Three Floors, One Queue: Why the Silk Doesn't Sell in Mangaluru
A three-floor saree showroom in Mangaluru records 72% of sales from the ground floor, 21% from the first floor and 7% from the second. The ground floor holds the ₹450–₹1,200 range in open racks; the first floor holds silk sarees at ₹6,000 and above and is reached by a staircase at the back corner, behind the billing counter. The second floor holds dress materials and has no signage at all. Mannequins on the ground floor wear the same two sarees all month. Tube lights on the first floor are 4,000 K white and flatten the zari; the ground floor uses warm light. The owner says customers complain the store is 'expensive', although its average bill of ₹2,300 is lower than the mall store nearby. Wedding season starts in five weeks.
1. Explain why sales are concentrated on the ground floor, using layout and visual merchandising principles rather than 'customer preference'.
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The traffic explains the split before the product does. Every customer enters on the ground floor, so it enjoys 100% of arrivals; the first floor gets only those who choose to climb, and the second floor only those who climb twice. A 72/21/7 split is what a layout with no upward draw looks like, not evidence that silk is unwanted.
Four specific causes
- The staircase is in the wrong place. At the back corner behind billing, it reads as a service route, not an invitation. High-value merchandise needs a visible destination from the entrance.
- Lighting devalues the product. 4,000 K flat light kills the lustre of zari and makes a ₹6,000 saree look like a ₹1,500 one. Warm light on the ground floor flatters the cheaper range - the store is literally lighting its low-margin floor better than its high-margin floor.
- No newness signal. Two mannequins in the same sarees all month tell a repeat customer nothing has changed, so she has no reason to walk further in.
- The second floor is invisible. No signage means no known reason to climb, so dress materials depend on accident.
The 'expensive' complaint The first price the customer meets is ₹450–₹1,200. That becomes her anchor. The silks are hidden, so the store never gets credit for range, and the low average bill of ₹2,300 confirms the premium range is not being converted.
2. List the changes you would make, in priority order, and justify the sequence.
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Priority 1 - Make the staircase a destination (no structural cost) A dressed mannequin group and a signboard at the foot of the stairs, warm light spilling down the stairwell, and one staff member greeting at the turn. Highest impact per rupee because it attacks the root cause: nobody goes up.
Priority 2 - Relight the first floor Warm 3,000 K ambient with directional spots giving roughly three times the ambient level on the display silks. Silk is sold on drape and sheen; the product must look like what it costs. Cheap, reversible, and immediately visible on the sales floor.
Priority 3 - Signage and a reason for the second floor A clear board at the stair head naming dress materials, plus a wedding-season offer or combo. An unsigned floor cannot be shopped.
Priority 4 - Change the mannequins fortnightly to the wedding theme This creates newness and gives repeat customers a reason to return and to move through the store.
Priority 5 - Put an entry-price silk or wedding set on the ground floor This sets a premium anchor near the entrance and builds a bridge between the cheap floor and the expensive one.
The sequence logic: cheapest and most reversible first, structural last. Fixing traffic and light will show results within the five weeks; moving a staircase would not.
3. What would you measure before and after, and what would tell you the changes failed?
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Baseline now, then weekly for six weeks
- Sales per square foot by floor. This shows whether the upper floors are earning their space, not merely whether sales rose.
- Footfall per floor (manual tally at the stair head for two hours each evening). This separates a traffic problem from a conversion problem: if footfall rises but sales do not, the issue is assortment or staff, not layout.
- Conversion rate per floor (bills ÷ footfall) and average bill by floor.
- Share of silk sales in total revenue, the number the owner actually cares about.
What failure looks like Footfall on the first floor stays flat despite new signage and light - then the staircase position is the binding constraint and a structural change must be considered. Footfall rises but conversion stays low - then the problem is the silk range, pricing, or staff knowledge, not merchandising. Average bill falls because the ground-floor anchor is pulling customers downmarket - then the entrance display needs revisiting.
One caution: wedding season lifts everything. Compare each week with the same week last year, not just with the week before.