Only one third of Romania's retail spaces based on viable concepts, study finds

Only one in three retail spaces in Romania has a long-term viable concept, according to a recent study issued by Stirixis. Only 30 percent of the developments on the Romanian retail market are based on criteria which follow the principles of a sustainable business. Developing a viable long term concept involves some key elements, such as a coherent strategy, solid feasibility studies and sustainability, according to a statement by Stirixis. Another key factor to be taken into account is the way the employees influence the investment recovery rate and its profitability, according to Stirixis. The most important elements that should be taken into account when designing retail spaces are the experiential design, the layout and functionality, the personnel which should serve a certain area, the design of the lightning installation, as well as the feed-back mechanisms, among others. “The lack of functionality could generate significant losses in a business. We had a case where the position of the shelves at 40 cm up from the floor made it hard for the customers to get to the products they wanted, which triggered a dramatic decrease in sales. It is hard to believe such a small detail can have such a big impact, but once the shelves were placed at 80 cm from the ground, which was easily accessible, sales went up,” said Alexander Athanassoulas, CEO of Stirixis. editor@romania-insider.com