If you make it difficult for people to walk into your store, no matter how attractive the merchandise is, how well priced, or how wonderful the service from your staff is – people will choose to shop elsewhere.

Stock in dumpsters or on shelves around doors attract people BUT reduce the width of the doorway. If the client is worried about knocking something down while browsing this, he may decide not to enter. She might as well tell herself, “I’m not going to breathe to get past this merchandise or go sideways and crawl. No way!” Remember, she has many other options.

When a customer is looking at clothing and it’s so tight on the hangers that they can’t get individual items out easily or can’t put them back on, they may not even try. Shelves should not be overstocked, as customers are unlikely to work hard to search for products on the shelves. They have other options. I guess the good news is that if you overstock your shelves, you won’t have to replenish them as often…because your merchandise won’t sell (that’s the bad news).

When you have a high level of stock, it’s tempting to overfill your screens, full is good, but overstock makes searching and browsing difficult.

As you build your displays, make sure customers can easily bend down to see items on the bottom shelf without blocking the aisle.

If customers have bags from other stores, or a shopping cart, they will be deterred from walking down narrow aisles. Jan says that her aisles should be at least 1.2 meters wide so that customers can move freely.

While we’re on the topic of accessibility, think about people in wheelchairs and parents with pushchairs. Get a few volunteers who represent different types of customers to visit your store and give feedback. You can video record your feedback on your phone and share it with your team. This will have an impact.

Most of the time, when people are stocking up at the supermarket or shopping for Christmas gifts, they are on autopilot; they are in the ‘adaptive unconscious’ mode. This is when your brain processes the constant stream of stimuli without your conscious awareness, and is drawn to the familiar while blanking out the multitude of other messages.

To counter this, focus your merchandising by displaying your best-selling products and high-profit lines between eye-level and hip-level of your typical customers. And keep refreshing it so there’s something new to grab your customers’ attention and move their conscious mind into action.

Even if you don’t have time to remarket all areas of the store, prioritize prime positions and trailing displays. Rotate stock of these to attract customer interest. Start merchandising from the front of the store. That way, even if you run out of time to update all the main positions, the section you’ve made will be visible to the customer and convey the message that, “Yes, we have new and interesting articles for you to check out.”

As we move into December, the stores are starting to look tired. The shelves empty. The merchandise gets dirty. It’s understandable: there are often more customers in the store in December than at any other time of the year. It’s hard to keep up appearances and it can be challenging to maintain store standards.

However, it is a challenge that you must meet. How much business can you afford to lose? If your front screens are half empty for just one day, think about the revenue you’ve given up, and not just on that day. It means these disappointed customers are unlikely to return in the lucrative pre-Christmas period.

Keep your store looking fresh and inviting during the holiday season and you’ll earn the right to be your customers’ choice at other times of the year.

Find out which lines can be promoted at the counter. They should be low-priced stock fillers that appeal to the most customers. Be careful not to place too much merchandise or information here, as 70% of the space must be available for business. Remove everything and then put back only what is completely necessary.

If you have a window display, make sure the items in the window display are still available in a variety of sizes. Imagine how people will feel if you tell them that the merchandise in the window is out of stock? You could have lost a stressed, time-strapped customer for life.

At the end of each day, set aside an extra half hour to an hour for support staff to clean up the store and focus on the store presentation. Fill shelves. Wipe fingerprints off the glass. Make sure you are proudly prepared for the next day.

Stay alert, keep thinking like a customer. Every time you and your staff go to and from the bathroom or lunch, notice which windows draw you in. ask yourself, “Why is this? What made me stop? What do customers see in the windows that will draw them to these retail stores?”