Rx for a Healthier Business

Rx for a Healthier Business: Planning a Gift Shop

Your hospital in undergoing a major renovation and you’ve just found out you’ll be facilitating the new gift shop.  Before you start to hyperventilate just thinking about all the extra work in your already time squeezed schedule, read the following helpful hints designed to put things into perspective.

The following information will help you crystallize your thinking about your new shop before you meet with the hospital planning departments, interior designer and architects.  Forming a working partnership and taking an active role in the design process will ensure enough gift shop space to generate projected sales and profit and guarantee a shop that creates a positive experience for customers and a happy habitat for the volunteers.

1. Begin at the beginning, when designing a new hospital gift shop, how much additional business do you plan to do?
2. Project the expected sales increase in your sales volume.  If additional square footage is planned and the shop will be in a higher traffic area, a sales increase should be expected.
3. Project the sales by individual department.  Plan basic and volume-producing departments first.  Then plan impulse and fun departments, as well as new services to bring customers into the shop.  This is a good time to survey customers and hospital employees for feedback.
4. Get a “footprint” of the proposed space, showing window areas, main entrance, and any obstructions that have to be worked with (columns, etc.).  Footprint should include measurements of each wall, door opening, etc.
5. Locate and plan the cash and wrap/register area.  This should be no more than 7 % of total floor space, and at least 15 feet into the shop interior.  Take into account any wiring needed for the area (POS system, phone, modem, credit card machine, scale to weigh bulk candy).  Don’t forget work area to wrap and a place to set handbag while paying or writing a check.  Number of jewelry cases will depend on planned sales (don’t just put in two or three cases and then try and fill them up).  Top of counter is the best location for merchandising jewelry and increasing its sales volume.  Get the measurements of the cash register so that enough space is designed to contain it.
6. Allocate space for departments based on sales volume, and the appropriate department and product group adjacencies.
7. Plan assortments for each individual department based on vendor and price point structure and sales to stock ratio (inventory levels needed).
8. Once you have determined what merchandise will be carried and how much, fixtures can be discussed.  Fixtures should be flexible (hold shelves, bins, hooks, etc.) and movable.  Inventory of hardware needs can now be completed (hooks, brackets, shelves, mirrors, etc.) and orders written.
9. Complete a “time action” calendar showing construction completion, delivery dates of fixtures, dates to place orders, delivery and marking target dates, store set up dates, training, grand opening.

New Hospital Gift Shop Design Expenses

• A standard white or gray slat wall costs 33% less than a custom-colored, high- pressure laminate.  Remember, most of the slat wall will be covered in merchandise.
• Carpet tiles will save you money in the long run.  If a spill occurs, the tile can be replaced.
• A custom built, curved front counter will cost twice as much as one that is pre-fabricated.
• Many manufacturers will supply fixtures, charging only shipping costs, however beware of the sea of mismatched wire racks that seem to multiply, or more countertop fixtures then you have countertops.
• Imported track lights may run 20% less than a domestic brand.  The bulbs provide the correct light, not the lighting fixture, so save your money.  However, don’t skimp on lighting, it is the most important design element in a retail space.
• Purchasing fixtures from someone locally will save you shipping costs.

Other Things to Think About When Designing a New Hospital Gift Shop

1. Think of the customers “senses.”  Will you have music playing in the background?  Studies show music enhances the shopping experience and increase sales.  Accommodations for sound system should be made during planning (wiring, speakers, CD player).  Music CDs playing in the shop can also be sold.
2. Accept credit cards and initiate payroll deduction.  Both form of payment are convenient for customers and increase sales.  This is the time to add extra phone line and consider credit card terminal locations.  Two separate phone lines will be needed- one for calls, one to authorize credit card purchases.  Phone and credit card authorization machine should be in convenient place near cash register.
3. What new services do you plan to offer?  Postage stamps, phone cards, frequent buyer programs, payroll deduction, and gift wrapping?
4. Do you ask your customers for feedback?  A survey is helpful.  Keeping customer comment cards at the register area shows you care about them.  Responding to their feedback shows you want to continue to do better.
5. To build up your idea bank, visit other retail locations, both mainstream and in hospitals, and note their merchandise selections and presentations.

The most important factor in operating a successful retail shop is to make your shop a fun place to visit and pass this attitude along to volunteers working in the shop.  Your shop should be a place where regular customers come in all the time just to see “what’s new”.  Try to make your shop a part of your hospital’s employee’s daily life, and their favorite store!

A well-designed hospital gift shop will always increase sales, sometimes in amounts that are hard to believe.  Although store layout is not the only factor in a shop’s success, it is a key element.  Learning and following the 7-Steps to a Highly Effective Gift Shop will ensure success.  Any of the steps alone will not guarantee the success of a gift shop, but by combining them effectively a shop’s chances of succeeding profitably are all but guaranteed.

Still wondering how you’ll get it all done?  Remember, even though your hospital administration has hired an architect and an interior designer, most are not retail designers. If there is room in the budget for all of the above, there should be room to hire a professional hospital gift shop designer. 

Working with a qualified hospital gift shop designer will help you communicate your needs to the architects and avoid costly mistakes.  Furthermore, a professional hospital gift shop designer will make sure your gift shop is designed around your business, not the other way around.