Time and space

One thing everybody has is space and time - the thing that sets us apart from each other is how much we have and what we do with it. We might spend a lot of time moaning about the fact that we don’t have enough space, and we might employ our time better by thinking creatively about how to use the space we do have.  

If there is no possibility of increasing your ground floor space it could well be time to stop bemoaning the lack of it and start to think more positively. What is it that you want to achieve with the space that you have available to you? By being clear about your objectives, you can begin to work towards the goals that you have in mind.  

One need might be to increase display space for a particular product, and to do this you may find that you can increase your shelving heights.  For instance, the 2.4m high wall shelving that Shelving4Shops offers might just give that extra bit of space that you need. 

You can rearrange the shelves on our units to suit your product. Our wall shelves offer various depths suitable for a diverse range of products, and to enable flexibility the shelves can be rearranged easily every time that you want to change your display. The units of shelving can also be connected together to create one long run, which looks tidy as well as being an efficient use of available space.  

Give Shelving4Shops a call on 01455 221512 if you would like to discuss ways in which we can help you to achieve more shelving space for your needs.  

Banish the muddle with peg boarding

It’s Monday morning and the rubber hits the road again. No time for a coffee break, no time for a relaxing lunch, and definitely no time for a quick tea break in the afternoon - does that sound familiar? Whilst you want the business, it seems difficult to maintain order in the midst of the rush.  

We have all been in stores which seem to be in a perpetual state of chaos, partly due to a lack of organisation and a lack of time to put things back in their proper places. Mess is never appealing to a prospective customer! Sometimes there's simply been a lack of planning, and the places to put things just don't exist.  

Peg boarding is a way of introducing order and maintaining it. Leaning things up against walls or stacking them on the floor is really just a mess waiting to happen! When it's easy to put something back where it came from, customers will do so, but if it's more challenging then things will be dropped on the floor or put back where they don't belong. Clutter can become a hazard, as well as a nuisance, and nobody wants accidents to happen.

Peg boarding is a method of displaying items that are not easily stacked, and it can cater for both large and small items. Your merchandise can be hung by pegs or hooks, effortlessly arranged to suit the size of the product and so make display easy to manage. Simply achieved, it makes your life much easier as well as enabling your customers to clearly see what you are offering.  

Shelving4Shops offers peg boarding as wall units, gondola units or as an end bay - it's simple and versatile to use and keep in order.  

For more information give Shelving4shops a call on 01455 221512.

The skeleton

A shop is a bit like a skeleton, and the shelves are the bare bones to be built on and help create the shop's whole personality.  Good strong shelving means a fully functioning unit, and if the shelving system is aging and beginning to fail then it does need replacing - a bit like having a hip replacement!  

If your shelving has seen better days, it may well be time to think about refurbishing your store. Our main company, Shoptek UK Ltd, are specialists in clearance of supermarkets, and we can clear stores quickly and efficiently with the minimal amount of disruption to the flow of your business.  

Shelving4Shops, a trading company of Shoptek UK, caters for large and small supermarkets and stores that need a refit. The shelving solutions that we offer are suitable for just about any kind of store, from books to clothing, from pet shops to fresh produce. Our extensive experience in the business of shelving and refurbishing means that we carry stocks of used as well as new shelves, which are available to customers who wish to either recycle or use recycled shelving. The recycled shelving will also help to keep your costs down, freeing up extra finance for other projects in hand.  

Not only do we supply the bare bones, but we go a little further in supplying the things that make the shop work that little bit more simply, such as the ticket strips, cash registers, wire baskets and dump bins which all make your store ready for action.  

To find out more about how we can help to refresh and renew your store, give Shelving4Shops a call on 01455 221512 or call in to see our showrooms in Wolvey, Leicestershire.  

You can’t judge a book by its cover

The proverb says that you can't judge a book by its cover, which is taken to mean that even when the cover of a book looks a bit boring it might prove a really good read. However, often if the cover of the book looks a bit dull, you don’t hang around to find out whether or not the proverb is true - you pass it over for one with a bit more of a lively presentation.  

The same is true for a shop; if the shop window display is dull and boring,  many people will not bother entering the shop to find out whether or not it might be interesting. The shop window is the deciding factor that captivates or turns away potential customers.  

To make a point of interest, you will want to draw the potential customer’s eye to focus on something which is colourful or interesting. It might create a question or stimulate their appetite to find out more, thereby drawing them in to your shop. It’s a good idea to change your window display frequently to maintain people’s interest, and to do this you will need a variety of easily changeable and versatile shelving and accessories.

Shelving4Shops offers many different kinds of shelving, including wire baskets and wire dump bins, which are especially useful for shop windows as they are easily transportable and therefore easily removed when changing the window theme. Try stacking colourful and seasonal matching products, or try a minimalist approach with just a few well-chosen goods laid out artistically on a contrasting background. Either way, you will find that Shelving4Shops has just the right kind of equipment to display your goods. Whether you want standard shelving, wire shelving or peg boarding for your window, we can meet your needs.  

Give Shelving4shops a call on 01455 221512 to find out more about the shelving we offer, or call in at our Leicestershire showrooms to see it for yourself.  

Too tidy?

It may be hard to believe, but according to research customers are hesitant to mess up to an extremely tidy and organised shop display. That means that if your shop is just a bit too tidy, people will hesitate to handle and touch your stock - an important aspect of shopping, as it helps the customer familiarise themselves with the item and make up their mind about purchasing it.  

For example, how often do you go shopping for clothes and run your hand over a garment, instantly giving a verdict based on the feel of the fabric? Women are particularly tactile shoppers, and will be deterred from bringing things into disarray by this method of sampling if the display is just too pristine. Some shops deliberately give their goods the ‘jumble sale’ look, simply to encourage a hands-on customer experience. The goods then look as if a previous customer has rooted through them, and the new customer is then not so reluctant to do so themselves.  

However, conversely, customers will also be deterred if the merchandise is in a disorganised heap, as there is no visual attraction. It is necessary to somehow bring about a happy medium; making the products available and attractive without the turn-off factor of too much mess.

To display your goods, whether the shelf is tilted or flat, you will need shelf dividers to separate different stock and shelf risers to prevent things falling off on to the floor. Shelving4shops can supply them in acrylic or chrome, depending on your needs - how you deal with getting the balance right between chaos and order is then up to you!

Give Shelving4shops a call to further discuss your requirements to display your goods effectively, or call in at our Leicestershire showroom at Hinckley Road, Wolvey, LE10 3JG, to see how you can utilise the equipment we offer to maximise your customers’ hands-on experience.  

Making the most of customer’s shopping habits

Sometimes life is a bit of a mystery, and the art of shopping is a skill learnt by experience! Likewise, the art of selling is a skill that's learnt and then adjusted according to the kind of customer that you are wanting to attract.  

Some shops are geared towards attracting men, simply because of the products that they are offering, and needless to say, they have to consider the shopping habits of men. Many men do not enjoy shopping, but when it is a necessity they usually like to dive into a shop and out again as quickly as possible.  

To make the most of a man’s shopping trip, many shops like to offer other products to engage their interest whilst they are in the shop. There are many ways of doing this, and one is to direct their steps around the shop by means of creating aisles with gondola style shelving. The major products which a man seeks are usually placed at least half way down an aisle, ensuring that the customer will be able to appreciate other merchandise which he might need, on his way to finding the thing he really came for! Surrounding the major selling products are items of interest deemed particular to the same customer, particularly focusing on men’s habits and men’s interests. The strategically-placed gondola shelving then directs the customer past other attractive merchandise before he arrives at the pay point.  

Gondola shelving can be placed down the centre of a shop, creating retail space either side of the unit, and thereby maximising on the floor space.  Units can also be joined end-to-end for the length of the shop. 

Shelving4shops offers gondola shelving in a variety of heights, from 1.4m to 2.1m, whilst the shelving itself also comes in a variety of widths which can be adjusted to meet your requirements.  

The little things in life

For some, tracking down the perfect answer to a problem is time-consuming, and requires a lot of focus. Whether the problem concerns the right sort of clothing for a special event, an ingredient for a delicate dessert, or a particular tool for an artist, the quest takes one into a shop to hunt. 

It is quite a specific challenge, but one which you as a shop owner can maximise on, by giving a basket to the newly-arrived customer. It is both a welcoming gesture and one designed, of course, to encourage them to spend money in your store.  

Even the humble shopping basket has a role to play in the grand designs of planning and strategy.  By being given a basket, the customer is both encouraged and enabled to buy more than one thing. Without a basket, they are restricted to what they can carry, but with a basket the possibilities are increased and with careful planning the customer is introduced to more ways of how to solve their problem than just the one thing that they were focused on purchasing when they arrived.  

It must be acknowledged that one item looks a little lost in a large basket, and some people also feel embarrassed to take a basket to the checkout with only one item in it. So, frequently, more than one item is placed in the basket, creating an ease of sale which maybe hadn’t been considered beforehand.  

Shelving4shops supplies not only the major things such as shelving, chiller displays and refrigeration units, but also the little things like shopping baskets, cash registers, security mirrors, which help your store provide more of an enjoyable shopping experience for your customer and more of a profitable enterprise for you.  

Call Shelving4Shops on 01455 221512 to find out more of the ways we can help to supply the little things to help you, as well as the larger equipment.