This page is for a buyer or planner at a domestic retailer who already knows a category's own floor space and fixture plan, as set in lessons T22-C03-L01 and T22-C03-L02, but has never turned that layout's own results back into a single number that says whether the space is working. At work, a planner who only checks whether a layout looks right on paper has no way of knowing whether it is actually earning its keep once real sales come in. This lesson mainly teaches the money flow: it shows how to calculate a category's own sales per square metre and compare it to the store's own average.
Cedar & Co. reorders T-shirt stock from Delta Garments against its own forecast for its 12 domestic shops. In one shop, the T-shirt category occupies 40 square metres and earned USD 24,000 in the last quarter, while that shop's own average across every category was USD 500 per square metre for the same period. Without calculating the category's own figure, nobody at Cedar & Co. can say whether the T-shirt category is pulling its weight or quietly under-performing the space it holds.
You need: no previous lesson from this track, though lessons T22-C03-L01 and T22-C03-L02 supply the floor space and fixture plan this lesson's own sales figure is measured against. A working knowledge of a shop's own quarterly sales reporting is assumed but not required to follow the numbers here.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: setting the category's own target floor space, covered in lesson T22-C03-L01, and adjusting a layout for a season change, covered in lesson T22-C03-L04.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sales per square metre | A category's own sales in a period, divided by its own floor space in square metres, used to measure how hard that space is working. |
| Store average sales per square metre | A store's own total sales in a period, divided by its own total selling floor, used as the benchmark a category's own figure is compared against. |
| Under-performing space | Floor space whose own sales per square metre falls below the store's own average for a sustained period. |
| Space productivity | How much sales value a category's own floor space generates relative to its own size, expressed as sales per square metre. |
| Reorder | A repeat purchase order placed against a style a retailer has already sold before, based on its own forecast rather than a new buyer commitment. |
| Reporting period | The fixed span of time, such as a quarter, over which sales and floor space figures are compared on a like-for-like basis. |
Floor space allocation and fixture placement, covered in lessons T22-C03-L01 and T22-C03-L02, are decisions made before a layout runs. Once it has run for a full reporting period, the general rule is to calculate that category's own sales per square metre, its own sales divided by its own floor space, and compare the result to the store's own average sales per square metre for the same period. A category above the average is earning more than its share of the space; a category below it is earning less.
| What can differ | The shapes you will meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Make to Stock reorder with a full sales history | Cedar & Co. reorders T-shirt stock from Delta Garments against its own forecast and has a full quarter of its own real sales to calculate sales per square metre from. | A full reporting period gives a reliable figure to compare against the store's own average, unlike a category with only a few weeks of sales. |
| Export order sold wholesale through a multi-store chain | Fairway Stores calculates sales per square metre for Order A's own T-shirt category across its own flagship store and compares it to that one store's own average, not to a different store's. | Sales per square metre is only meaningful compared within the same store; comparing one store's category figure to a different store's average mixes two different selling floors. |
| New category with less than a full reporting period of sales | A category launched partway through a quarter has only a partial period of sales to measure, understating its own true sales per square metre if compared directly to a full-quarter average. | A partial period needs to be annualized or compared only to other categories over the same partial period, not to a full-quarter average as if it were equivalent. |
| Hybrid model, a category fed by both a wholesale range and a domestic reorder | A shop selling a wholesale-bought range alongside its own domestically reordered stock in the same category still calculates one combined sales per square metre for that category's own floor space. | Space productivity is measured by the floor space itself, not separately by which supply route filled it, since both routes share the same square metres. |
Cedar & Co.'s T-shirt category, reordered from Delta Garments against the shop's own forecast, occupies 40 square metres in one of its 12 domestic shops. In the last quarter, that category earned USD 24,000 in sales, while the shop's own average across every category was USD 500 per square metre for the same period. The planner reviewing this shop's own layout has to calculate the category's own figure before deciding whether its floor space is justified.
The T-shirt category's own sales per square metre works out to USD 600, USD 100 above the shop's own USD 500 average. On this figure alone, the category is earning more than its own share of the shop's floor, not less, which changes the decision a planner would otherwise have made from floor space and fixture placement alone.
A common mistake is a planner treating a category as successful simply because its floor space matches its own target from lesson T22-C03-L01 and its fixtures follow the flow-matched plan from lesson T22-C03-L02, without calculating its own sales per square metre at all. What this costs is real: a category can meet both of those earlier decisions correctly and still be quietly under-performing the space it holds, or, as in Cedar & Co.'s own T-shirt category, quietly out-performing it, and neither fact becomes visible until the sales-per-square-metre figure is actually calculated and compared to the store's own average.
Once a shop has given a category its own space and set up its own fixtures, the only way to know whether that space is actually working is to look at what it earned. Dividing a category's own sales by its own floor space gives a figure that can be compared fairly to the shop's own average for every other category in the same period. A category earning more than that average is pulling more than its own weight; one earning less is not, and that gap, checked regularly, is what tells a planner where to look next, rather than guessing from how tidy the fixtures look.
Cedar & Co.'s regional manager visits the shop and finds the T-shirt category's 40 square metres feels crowded compared to a neighbouring category. The manager asks the planner to reduce the T-shirt category's own space at the next reset to relieve the crowding.
Should the T-shirt category's own floor space be cut because it feels crowded? Decide before opening the answer.
No, not on this evidence alone. Feeling crowded describes how a space looks, not what it earns; the category's own sales per square metre has not been calculated in the note at all.
First, the T-shirt category's own sales per square metre is USD 600, USD 100 above the shop's own USD 500 average, which is a sign of a category earning more than its own share of the floor, not less.
Second, a crowded feel can be addressed by a better fixture plan, as covered in lesson T22-C03-L02, without necessarily cutting the category's own floor space at all.
The planner should calculate the category's own sales per square metre before agreeing to any space reduction, and address the crowded feel through fixture arrangement first, since cutting space from a category already earning above the shop average would very likely cost more in lost sales than the crowding itself.
Cutting 10 square metres from a category already earning USD 600 per square metre puts roughly USD 6,000 of quarterly sales at risk, using the category's own current rate as the estimate, a cost the regional manager's crowding note never weighed against the category's own actual performance. Lesson T22-C03-L04 shows how to adjust a layout for a genuine reason, such as a season change, without cutting a category's own earning space by mistake.
Open the course workbook's "Sales per square metre" sheet. Enter each category's own sales and floor space for the period, and the store's own total sales and total selling floor; the sheet calculates each category's own sales per square metre and its gap against the store average with a live formula.
[Download the Space planning and store layout worksheet](../../templates/T22-C03-space-planning-and-store-layout-worksheet.xlsx)
Download the Space planning and store layout worksheet (Excel)
1. A category earns USD 18,000 in a quarter from 30 square metres of floor space. What is its own sales per square metre?
2. A category's own floor space and fixture plan both match their targets from earlier lessons, but its sales per square metre is well below the store average. What should a planner conclude?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales per square metre | المبيعات لكل متر مربع | Ventes au mètre carré | Metrekare başına satış | A category's own sales in a period, divided by its own floor space in square metres, used to measure how hard that space is working. |
| Store average sales per square metre | متوسط مبيعات المحل لكل متر مربع | Ventes moyennes du magasin au mètre carré | Mağaza ortalaması metrekare başına satış | A store's own total sales in a period, divided by its own total selling floor, used as the benchmark a category's own figure is compared against. |
| Under-performing space | مساحة أقل أداءً | Espace sous-performant | Verimsiz alan | Floor space whose own sales per square metre falls below the store's own average for a sustained period. |
| Space productivity | إنتاجية المساحة | Productivité de l'espace | Alan verimliliği | How much sales value a category's own floor space generates relative to its own size, expressed as sales per square metre. |
| Reorder | إعادة الطلب | Réassort | Yeniden sipariş | A repeat purchase order placed against a style a retailer has already sold before, based on its own forecast rather than a new buyer commitment. |
| Reporting period | فترة التقرير | Période de référence | Raporlama dönemi | The fixed span of time, such as a quarter, over which sales and floor space figures are compared on a like-for-like basis. |
You now know how to check whether a layout is earning its space. The next lesson shows how to adjust that same layout for a season change without redoing the whole store. Back to the course map