Retail Location Power centers - This center is dominated by several large anchors or Category killers. Neighborhood Centers : They are designed to provide convenience shopping for the day-to-day needs of consumers in the immediate neighborhood. Strip centers - They have parking directly in front of the stores. They have convenient locations, easy parking, and relatively low rent for retailers. The strip centers are of three types. CBDs ( Central Business Districts ) or Main Street : It is the traditional downtown business area in a city or town. Shopping Center - Group of retail and other commercial establishments that is planned, developed, owned, and managed as a single property. They are of 2 types, Strip centers & shopping malls.

Retail Location Community Centers : It typically offers a wider range of apparel and white goods than the neighborhood center does. Shopping malls - Many different types of stores providing variety of merchandise along with entertainment. Outlet Centers - Mainly manufacturers outlet stores. Theme / Festival Centers - For tourists or for festivals. Freestanding Site - Not connected to other retailers.

Retail Location CBDs and shopping centers draw large number of people due to their large size.They provide entertainment facilities. The Regional & Super regional shopping centers protect shoppers against weather. Malls provide the feeling of secure environment. They also have uniform and long hours of operation. Regional Centers - Provides general merchandise and services in full depth & variety. Fashion / Specialty Centers - Upscale apparel shops, boutiques, gift shops, restaurants, Drinking Establishments.

Retail Location Grocery stores are typically located in Neighborhood strip centers as they have less rent & are readily accessible. Department stores and Specialty apparel stores prefer CBDs & shopping centers Category Killers choose power centers or freestanding locations as they cost less, have easy access to parking, they compete on pricing, merchandise and selection.

FACTORS AFFECTING SITE ATTRACTIVENESS ACCESSIBILITY – Road Pattern & Road condition. Natural & artificial barriers. Customer’s ability to see the store and enter the parking lot safely. Traffic flow should be balanced. Direction of traffic flow, amount and quality of parking facilities. Impulse merchandise should have better visibility, Need based stores can be at inferior location. The stores can also be based on the principle of Cumulative attraction.

FACTORS FOR SELECTION OF TRADE AREA Span of managerial control - Positioning Economies of scale - Multiple locations to increase the reach keeping the costs of distribution and promotion low. Population’s demographic and lifestyle characteristics which includes, population growth potential, size and composition of households, household income. Business Climate - Employment trend, Business growth

STORE LAYOUT The store layout should be such that that it forces the customer to move around the store to purchase more merchandise than planned. This can be done by providing more varieties. The store layout should be such that the customer can spend minimum time to buy the required merchandise.

STORE LAYOUT The monotony of flat surfaces should be broken by providing multilevel and ramps or by varying display heights. The customer should be provided with sufficient space to move around maintaining balance with utilization of space.

STORE LAYOUT TYPES Grid layout - It contains long gondolas and aisles in a repetitive pattern. This is not good aesthetically but is very convenient with fixed location for each item. Space wasted is less.

STORE LAYOUT TYPES Race Track - This is a type of layout that provides a major aisle to facilitate customer traffic that has access to the store’s multiple entrances. This layout provides different viewing angles and the total store is divided into boutiques.

TYPES OF LAYOUTS Free Form - here the fixtures and aisles are arranged asymmetrical. This facilitates browsing and shopping in relaxed atmosphere. Here personal selling becomes more important and the chances of theft are higher as adjacent departments can’ easily be watched. This includes 3 types of display areas.

TYPES OF LAYOUTS Feature areas include end caps, promotional aisles, freestanding fixtures and mannequins and Point-of-sale areas. Bulk-of-stock area contains the total assortment of merchandise. It can be on gondolas or freestanding fixtures. Walls - Utilizing the walls through racks & shelves.

STORE LAYOUT Flexibility - This includes ability to move store components or ease of modifying store components. Space planning - based on assortment planning. This also should be based on available fixtures, items to be emphasized, the reach for the customer

STORE LAYOUT Impulse Products near the front of the store. Demand / destination areas will be located off the beaten path. Seasonal needs - Near the compatible items. Departments requiring large floor space will be located in less desirable space. Complimentary items should be adjacent.