The basic functional dynamics of a retail store are simple: show product/sell product.  

This activity requires a space to accommodate the show/sell transaction. The space could be a fixed location in a building, a more flexible location like a flea market tent, or a mobile space like an ice cream truck or street vendor. Obviously, the best retail spaces are located near people…potential customers. Thus a physical store will be located on a hot shopping street, or in a mall or airport concourse. A temporary retail space like a tent will be located in a people destination like a flea market or fair. And a mobile retail space has the ability to move into areas were people gather or live like the balloon vendor at an amusement park. What is the best retail environment for the show/sell transaction? The store designer can provide a retailer professional advice about potential locations. The designer must understand the possibilities of the retail space.

The show/sell activity also requires a product to be shown and sold.  Products have different physical characteristics, price points, and inherent psychological subtext which act a as guide to the selection of the most likely space to do the showing and selling, and the best showing methodology.  Big products (unless they have built-in mobility e.g. wheels) will most likely require that people go to them; small products like balloons can easily be carried about by the retailer on his person thus permitting the product to be brought to the potential customers. Most big products can be viewed from a distance; most small products need to be displayed close to the customer. Products perceived as expensive need to be presented in a proper exclusive setting. Inexpensive products can be displayed in mass. Food products must be sold within standards of sanitation and with visual and olfactory attraction. The rules of the show/sell transaction for every product vary with the type of product. These rules are generally obvious once the individual nature of the product is examined, dissected and catalogued. What are the important qualities of a product, which if properly presented in the retail environment, will lead to a successful show/sell transaction? The store designer can identify and evaluate these product qualities. The designer must know the product. 

Once the important qualities of a product are identified, then the best methods to show or display can be evolved. A balloon seller who sells his products deflated as a pile of rubbery objects on a table will fare very poorly against another seller who actually inflates his balloons and makes them appear to float in the air, or one who shapes them like cute a little dog. They must be presented properly to display their important characteristics of colors, shapes, and imprints. The job of display, ideally in a wordless manner, is to tell the best possible story about the product. How to show the product? This determination is the job of the store designer…to identify and create the most effective methods of product display. The designer must show the product.

Someone else will actually sell the product. But the designer must also create the most efficient and pleasant environment to complete the sales transaction.

Identifying the best retail place/knowing the product/showing the product/selling the product: these are the core elements of retail store design.