or create an elaborate store layout yet.

Here are some advantages of a straight store layout:

• Shoppers are more likely to go through the entire store.
• There’s plenty of space for displaying merchandise.
• Customers have the space they need to look around at their leisure.
• Custom retail displays and shelving fixtures maximize every possible selling point.

In comparison, here are some possible drawbacks of the straight store layout:

• Customers might move down the main aisle quickly, missing the merchandise placed at the front or sides of the store.
• It may not be as conducive to exploring aisles and discovering new products as other options.

Endcap displays are ideal for this floor plan because they immediately call attention to the products you want to highlight. You can also use display bins and corrugated displays effectively in a spine layout. Both displays add variety and draw consumers to your products.

These displays are also subtle hints to customers about other products in an aisle and can help with cross-selling opportunities.

3. Angular

Despite having “angular” in its name, an angular retail store design uses curved and winding product displays and store fixtures that guide the customer flow in several directions. The freestanding product displays used in this retail layout cultivate a perception of higher-quality merchandise, making this floor plan ideal for luxury stores.

High-end boutiques may also benefit from the way an angular store layout encourages urgency. Putting less stock on display sends the subliminal message that in-demand items are in short supply, pushing customers toward unplanned purchases.

However, this opulent, exclusive look sacrifices space efficiency. You must keep excess stock in storage, since you can’t display many products at one time in an angular layout. Smaller boutiques might lack the room to use this floor plan and still house their merchandise.

The angular retail layout provides these benefits:

• Crafts a unique retail store design
• Elevates the customers’ in-store experience
• Promotes the exclusive feel of luxury items

On the other hand, an angular layout comes with these cons:

• Less room to display products
• Rounded display style takes away wall shelf space

Products in freestanding displays do well in these store layouts. Freestanding floor displays create a perception that products are high value. Custom retail floor displays tastefully showcase your products and provide additional information about your brand.

4. Geometric

The geometric retail store design perfectly fuses functionality with creativity. As its name implies, the geometric store layout incorporates displays of all shapes and sizes, including squares, rectangles, ovals and more. Stores that already have a unique interior due to wall angles, support columns or ceiling design can embrace and enhance this aesthetic by using a geometric layout.

A geometric layout can help brands build their identity and awareness. Specifically, combining various displays and fixtures can make a bold statement about your identity. Selecting artwork, music and even scents to use with a geometric layout can complete the store’s atmosphere and heighten the overall customer experience.

Here are all the pros of following a geometric floor plan:

• Produces a unique store design without costing as much as many other retail layouts
• Makes a statement about the merchandise
• Enhances your brand identity
• Can direct foot traffic toward a specific product

Here are the cons to consider about a geometric floor plan:

• Can be too eccentric for older or more conservative shoppers
• Not always the best option for maximizing a store’s space for displaying merchandise

Using shapes and angles in geometric stores allows your brand to use various custom merchandise displays that fit your shelving. You can use cardboard sidekick and power wing displays to showcase bestsellers. Your products will fit in with the store’s vibe while still being eye-catching.

5. Grid

The grid layout is the traditional retail store floor plan seen in almost every grocery store, pharmacy and convenience store. In most cases, a grid layout design has several long aisles. Stockers will also usually place impulse-buy items at the front and other items near the back, walking shoppers by these products on their way to and from the products they need.

Shoppers are already familiar with a grid layout, which can eliminate confusion and seamlessly direct customer flow. The aisles create natural barriers, facilitating foot traffic and allowing you to group similar products together so consumers can quickly find the items they’re looking for.

The grid store layout also works to maximize product display while minimizing white space. In a grid retail store design, the end of an aisle is one of the best places to display your products. You can also use wing shelves and other features to make your merchandise stand out within a grid layout. These features encourage customers to pick up more products as they weave their way through the aisles.

While large retail stores benefit from a grid layout, smaller stores may lack the space to accommodate this floor plan. As a result, customers can end up feeling cramped in the narrow aisles or overwhelmed by the amount of merchandise packed tightly into one area.

A grid store layout brings these advantages:

• It’s ideal for displaying multiple products.
• The grid design prompts customers to browse multiple aisles.
• It’s a familiar, user-friendly layout.
• The predictable traffic flow pattern makes it easy to place promotional items where customers will pass them.
• It accommodates various store shelving and fixtures.

A grid store layout may bring some disadvantages:

• The layout is too common to cultivate a unique customer experience.
• It may frustrate shoppers who want a shortcut to the products they know they need.
• Can be confusing for customers if the product groupings do not make sense.
• Lots of merchandise lined up with few visual breaks can be overwhelming.
• Customers could bump into each other if the aisles are not wide enough.

Nearly any product display can work well with a grid layout. For example, you can use several endcap displays to attract consumers when they pass by the end of the aisle. Inline displays can highlight your products on the shelf. If a store is large enough, pallet displays ensure your product is unmissable while shoppers browse.

6. Loop

The loop retail store layout, also known as the racetrack layout, creates a deliberately closed-loop path that guides customers around the store to the checkout. The loop walks customers past every piece of merchandise between the store’s entrance and the checkout.

The looped main corridor provides well-defined parameters that take customers on a circular path through the store. In this way, the loop layout easily controls traffic flow and exposes each customer to the most products possible.

Though a loop store layout can irritate customers who only need a few specific items, a well-executed loop layout can tell your brand’s story in a way that disarms even the most hurried shoppers. If the primary aisle doesn’t feel overly crowded, the loop layout is an ideal design for building a memorable customer experience and selling more products.

Consider these top pros of a loop layout:

• Predictable traffic pattern allows you to place promotional items where people will see them.
• There’s maximum product exposure for all customers.
• Stores can experiment with guiding shoppers, similar to the way a museum exhibit walks visitors through a story.
• It encourages customers to spend more time browsing items and interacting with product displays.

These are the cons of a loop layout:

• A defined loop prevents customers from going back and forth between products.
• It may frustrate shoppers who know what they’re looking for and want to keep their shopping trip short.
• It does not promote high traffic turnover for stores that want people to get in and out more quickly.

Promotions can be successful in loop layouts. Shoppers must follow a set path, so place a temporary display that grabs their attention and persuades them to try your products. Custom freestanding displays work well, as you can place them in your consumer’s sightline. Meanwhile, power wing and sidekick displays can break the monotony of shelves and tempt shoppers to your products.

7. Free-Flow

Also known as the free-form layout, the free-flow layout doesn’t attempt to control customer traffic at all. Instead, the lax layout encourages customers to wander around without following a predetermined pattern.

This design relies on human behavior. A well-designed free-flow store layout can promote more browsing and impulse purchases by strategically using signage, window displays, merchandise placement and customer traffic paths.

The lack of a defined pattern can make this retail store layout the most complex model. It can be easy to make poor design choices within the free-flow framework, such as setting the shelves too close together, putting the checkout area in the wrong section of the store or neglecting to create enough visual breaks.

Despite these potential floor plan design mistakes, a free-flow layout can be well-suited for a creatively focused store or an upscale brand that wants to prioritize customer service. The design provides enough freedom for a store to create a unique and memorable retail experience.

The pros of picking a free-flow retail layout include:

• It’s a great floor plan for small spaces because it is versatile and flexible.
• Leaves more room between products for customers to roam more freely.
• Creates extra space to lower the likelihood of shoppers bumping into one another.
• Is an excellent for helping higher-end shops with less merchandise to craft a brand identity.
• When compared to other styles of store layouts, free-flow is the most likely to produce an experiential retail space.
• Works well when incorporated into smaller sections of spine and loop layouts.

The following are the cons of choosing a free-flow retail layout:

• Often comes with less space for displaying products.
• Ignoring retail store best practices may lead to a floor plan that turns people away.
• Some free-flow retail layouts can be confusing for customers to follow.

In free-flow stores, displays need to be well-planned and placed. Consumers are free to walk around how they wish, so think of your displays as speed bumps that slow them down and catch shoppers’ eyes. Floor displays are simple and effective ways to grab attention. For instance, you could use retail counter displays to spur shoppers to make impulse purchases at checkout. 

8. Boutique

A boutique store creates a unique and personalized shopping experience. Boutique stores typically carry curated selections of high-end or niche products and aim to differentiate themselves through their ambience, design and customer service.

Boutique layouts often feature a cozy and intimate setting with carefully arranged displays that encourage customers to explore and engage with products. Stores with these layouts tend to have a limited inventory compared to larger retailers, focusing on quality over quantity to create a sense of exclusivity and scarcity.

A boutique store layout has the following benefits:

• Sparks curiosity in shoppers by creating a unique and engaging shopping experience
• Highlights different brands and product categories, facilitating cross-merchandising and cross-selling opportunities
• Aesthetically pleasing design encourages people to explore the store
• Allows for creative product displays that attract customers
• Ideal for smaller stores, creating the illusion of a larger space
• Suited for small fashion stores, independent boutiques and specialty stores

In contrast, consider these drawbacks:

• May limit total display space for merchandise, potentially leading to cluttered displays in stores with a large product range
• Shoppers may miss out on exploring the entire store if sections are too closed off or confusing
• Some customers may prefer a more structured shopping experience over the open layout of a boutique layout

9. Diagonal

The diagonal store layout deviates from traditional grid or straight-line floor plans by placing fixtures, aisles and displays diagonally across the space. This design creates a dynamic and visually interesting presentation that enhances movement and flow.

Displayed products can stand out more prominently in diagonal store layouts, allowing for better visibility and showcasing of merchandise compared to standard straight-line arrangements. Other benefits of diagonal layouts include:

• Enhancing the shopping journey by guiding customers to the checkout counter
• Efficient space management, making it suitable for retail stores with limited space
• Encourages customers to explore more products
• Provides better security with visibility throughout the store

However, diagonal layouts have the following considerations:

• Shoppers may find it challenging to take shortcuts to specific products due to the diagonal arrangement of aisles.
• Narrower aisles are common in diagonal layouts, potentially leading to congestion during peak times.

Diagonal layouts work well for department, lifestyle and grocery stores or large retail establishments with diverse product ranges.

Customize Your Retail Store Layout With Creative Displays Now

Now that you know the different types of retail layouts available to choose from, it’s time to start thinking about your merchandising strategy, including floor plan details like shelving and custom displays to help drive sales for your business.

With Creative Displays Now, you can bring retail store layouts to life with custom floor displays, custom endcap displays and more. No matter which retail store floor plan you choose, we can provide the custom retail product displays you need to make it pop.

Our high-quality, attention-grabbing merchandise displays effectively promote products and attract customers. As a one-stop custom display company, Creative Displays Now is the perfect partner for transforming a retail space with premium product displays and specialty packaging.

Our company has over 60 years of experience designing, printing and manufacturing corrugated displays. Whether you’re a small startup or a large retailer, we can tailor our services to meet your marketing needs. Trust us to design the custom displays you need to produce an appealing and profitable retail floor plan, regardless of your store size and layout.

Find out how to bring your marketing visions to life and improve customer experience by contacting us for an estimate today!