Reporting Storage Space
Concepts of Floor Plan
Maintaining the floor plan is one of the responsibilities of a store operations assistant. A floor plan indicates where goods or products and customer service areas are located, as well as the movement space for customers.
Allocating Space
Allocating space involves assigning a specific location for a particular type of merchandise. This helps to facilitate customer interaction, boost sales, and provide a positive purchase experience.
Types of Spaces Needed
Shoppers are most familiar with the sales floor, but there are other critical floor areas that must be considered by planners. The five main types of floor space requirements in a store are:
(a) Back Room
This is where excess merchandise is stored.
(b) Office and Functional Spaces
Every retail store needs designated areas for offices, a break room, training room, offices for the manager and assistant manager, customer and staff restrooms, and possibly other utility zones.
(c) Aisles, Service Areas, and Other Non-Selling Zones on the Sales Floor
Some space must be allocated for non-selling purposes to ensure smooth movement of a large number of shoppers. These areas include dressing rooms, layaway zones, service desks, and other customer service facilities that are not used for merchandising.
(d) Wall Merchandising Space
Walls are vital components of a retail store. They serve as visual backdrops and hold fixtures that can display large quantities of merchandise.
(e) Floor Merchandising Space
Various fixtures are used on the store floor to showcase a diverse range of products.
Retailers need to strike a balance between maximizing product displays and maintaining functional store operations. Space is the retailer’s most limited resource, and it's seldom possible to meet all layout goals completely.
How Can Retailers Use the Available Space?
The aim is to optimize as much of the space as possible for merchandise display and shopper convenience. Some practical suggestions include:
- Mounting televisions on walls to save space, especially in smaller stores.
- Adjusting the height of showcases based on storage needs and their intended locations.
Reporting Requirements for Shortage of Storage Space
Storage space shortage is a common issue in retail. Regardless of how much storage exists, there's always a need for more. One of the store assistant’s roles is to find and organize additional storage effectively.
Stock shortages refer to discrepancies between the recorded stock levels and the actual physical inventory. A shortage occurs when the physical stock is less than what’s recorded, indicating an overstatement of available stock.
Shortage Types
Shortages may be either:
- Real Shortage: Caused by theft, loss, breakage, spoilage, over-issuing, or under-supply.
- Clerical Shortage: Happens due to incorrect checking during goods reception, where fewer items are received than invoiced. These discrepancies are commonly known as shrinkage or leakage.