EVERY OBSERVATION COUNTS

Creativity Response

By Vikram Gupta 28th Oct 2012

Content – General overview

•Before You Enter the Store

• Environment

•Personnel

• Products

• Customers

•Other Observations

•The Store visited were : Apple , Target , Home Depot , Wal-Mart , Costco &

Costco Gas, Marshals

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Before You Enter the Store

• Does the Store Draw You In ? If So how

– Apple Store draws you in because the product have very good aesthetic and user friendly

– Costco draws you in because of good product quality , good price point and a opportunity to try various new flavors of food products before a consumer decides to buy

–Home Depot draws you in because of wide variety of products and sales associates in store is very good at recommending product that fit your home and budget

• Is Door Open or Closed?

–Apple , Costco doors are open

•How does it make you feel ?

– An Apple Store makes you feel welcomed and you feel like spending time. You feel tempted to spend and not feel “Stressed”

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Before You Enter the Store

• How big is the Sign Lettering and in what Font?

– Apple Store sign is distinct and is easily recognizable –Costco Sign is in standard Italics , not very fancy but easily recognizable from a far off distance

• What does it tell you about the store?

– An Apple stores reflect High Energy in surrounding and the uniqueness

– A Costco store reflect a thinking of very well laid out and shows premium products

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Environment

• What is the color scheme of the Store ? How does it affect you?

– Apple Store is “ White” and it attracts attention immediately

• What type of floor does the store have? How does this effect the Environment?

– An Apple Store has white tiles and in tiles a person can see his own reflection that show whether a person is happy with the product or environment

– A Costco store floor is rugged and it makes you feel that you are truly entire a store where most of daily needs can be addressed

• How high is the ceiling? How does this feel?

– A Costco store has a high ceiling and its makes me feel (a) several different type of products and (b) Spacious and allows a person to do shopping in huge quantity

–An Apple store has a medium ceiling in comparison to other stores and it does tell me the store is very focused on its offering

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Environment

• How brightly lit is the store? How does this affect you?

– Both Apple and Costco Store are very well lit in comparison to other 4 stores. It makes me feel welcomed to enter the store.

•How loud is the environment?

– Both Costco and Apple store are mildly loud in comparison to other stores

• What is causing the noise?

– In an Apple Store the excitement of people is causing the noise. While in a Costco store it’s the people trying products and offering and moving in a store causing noise. For example in Costco Gas people were buying Gas for Hurricane “ Sandy” was causing the noise too. In other stores noise were mostly of mismanagement

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Environment

• Is there music playing? If so does it fit the environment?

– Among the stores I visited an Apple Store has a music playing and its perfectly meets the environment

• Is the store warm or cold?

– An Apple Store and Costco are warm and in fact they respect the seasonality requirement in comparison to other stores

• Is the store crowed with merchandise or is it sparse?

– All Stores are have adequate supplies of Merchandise what I was looking for

• Does the store have a distinctive smell?

– An Apple and a Costco Store had a distinct holiday smell reflecting Halloween Season while other stores didn’t

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Personnel

• How long does it take before a sales person initiates contact?

– At an Apple Store a sales person initiates a contact almost immediately. At Home Depot a sales person comes in after observing if a person needs help. At other Stores there is no sales person contact.

• Does the salesperson have a script to follow with each customer?

– At Apple and Home Depot Store the sales person is very prompt and doesn’t have a script to follow

• Does the salesperson treat different customers differently?

– At an Apple Store a sales person treated a customer differently while at Home Depot they treated it the same because the age group of people at Apple Store varies

• What is the ratio of salespeople to customers?

– At an Apple Store it was 1 Sales person handling 5 people while at Home Depot it was 1 sales person on an average handling 50 people

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Personnel

• What age and gender are the employees?

– At an Apple Store the employees were young around 25 years old. There was an equal proportion of men and women. While at Home Depot the age was around 35 and it was more male oriented. At other stores the average age was closer to 25 reason being lots of temporary worker being hired for holiday season

• Are the salespeople using the store products? – Only at Apple Store I saw people using the Store Products.

• Do the salespeople have a uniform?

– At all stores I saw people having uniform. The only differentiating factor at an Apple people were more well dressed than at other stores

• Do the salespeople match the stores image?

– Yes all the sales people appropriately represented the store and the brand image

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Products

• What is the first product that you notice?

– At an Apple Store I noticed the new I Phone 5 and the new I Pad Mini. At Costco and Home Depot the first product I noticed was Hurricane Sandy related home product for people safety. While at other stores like Target, Wal-Mart and Marshal there were no specific products that were displayed it was very general.

• Is there a central display table with featured products? – Only at Apple Store a central display table for the featured products

• Where are items that are “for sale” located in the store?

– At an Apple Store the items were being sold from the display tables . At Marshals there were hangers for various apparel products while at other three stores there were specific isles for selling the products

• How are the products arranged? By function?  By price? By color?

– At Home Depot the products was arranged by functions. At Apple Store by brands and color. While at Marshal its was by functions and Price . At Costco, Target and Wal-Mart it was arranged by purely function

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Products

•Are there free samples or demonstrations?

– Only at Apple and Costco stores there was demonstrations. At Costco you can taste free samples for the products

• What products are at eye level? – Most products across all stores were at Eye level

• What items in the store are in the least accessible locations?

– At Costco big & bulky items like a carpet were in a corner. At Target and Wal-Mart all furniture level items were at least accessible location . At Marshals big home paintings and summer furniture were at least accessible location

• Where are the most and least expensive products located?

– At an Apple Store there was no price criteria considered for the location of the product as most product falls in the same price points. While at Wal-Mart, Target & Home Depot the least expensive products are in the front while expensive products like Electronics are way behind the stores. At Costco the most expensive items like a million dollar ring, expensive Electronic is displayed up front. While at Marshal there was no such sequence

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Products

• Are the prices of the products easy to find?

– At Apple and Marshal the prices of the products are easy to find. At other stores( Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, Home Depot) it difficult to find the exact price immediately sometime when we reach cash register we get to know the actual price

• Are there impulse items near the cash register? – Yes at all stores some impulse items are near the cash registers except at Costco

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Customers

• Are most customers alone or with someone else? What is the relationship?

– Most of the customers( greater than 80%) at all the stores were with the family

• What is the average age and gender of the customers? – Average age at stores was close to 30 except at Apple where it was closer to 27 . On gender at all Stores it was pretty uniform that is men and women equally represented.

• When a customer enters the store, do they tend to walk in the same path or direction?

– Only at Apple Store the customer walked in the same path or direction . At other stores Customer moved in different directions immediately after getting the cart. Only once they picked the shopping items they moved in the same direction as the payment locations is centralized.

• How long do customers stay in the store, on average?

– At an Apple Store I spent 1 hour and I saw close to 60% of the customer still in the stores. At Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot and Costco it was customer has a list of items they buy and check out so close to 30 minutes. While at Marshals it varied by Gender. Women was spending close to an hr while for men it was closer to half an hr.

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Customers

• Do customer touch the products? Is this encouraged?

– Yes at all Stores we could touch products and it was encouraged.

• Do most customers appear to be on a mission or are they browsing? – At an Apple Store 80% of the customer seemed to be on mission. At Marshal store the ratio was even split between people on mission and those browsing. While at other stores in my list I observed more people were on mission than browsing.

• What percent of customers purchase products in the store?

– At Apple, Home Depot and Costco Store more than 80% people purchased the product they were looking for.

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