How to Plan a Fashion Store Layout: zones

In any clothing store there are hot and cold zones, which differently affect the behaviour of buyers.

If in a hot zone clothes has a great success, while in cold zones things may hang for months, because they are not interesting to anyone.

In this lesson on visual merchandising we will tell you about where these zones are located and how to design them to make the clothing store receive a good profit.

What are hot and cold zones in a clothing store?

Hot zone

Hotspots are those that the customer automatically looks at before or after entering the store. The look focuses on them. Hot spots, as a rule, are those zones that get the greatest traffic and are located at the entrance/exit.

Where are the hot spots in the store?

• shop windows
• mannequins entry group
• mannequins in the hall
• demonstration areas and tables
• brightly lit zones
• counters
• specially designed unusual areas
• glass cabinets
• zone near the entrance to the store

What should be hanged in the hot zone of the store?

• key store promotions
• best-selling clothes
• things with the highest demand
• it is necessary to arrange these zones with bright inscriptions, graphics and lighting in order to enhance the bigger effect and catch a look of the customer.

As the displays in these areas tend to be very noticeable, they can be used for impulse purchases and should be changed frequently. Change clothes on mannequins, shop window decoration at least every 1-2 months.

Ideas for merchandising hot zones:

• Place the display next to the walkway where the buyer usually goes.
• Hang things next to the display that are on the mannequins so that the customer doesn’t have to search for them in the store
• Hotspots need to be carefully designed and constantly changed
• Do not place base items in the hot zone.
• Do not place items that are not sold for a long time in the hot zone.

Cold zone

First of all, let's define what is a cold zone: it is a store zone where there are few buyers. This is an area where customers for some reason do not go. An area can become cold because, for example, it is less accessible than others, is not well lit or products are placed not in a proper way on the shelves. Clothing that is hanged in cold areas usually does not sell well enough.

Cold areas for product placement in the store are:

• lower left corner of the rack
• zone at the entrance which remains behind the client
• the farthest part of the store
• the lower or upper shelf of the rack
• corners in the store
• narrow aisles

What to place in the cold zone:

• basic things (T-shirts, knitwear)
• things that are not sold well
• things for which the buyer comes purposefully to the store
• place here shelves with extra sizes and colors