Store planning
First-Week Merchandising Mistakes in a New Shop
If customers cannot walk, cannot see a price, and cannot try on, the opening failed — even if the photos look full.
First-week merchandising mistakes in a new shop are a forest of fixtures, unmarked SKUs, and the delivery still on the floor. Independent retailers in Thailand spend the opening on Instagram and discover customers cannot walk, cannot find a price, and cannot try on.
Opening priority is what to buy first. This page is what goes wrong when the objects arrive. Six-week checklist is the calendar.
The mistakes
- Everything on the floor. Four-way, rounder, nested tables exploded, a dump, a gondola. Layout wants one story. Dump vs table.
- No tickets. Unpriced facing is not merchandising — price tickets.
- Receiving on the sales floor. Back of house. Unlock the casters in the stock zone, not the aisle.
- Naked slatwall. Panels without hangrail are joinery — accessories.
- Size run in the window. Window fixtures.
- Wrap that cannot pack. Impulse city, a case on top — cash wrap, queue.
- Fitting room as an afterthought. No hook, no close, no light — fitting rooms.
- Six mannequins, no walk. How many forms.
- Hotel hangers on the rail. Hanger types.
- Ignoring the landlord until the inspector. Landlord.
We do not invent a “successful opening rate.” Fix the walk, the wrap, and the tickets. The photos can wait a day.
What to do instead
Open with a perimeter that holds the delivery, a wrap that packs, a path, tickets, and one campaign. What a 40 sqm boutique needs. Put later lines on the quotation as later lines — fixtures vs custom.
What belongs on the quotation
Must-open vs later, named. Language Thai or English. Opening month so the schedule is honest — we do not invent lead times.
Send shop type and the week you must trade. Use the fixture plan form. We will return one fixture schedule that can actually open.
Common questions
- Should the shop look full on day one?
- Slightly quiet is better than a forest. Depth is on the wall. The floor is a walk.
- Can tickets wait until week two?
- No. Unmarked facing is not merchandising. Put holders on the first schedule.
- Where should the delivery live in week one?
- On the wall or in receiving. Not on unlocked casters in the aisle.
- Is a full Instagram set a fixture brief?
- No. Pretty is not measurable. Send walls, wrap, and landlord rules.
Want a fixture list that fits your shop?
Tell us the shop type, size and opening date. We build one fixture plan and one written quotation, in Thai or English.
Get my fixture plan