How to Make Good Shelf Layouts: Building The Layout System

Shelves are decision arenas. Customers look for, compare, and buy products on these shelves. If we do not understand this and instead focus purely on “putting things in the shelf” rather than on “how the placement works,” we can never truly understand why the sales figures on those shelves are high or low.

Why shelf layouts are used

Customers rarely read through the entire shelf, and they don’t look at every product. Instead, customers look, then make the decision. Therefore, if the shelf layout is poorly planned, some products will get attention (and therefore sales) but others may go unnoticed. This could cause problems.

Products need to be grouped together

This may sound basic, but grouping products in any particular way is one of the most important decisions when planning a shelf layout. If we group products by price range, by product type, by product category, or simply by similarity of appearance, the customer’s ability to compare them will be much easier to accomplish.

How eye-level is positioned

It goes without saying that eye-level is the best place on a shelf. We have to keep products that we want people to buy in view as much as possible.

The placement of products on eye-level, however, is not as important as creating a hierarchy to lead the customer’s eye through the shelf layout.

Space vs. Overcrowding

Overcrowding is a major problem when designing shelf layouts, but the space available to us is rarely enough to satisfy our ambitions. If you have too much space, the products may not seem as significant and it will be easier to miss important items. We need to find the right balance.

Visual flow of the shelf layout

A shelf layout should guide the customer’s eye through the layout from left to right and top to bottom or diagonally. We need to ensure that the shelf flow is clear. When the visual flow of the shelf layout is clear, customers won’t be searching for products as they will feel like the products they need are easy to find.

In summary, a shelf layout is a functional tool. We use layout tools to control where the customers will look for, how they compare and finally where they decide to buy. By placing shelves in a structured way, shelves become a tool that allows a customer to choose from the range of products that they want to buy.