In commercial spaces, high-traffic floors can mean something different depending on what the areas are used for. For warehouses, high-traffic floors may indicate fast-moving goods, while for restaurants, they may show how some tables are more preferred by your customers. Nevertheless, despite these differences, high-traffic floors share certain qualities that, when well-run, can significantly benefit your business. Here are some tips on what you can do to better manage and take advantage of your high-traffic floors:
Avoid bottlenecks through designated spaces
Because large volumes of people pass through high-traffic floors, there is a possibility of a bottleneck occurring in certain areas, especially if you do not have proper signage to direct people to move between spaces. In department stores, for example, areas that would be experiencing the highest amount of traffic would be the entrance and exit. If you don’t have a clear pathway for your visitors to follow after they enter your doors, they will end up loitering in front of the entrance. If proper signages are used, such as the map of the store or using an overhead sign to direct them to each clothing section, your visitors should be able to follow them and move around the department stores instead of staying in only one area. The same applies to your exit; if you can show the proper sign that can lead them to the nearest public transportation or taxi rank, fewer people would linger around wondering where to go from here.
Use high-traffic floors for promotional purposes
If your commercial space is used as a place for business transactions, knowing where your high-traffic areas are can help you take advantage of them to highlight certain services or products that you offer. One type of business that clearly knows how to use high-traffic areas to their advantage are fast-food joints, which tends to highlight their newest food offering in multiple places around their cashier area. Of course, other types of business with similar arrangements can also take advantage of this setting. Hospitals and clinics should attach their important visitor information behind the walls of their front-office area. For places like restaurants and cafes, putting your promotion menus near the entrance would not only gain you the interest of customers who are coming in but also entice those who are passing by.
Consider material type when cleaning your high-traffic floors
This particular tip is intended more for making sure your floor structure lasts, despite heavy usage. Even if you have already chosen the right flooring material for your high-traffic areas, if you don’t properly maintain them, these materials may not end up giving the benefits that they are supposed to. Maintaining high-traffic floors doesn’t necessarily mean spending a lot of money on specialised maintenance every now and then; the key, more often than not, lies in how you do your daily maintenance. Some flooring materials require unique cleaning products if you want them to last longer, such as hardwood floors, while others may not require anything more than daily sweeping and vacuuming. Make sure that you don’t skimp on costs in regards to your high-traffic floor maintenance since these areas would impact how your customers view your business.
Don’t be afraid of installing new floors for your high-traffic areas
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you may have chosen the wrong flooring type for your high-traffic areas. It’s possible that you failed to anticipate that certain areas would end up attracting a lot of daily visitors. When you find yourself in these circumstances, don’t be afraid of taking the time to install better-suited flooring materials. Garth from Classic Arch says “For high-traffic areas, prioritise durability and floor safety over price and design. Your new flooring material should be able to withstand the amount of foot traffic that your high-traffic areas tend to have. Safety should also be a point of consideration, especially if your business attracts a high number of children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with disabilities.”
High-traffic floors can be greatly rewarding for your business if you know how to manage them effectively. You can either take advantage of your existing situation to optimise your business or improve upon what’s already there to maximise the value that your business can offer through your commercial space.
