How to Design a Retail Space for your Day Spa â€“ Part II

Product Sales and Optimal Retail Sales Arrangements – Part II

Designing retail space within the confines of your spa can have its challenges, particularly those related to space availability. Depending upon your spa’s overall size, layout, and location, your retail space planning may be limited in what it can do. However, there are some basic design rules that you should be following in order to get the most out of your retail space. For a spa, the most obvious place for your heaviest retail display focus will be in the reception area. This is the area that everyone will see when they walk inside, so it should be the focus of your retail merchandising plan.Inside every business there is an area that is referred to as the “transition zone.” This is the area of the store where people just walk by without a glance and make the transition from outside the store to inside the store. Displays in this area usually go completely unnoticed by customers, so you don’t want to place your main or important displays in this transitional area. Of course, smaller spas with smaller reception areas will have a smaller transition zone. The best way to attack these smaller areas is to create what is known as “power displays.” These are large, horizontal displays that physically slow people down and act as a barrier. This gives the client a moment to slow down, take a look around, and absorb what is displayed around them.

A customer’s personal space is one of the most important things to consider when creating your spa’s layout. You need to remember that clients are coming into your spa to relax, so you don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable at any point during their visit. Throughout the spa, as much maneuvering room as possible should be created so that customers feel as relaxed as possible as they move from one part of the spa to another. This is important to the reception area as well where most of your retail displays will be located. Remember, less is more when it comes to retail design, so keep displays far enough away from each other to give people enough elbow room where they won’t be bumped or feel too crowded.

Aside from the reception area, you also want to distribute your retail products throughout the spa area to give your therapists and staff ample opportunity to point out different products and to allow your clients extra time to consider buying them. This is particularly important in therapy rooms, relaxation areas, gathering areas, and lounges. While you don’t want to overdo it, you do want to take advantage of these areas by creating displays that directly relate to the activities that take place there. For instance, inside the massage rooms you might want to display your line of massage oils or in the relaxation rooms you could display your aromatherapy candles as they burn nearby. Most people will probably be wondering what products are being used during their visit, so having these merchandising opportunities available in an unobtrusive way can lead to even more retail sales.