Format & Design

We design and develop customer and product concepts to help our clients visualise and imagine new spaces and customer environments.

From independent formats to larger multiples, we help our clients present their propositions with flair and authority.

Layout Planning

We survey, audit and measure front and back of house spaces using the latest technology and CAD software.

We optimise and plan space by analysing data to improve and enhance the customer and colleague experience.

Merchandising & Implementation

We offer expertise in product presentation and space allocation. From category and range planning to implementation at the shelf edge, we offer advice on fixturisation, signage and point of sale.

We also use market-leading space planning software to generate planograms (POGs) for our clients offering ad hoc builds through to regular range maintenance.

About Smrtspace

We are a specialist consultancy offering expertise and experience in planning and optimising spaces to drive performance and efficiency.

We help our clients imagine, plan and realise commercial spaces whilst offering a range of associated services, including project and process management capability.

From growing commercial return to improving operational effectiveness, we can demonstrate a range of capabilities to meet different client needs and requirements.

Our People

James Sifton

Founder

James spent 27 years building his experience and skills in the corporate world, working across different markets with recognised retail and merchant brands, including Waitrose Ltd, Staples UK, Woolworths PLC, World Duty Free Group and Travis Perkins.

His career has been built around helping organisations make better use of their physical assets, consistently growing sales and profit through effective space utilisation. Offering a range of specialist skills in areas including format design, space planning and visual merchandising, James decided to set up Smrtspace Consulting Limited so that he could provide cost-effective access to his experience and expertise with a very personal touch.

James and the team already have a proven track record of delivering great results for their clients.

James Sifton
Founder

James spent 27 years building his experience and skills in the corporate world, working across different markets with recognised retail and merchant brands, including Waitrose Ltd, Staples UK, Woolworths PLC, World Duty Free Group and Travis Perkins.

His career has been built around helping organisations make better use of their physical assets, consistently growing sales and profit through effective space utilisation. Offering a range of specialist skills in areas including format design, space planning and visual merchandising, James decided to set up Smrtspace Consulting Limited so that he could provide cost-effective access to his experience and expertise with a very personal touch.

James and the team already have a proven track record of delivering great results for their clients.

Craig Hooper

Associate

Craig is a distinguished retail veteran with over 25 years specialising in space and category management working with recognised brands including Superdrug, World Duty Free and Blue Yonder.

Craig is currently the Managing Director for JDH Solutions Limited who are a category management partner company to Blue Yonder, the world’s largest supply chain software company. Craig leads an experienced team at JDH Solutions who are licenced users of the Space Planning planogram software and authorised re-sellers of Blue Yonder software solutions. The team pride themselves on the trusted partnerships they create with their customers and always strive to understand the unique business requirements and challenges faced within retail and manufacturing space management.

Craig and James have collaborated on a number of exciting projects. They are also developing an exciting new retail service that connects strategic retail store layout planning with tactical, product level merchandising at the shelf edge and everything in between – an end to end space management service that brings together the skill sets and experience of both businesses. With over 100 years of industry experience and expertise, the teams at JDH Solutions and Smrtspace Consulting Limited are launching a turnkey solution that helps retailers optimise their bricks and mortar space with a data led, customer focused approach which maximises commercial return and operational efficiency.

Craig Hooper
Associate

Craig is a distinguished retail veteran with over 25 years specialising in space and category management working with recognised brands including Superdrug, World Duty Free and Blue Yonder.

Craig is currently the Managing Director for JDH Solutions Limited who are a category management partner company to Blue Yonder, the world’s largest supply chain software company. Craig leads an experienced team at JDH Solutions who are licenced users of the Space Planning planogram software and authorised re-sellers of Blue Yonder software solutions. The team pride themselves on the trusted partnerships they create with their customers and always strive to understand the unique business requirements and challenges faced within retail and manufacturing space management.

Craig and James have collaborated on a number of exciting projects. They are also developing an exciting new retail service that connects strategic retail store layout planning with tactical, product level merchandising at the shelf edge and everything in between – an end to end space management service that brings together the skill sets and experience of both businesses. With over 100 years of industry experience and expertise, the teams at JDH Solutions and Smrtspace Consulting Limited are launching a turnkey solution that helps retailers optimise their bricks and mortar space with a data led, customer focused approach which maximises commercial return and operational efficiency.

Richard Blake

Associate

Richard is an experienced and creative retail designer who has spent over 20 years delivering best-in-class retail environments. Richard offers a wealth of knowledge and expertise working with architects, design agencies, 3rd party suppliers, commercial and marketing teams to deliver solutions that meet the demands of the customer and their brief.

Richard’s experience includes recognisable retail and merchant brands like Homebase, City Plumbing and Bunnings. Richard also worked as Format Development Manager for Resolution Interiors, leading key business accounts with American Golf, Clarks, Screwfix and Virgin Holidays.

Richard Blake
Associate

Richard is an experienced and creative retail designer who has spent over 20 years delivering best-in-class retail environments. Richard offers a wealth of knowledge and expertise working with architects, design agencies, 3rd party suppliers, commercial and marketing teams to deliver solutions that meet the demands of the customer and their brief.

Richard’s experience includes recognisable retail and merchant brands like Homebase, City Plumbing and Bunnings. Richard also worked as Format Development Manager for Resolution Interiors, leading key business accounts with American Golf, Clarks, Screwfix and Virgin Holidays.

Becky Dowler

Associate

Becky is a passionate and talented retail designer who offers specialist AutoCAD planning expertise. She has experience planning smaller, trade merchant units with City Plumbing Supplies up to 75,000 sq ft sheds for Homebase and Bunnings. She is skilled in both 2D and 3D design and capable of delivering quality service with an uncompromising focus on customer needs.

Becky has a first-class degree in interior design and excellent personal qualities, including high EQ and a warm, friendly nature that endears her to her customers.

Becky Dowler
Associate

Becky is a passionate and talented retail designer who offers specialist AutoCAD planning expertise. She has experience planning smaller, trade merchant units with City Plumbing Supplies up to 75,000 sq ft sheds for Homebase and Bunnings. She is skilled in both 2D and 3D design and capable of delivering quality service with an uncompromising focus on customer needs.

Becky has a first-class degree in interior design and excellent personal qualities, including high EQ and a warm, friendly nature that endears her to her customers.

Nia Price

Associate

Nia is an experienced retail designer who has worked for recognised brands within the sport, automotive, travel, fashion and wellness sectors. Nia has worked in the industry for over a decade specialising in experiential design, delivering smaller, campaign projects through to large scale store designs.

Nia has great experience working in fast paced environments and has very credible experience across all phases of the design process. Her strengths and passion lie within the conceptual stage, designing with the consumer in mind and a strong focus on user experience. She can take a project from concept generation through to 3D visuals and design intent drawings.

Nia Price
Associate

Nia is an experienced retail designer who has worked for recognised brands within the sport, automotive, travel, fashion and wellness sectors. Nia has worked in the industry for over a decade specialising in experiential design, delivering smaller, campaign projects through to large scale store designs.

Nia has great experience working in fast paced environments and has very credible experience across all phases of the design process. Her strengths and passion lie within the conceptual stage, designing with the consumer in mind and a strong focus on user experience. She can take a project from concept generation through to 3D visuals and design intent drawings.

Dave Cade

Associate

Dave is a highly experienced and commercially astute retail leader with specialist expertise in effective Space management. Dave is known for his ability to translate complex topics into engaging, actionable content and strong cross-functional relationship management. He brings a proven ability to develop space management strategies that drive business growth.  This is achieved through clear, meaningful data-driven decision making, strong internal governance and long-term robust processes.

Dave’s career includes senior leadership roles with Sainsbury’s, WHSmith, and Dobbies Garden Centres, where he has led macro space, micro space, layout planning and Format strategy. He works confidently with senior stakeholders and, with his forensic approach to space management, helps create clear, insight-led solutions that enhance customer experience while driving operational efficiency and incremental commercial value.

Dave Cade
Associate

Dave is a highly experienced and commercially astute retail leader with specialist expertise in effective Space management. Dave is known for his ability to translate complex topics into engaging, actionable content and strong cross-functional relationship management. He brings a proven ability to develop space management strategies that drive business growth.  This is achieved through clear, meaningful data-driven decision making, strong internal governance and long-term robust processes.

Dave’s career includes senior leadership roles with Sainsbury’s, WHSmith, and Dobbies Garden Centres, where he has led macro space, micro space, layout planning and Format strategy. He works confidently with senior stakeholders and, with his forensic approach to space management, helps create clear, insight-led solutions that enhance customer experience while driving operational efficiency and incremental commercial value.

Over 200000

square feet of space optimised

What our clients say…

I am very happy to personally recommend and endorse James and the team at Smrtspace Consulting. We worked together on an exciting retail project which really showcased the experience and expertise that they can offer across a range of specialisms. I’m looking forward to more collaborations in the future where both businesses can come together and offer an end-to-end service to new and existing retail clients.

James supported Pragma by providing some key insight and advice on Duty Free retail space planning and optimisation. James shared valuable knowledge and experience in leading and managing commercial and customer-focused space initiatives. Strategic areas of focus and advice included customer journey planning, space management and analysis, category and range allocation, operational effectiveness and back-of-house considerations.

With over 11 years of experience in the Duty Free sector, James’ specialist experience and expertise have been a great asset to our project. We look forward to working with him again in the future.

Smrtspace Consulting Limited has consistently demonstrated strong insight and delivered robust recommendations to business issues centred around space management processes and services. Smrtspace offers great value with a very personalised service and uncompromising focus on the needs of their clients.

They were able to quickly identify and articulate opportunities for improvement and growth and present them in a very clear, objective and uncomplicated way. James is an incredibly experienced and credible specialist and I would strongly recommend the services and expertise of James and the team to other organisations who are considering partnering with Smrtspace Consulting Limited.

Smrtspace Consulting has supported Harding+ with a number of strategic workstreams, including space optimisation, layout planning and process recommendations.

James’s experience and expertise has really helped us in the development of an analytical toolkit for space management across our fleet. He brings a style and approach that drives understanding and confidence in what is being recommended and delivered.

James supported Miss Macaroon with an assessment of our retail proposition. He provided practical feedback and change recommendations across a range of areas including the customer journey and engagement, store layout, space and furniture, visual merchandising and in-store marketing.

We are a social enterprise organisation, and with this in mind, James offered thoughtful advice that focused on value-led improvements which were considerate of cost and return on investment.

James’ experienced advice will help us improve our retail offer and store results and we’d be happy to share our experience with anyone looking to partner with Smrtspace in the future.

SmrtSpace supporting the Ronald McDonald Charities House ‘A Night of a Thousand Stars’ 2024 gala dinner.

Our Business Values

Smart yet simple

Measurement matters

Rigorous and reliable

Trusted and thorough

Case Studies

CK Foodstores

DFA

Miss Macaroon

Le Marché

Pragma

Harding+

Supply Chain & Logistics Client

Your specialist partner for
retail planning… space management... merchant trading… customer experience… visual merchandising… layout planning… format design… data analysis…

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