Retailing Question

According to the article, shoppers are influenced by the positioning of merchandise. How influential do you feel this is on the shopper’s willingness to buy? Can positioning really change the success of a business?

Laura's Question:

Do you believe that the mapping of a store has influence on your shopping habits? Or do you, the consumer, know what you are looking for and it is a mere matter of finding the item within the store? Is it moral to manipulate consumers by product placement, or effective marketing?

Paco's "butt-brush" theory is that a women's product that requires extensive examination should not be placed in a narrow aisle. Does this make sense? Clearance racks are often the most shopped region of the store. they are also usually crammed next to each other and often in shambles. But this goes against Paco's theory. Why do women still shop in clearance racks?

The mapping of a store does have an influence on purchasing. There are certain stores that I feel more comfortable in and I have more of a willingness to buy. If I am in a store that I am not used to or feel like I don’t fit in I will most likely leave the store as soon as possible. This fits in with Paco’s theory of time relating to purchasing - the less time I spend in a store, the less I am likely to buy. Also, I don’t seem to notice the items at the front of a store until I am leaving the store. This means that Paco was right in theorizing that there is a cool down for walking speeds.

Clearance racks pose a completely different issue. With clearance, there is a new incentive to buy: finding that perfect item for an extraordinary price. There is the hunt and the battle through the clearance racks. Since items are sold for less money, there is an excuse for messy racks and crowded spaces. It is a different kind of shopping, meaning there are a different set of rules.

Ezra's Question:

This article talks a lot about people's tendencies to touch, or pet articles of clothing before purchasing them, so therefore stores place items on tables to make this action easier. The author explains that this is because we tend to eat, and pick up food on tables, but why are these two actions related? When we sit down to eat, do we poke and prod our food before consuming in the same way we evaluate a shirt or pair of jeans for comfortability? What is it about touch that is so critical in our evaluation of a product?

I found this concept very interesting when I read the article. This is the way that my mom shops. To buy something she must be able to touch it. She will feel items that she is not going to buy, like when she is just walking through a store. I was always curious about this when I was younger, but now that I am a buyer I do the same thing. This does not have anything to do with the way we eat, as Paco believes. I think that we, as the consumer, need to make that first impression with the product, a connection to what we may own. It’s our way of sampling the product. Since the consumer doesn’t just look at the product, they wear it, touch it, live in it, they need to know what they are getting. And the retailer does a great job of letting the shopper feel out a product.