A planogram is a drawing of a shelf, a bay or a whole aisle that says which product goes where, how many facings it gets and how deep it is stocked. Chains draw them centrally and send them to stores; an independent store draws its own, usually on a sheet of paper taped to the stockroom wall, and the arithmetic behind it is the same in both cases. This page is written for the owner or manager laying out a store without a category management department: what a planogram records, how the facings are worked out from the shelf and the product, what the drawing is for once the reset is done, and where the numbers come from. It publishes no supplier's suggested layout and no industry space allocation; the facings are worked from your own shelf and your own sales.
What a planogram actually records
Three things per product, and a fourth for the bay. For each line: its position on the shelf, counted from the left and from the bottom; its facings, the number of units showing across the front; and its depth, how many sit behind each facing. For the bay: the shelf heights and the total width, because those two decide everything else. A planogram that records only where things go is a picture; one that records facings and depth is a stock plan, because facings times depth is the units on the shelf, and that number against the units sold a week says how often the shelf has to be filled.
How the facings are worked out
The shelf has a width. Each product has a width. Shelf width divided by product width, rounded down, is the most facings that shelf can hold if it carried one line, and the facings you give each line have to add up to no more than that. The share each line gets should follow what it sells: a line selling sixty units a week beside one selling twelve wants five times the facings, or it will run out between fills while its neighbour sits full. Where a fast line's facings would push a slow one off the shelf entirely, that is the planogram telling you something about the slow line, and the honest response is to delist it rather than to squeeze it.
Depth, fills and the stockroom
Facings decide what the shopper sees; depth decides how long the shelf lasts. Units on the shelf, which is facings times depth, divided by units sold a day, is the days between fills, and a planogram that gives a fast line a day and a half of stock is a planogram that has the team filling it twice a day. Set the depth so the shelf holds at least the sales between two planned fills, and then the back of house hours in the rota can be planned rather than reactive. Where the shelf physically cannot hold that, the line is a candidate for a second location or a larger facing, not for more frequent fills.
What the drawing is for after the reset
The planogram is the reference the shelf is checked against. A weekly walk comparing the shelf to the drawing catches the drift that happens when a fill goes in the wrong slot, a line runs out and its neighbour spreads into the gap, or a new line arrives with nowhere assigned. It is also the record that says what the layout was when sales changed, which is the only way to tell whether a change in the planogram caused a change in the numbers. Date each version and keep the old one, because next year's question will be what the bay looked like when the line did well.
Questions people ask about planograms
Do we need planogram software?
Not for a single store with a few dozen bays. A drawing with widths, facings and depth written on it, checked weekly, does the job that software does for a chain with a thousand stores and a central category team. Software earns its fee when the same layout has to be sent to many stores and verified by photo; that is not the independent store's problem.
Should suppliers draw our planograms?
They will offer to, and the offer is worth taking as a starting point and not as a decision. A supplier's planogram gives its own lines the facings and the eye level, which is what it is for. Take the widths and the depths from it, then set the facings from your own sales figures rather than theirs.
How often should a planogram change?
When the sales say so, and not on a calendar. A line whose facings no longer match its share of sales is the trigger, and a seasonal bay changes on the season. Resetting a bay that is selling well because a template says it is time costs labor hours and a week of shoppers not finding things, for no return.