Running a mini grocery store can be tough, but just because you’re small doesn’t mean you can’t do great things. However, finding success requires taking a strategic and thoughtful approach to maximizing your available space.
Optimizing your mini grocery store design is essential to improving the customer experience, boosting sales, and staying competitive — but where do you start?
Here are seven store design tips you can try out today to refresh your space and keep customers coming back for more.
1. Know Your Competitors
While not a design tip in a literal sense, your product selection will affect every aspect of your design — and that product list will be highly dependent on your local competitors.
With a smaller physical footprint, it’s generally not a good strategy to try and stock everything your competitors have on a smaller scale. After all, why would a customer choose a smaller version of a store that already exists?
Instead, focus on what unique items you can offer. If a convenience store sells lots of chips and soda up the street, it’s probably not worth taking up a ton of shelf space with those two items — instead, just have a smaller selection of your bestselling chips near the register.
If you’re not sure where to start, here are a couple of ideas.
- Visit other stores: Hop online and see what other convenience stores, grocery stores, and mini-marts are in your area and visit them. Take notes on what they do well and (more importantly) what they lack.
- Use your sales data: Use the sales data on your point of sale (POS) system to see what your strongest product categories and bestsellers are. This will help you determine what items you should stock more of (and which you should cut back on).
The goal of a competitor analysis is to know exactly what unique value you bring your customers so you can maximize your space with the products they want the most.
2. Place Refrigerated Items Toward the Back
Many people pop into a small grocery store for nothing more than a quart of milk, a carton of eggs, or a cold drink, at least at first.
Have you ever wondered why the vast majority of convenience and grocery stores place their fridges toward the outer edges of the store? It’s because it encourages customers to walk through the aisles on the way towards those essential items.
This way, a shopper quickly popping in for eggs might stop and pick up a few extras when something catches their eye.
Not only is it a good way to encourage upselling, but it’s also generally more practical. Having fridges away from the main aisles and registers keeps them out of shoppers’ way when they need to be restocked or maintained.
Related Read: How To Open a Bodega: 6 Steps to Success
3. Have a Designated Receiving Area
Nothing’s quite as offputting as going into a small grocery and seeing aisle after aisle of half-unpacked boxes.
Instead, try to have a designated receiving area that you can keep organized and out of customers’ way. If you receive shipments in the back, put them near the back door. If you have to take orders through the front, make sure there’s adequate space to unload without bumping into customers at checkout.
This goes hand in hand with optimizing your inventory levels so you don’t frequently overstock. Once you understand your suppliers’ lead times, you can set low stock alerts on your POS system so you can reorder at just the right time.
Bonus Tip: Don’t Forget Spots for Pickup Orders
If your store does online sales and local pickup, it’s also a good idea to have a designated (and secure) spot for pickups.
Even if it’s just a table near the register, having a single spot to place orders will help you stay organized (and quickly spot if something seems off).
Use clear signage so customers know exactly where to go and how to pick up online orders.
4. Use Clear and Unique Signage
It might seem counterintuitive, but because a mini grocery store is so small, it can actually make things harder to find. Item placement might be second nature to you, but not to your customers.
That’s where great signage can help. Invest in clear aisle signs and shelf labels so customers can easily find what they’re looking for.
However, it’s a mistake to only think of signage as a way to get people around your store — it’s also an excellent way to share your personality with shoppers.
Design signs with brand colors and write messages that showcase the people and passion at the heart of your business. Memorable signage will create a more welcoming atmosphere and keep customers coming back.
5. Upsell Customers With Tempting Displays
When customers are on their way to checkout, their shopping isn’t over! In fact, it’s the perfect time to entice them with snacks and other impulse purchases.
Place small standing fridges with cold drinks or standing racks with single-serving snacks, candy, and other small treats to tempt shoppers to treat themselves while they wait in line.
Even better, create buy one get one (BOGO) offers to add to the temptation and boost sales. You can also maximize your space and create similar upselling opportunities by using standing or endcap displays at the head of your aisles.
Creative displays are a great way to differentiate yourself from bigger competitors, so don’t be afraid to show off your creativity!
6. Group Relevant Items Together To Encourage Cross-Selling
Have you ever wandered into the coffee aisle only to suddenly remember you need filters? Lucky for you, they’re right there! This isn’t an accident, but the result of good store planning.
Placing complementary items next to each other is a great way to encourage cross-selling and increase cart size. Here are a few examples to get the ideas flowing:
- Putting dips and salsas next to chips
- Putting other ingredients to make guacamole (with a recipe) near avocados
- Having a display with grilling utensils next to the meat fridge during the summer
- Putting jams and crackers near cheeses
If you need more inspiration, use your customers! Look at the sales reports on your POS system to see if certain items are frequently bought together.
7. Change Up Your Layout From Time to Time
Keep customers engaged by refreshing your layout from time to time. Create featured displays to highlight sales and promotions, seasonal discounts, new product arrivals, and more.
Additionally, use sales data and customer feedback to determine if any areas of the store are neglected or confusing, and make changes as needed.
Occasional changes are good but don’t just move items around for the sake of it. Have specific goals for each layout update and monitor their success using the analytics tools on your POS system.
Improve the Customer Experience at Your Mini Grocery Store With Markt POS
Optimizing your mini grocery store design is crucial, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. To better understand your customers’ needs and your store’s financial health, you need tools that are specifically built for small grocers.
Markt POS is tailor-made for small groceries and food markets. It offers powerful and convenient tools for managing inventory, customer loyalty, marketing, and more in a single cost-effective package.
Contact our grocery store experts today to learn how Markt POS can help transform your mini grocery store.
