The brick-and-mortar retail landscape is still alive and kicking, and to maintain its prominent place among consumers, retail companies are looking for ways to modernize and optimize their operations. For many retail stores, this starts with assessing and addressing potential flaws or room for improvement in their current floor plans.
Building measuring services can help retail stores discover inefficiencies in their current layout, design, and/or operations, facilitating renovations and optimizing the design and construction process for present and future locations. Keep reading to learn how retail stores can benefit from these services by working with our team at Planit Engineering.
What’s the Point of Building Measuring Services?
Building measurement services are digitally rendered examinations of a building’s existing floor plan, structural points, internal systems, and more. These services are completed using 3D LiDAR scans to gain accurate, detailed data of a retail space. Store owners, building developers, construction managers, and other stakeholders in your retail business can use this information to determine which aspects of your building’s current condition work and which need improvement. With the advent of more precise, accurate data to use as a reference, property owners and contractors can gain a more comprehensive understanding of how to improve their commercial or retail space for increased safety, employee satisfaction, and customer experiences.
How Retail Stores Can Benefit
You may not realize how many inefficiencies are lurking beneath the surface of your retail store. If your company plans to expand its scope, open new locations, and/or renovate existing ones, assessing the conditions of your current retail stores can give you a better jumping-off point for your upcoming development. Here are a few ways your retail company can benefit from building measuring services:
1. Improved Shopping Experience for Customers
There’s nothing worse than visiting a different location of your go-to grocery store only to realize that the layout is entirely different from your usual one. The bakery is on the opposite side of the store, the aisle signs have different labels, the only POS systems are self-checkouts—you know the drill.
This lack of cohesion among store chains can create a frustrating shopping experience for many customers. The unfamiliar territory requires them to spend more time navigating the store and locating the products they need. If they’re in a rush or only need to pick up a handful of items, this prolonged shopping time can result in a negative experience in your store.
On the other hand, assessing and adapting your company’s floor plans to be consistent across the board will offer your customers a comfortable, reliable, and efficient shopping experience, regardless of which location they visit.
2. Reduced Risk During the Expansion Process
When selecting new locations for your expanding retail business, it’s important to ensure that their layout and function align with your company’s design standards, operational needs, and requirements. Building measuring services can provide you with verified spatial data and accurate square footage of the property you’re considering. This information can help you decide whether your chosen property can accommodate your business needs before you sign the lease papers.
3. Reliable Documentation for Future Renovation, Maintenance, and Development
As your company grows, having detailed and reliable documentation of your physical locations will help expedite future renovations, expansions, or maintenance. Building measuring services will provide you with scan-to-CAD and BIM models that accurately reflect your building’s current condition, which can reduce the risk of errors during renovations and streamline maintenance plans.
Examples of Planit’s Work with Retail Stores
Our team of building measurement experts at Planit has had the opportunity to work with several companies across industries, including several in the retail sector. Here are a couple of examples of past projects where we were able to provide precise building measurement services via 3D laser scanning and CAD documentation:
Aritzia
One of Aritzia’s new 40,000 sqft locations required more updated and accurate documentation and the ability to integrate new design elements seamlessly.
We created a highly detailed Revit model using laser scanners to ensure they had accurate measurements and documentation of this retail space that aligned with their brand’s vision and design standards.
Rogers
Rogers reached out to our team to perform post-opening audits on 521 of their active store locations. At this time, they were working with inaccurate and outdated floor plans for these retail spaces and a lack of understanding regarding their current physical conditions. Leveraging CAD laser scans, we were able to provide accurate, detailed 3D walkthroughs of these locations and highlight blind spots in their current layouts. (You can read more about our work with retail stores by visiting our Industries page.)
Optimize Your Retail Space with Planit Engineering
If you’re expanding your retail business, make it happen with Planit Engineering. Whether you need as-built assessments of existing stores or analyses of potential locations, our team will ensure you gain the information you need to create a retail center that provides a smooth, efficient, and enjoyable shopping experience.
Contact us today to learn more.
