Are u paying attention?As i see the world:I visited Magna mall on Friday 26th oct 2012, located on Rashid Minhas road connecting shahr-e-faisal, Karachi. As it was Friday morning most of the main shops were closed but fortunately the Jumma bazaar shops which sale products on discount prices were open. That wasn’t a rush hour but still i managed to take snaps and spoke to few people. With the assignment in mind, i started wandering, looking curiously here and there, and checking the prices. Usually i don’t notice the name of the shops, only the products attract me. My all time favourites are shoes and bags so my attention immediately divert to them.

This time i also noticed that people were eagerly buying not

even the ready- made clothes but some women were also

buying small pieces of discarded material which were sold

at much lower prices.

The arrangement and variation of the product in one of the

shops also came under observation with a surprise as it

was a hundred rupee shop where previously only

decorative items and accessories were sold. Now it has

products ranging from toys to shoes plus house hold items.

Another apprehension was the reaction of the people

towards taking pictures of their shops but again to my

delight every one cooperated and let me take the pictures.

Some were even asking about the assignment.

Before entering the shops:Most of the shops had glass doors so the products were visible and

i could decide where to start from. Opened doors welcomed the

customers. The names were big enough to be observed as their

font was bold and in various colours. Usually the names were

depicting the products that were to be sold.

Environment:The colour scheme of almost all the

stores was dull background with

bright colours items in the front.

FloorColour was white marble and

it did not distract the customers.

Since the size of all shops was

different, the ceiling also varies but

all were high enough to give a

spacious look to the shop.

It was day time so sun light was coming in the stores, it

was warm and i rarely saw any one using artificial lights.

The noise level was also appropriate as it was not the

Rush hour and usually the shop keepers were calling

Customers with hand gestures and telling prices of the

items.

Some stores were crowded

with merchandise whereas

some were sparsely placed.

There wasn’t any smell as

The doors were opened.

Mostly the cash counters were

near the front door and

occupied by a sale person.

Security personnel were visible

outside the shopping mall

and not for the individuals.

I spent more time in the store where multiple items

were on display. The overall environment was

matching the perceived value of the items except for

the vendors who were selling things outside the

stores.

Personnel:

Most of the sales person gave me time to browse

through the shop for the first 5-7 mins and then

approached on my asking the price of the various

products. They were reaching the other customers

with politeness but without a written script. As i

mentioned earlier, it was not a rush hour so the ratio

was 2:1 i.e. 2 sales persons per customer.

All salesmen were male except for one and belong

to 20-50 years of age group without any particular

uniform. They all had a look of a sales person

except for the lady who was the saleswoman. She

was standing near clothes hanger and until i

started looking for a salesman, she didn’t approach

me.

Products:

I instantly noticed clothes as they were displayed

on prominent locations. Most of the items were

displayed either on the shelves or hanged on the

prominent points to be noticed by the customers.

Except for one of the shoe shop,

items were arranged according

to their functions and with on

sale boards.

There were no items for free

sampling .There were some

products with different prices

kept on the same shelf.

One side of the wall was

restricted to display one product

and other side for other products.

So some items were at the eye

level and some were high above

in the shelves. Some prices were

visible but formajority i had to ask

the prices. Near the cash counter

some impulsive items like Small

decorationpieces were also displayed.

Customers:

There was a combination

of the customers, males,

females and children.

Majority of them were female

aged between 30-40 years.

There were some families

also with husband, wife and

children but mostly females were

shopping in groups.

As some shops only had one

door opened so customers were

using same path to enter and for exit.

They stayed in the shops on average

5- 10 mins depending on the bargain

they had.

No one objected on touching the

objects except for oneshoe keeper.

As Eidul adha was near-by so everyone was on a mission to buy

the products whether it was clothes, shoes or decoration items for

their homes. I didn’t notice any one who was just browsing and not

buying anything.

Prepared by :Ms. Fauzia Samreen.

Subject Head Pakistan Studies

Generation’s school, Karachi, Pakistan