Etude De Cas: Atmosphère de vente au détail et conception de magasin (document en anglais)

Individual Case Study Retail Strategy

Retail Atmospherics & Store Design

Questions

1. Discuss the implication of Underhill’s statement that “converting non buyers to buyers is largely dependent on store design and display”.

Underhill’s main thesis is that since so many consumer purchases are unplanned, retailers should attempt to design the store so as to facilitate purchases, get consumers to spend more time in the store, and to facilitate the purchase of complementary items. Underhill feels that a store seeking its inventory may not take into account products that appeal to different age groups, females, and minorities.

2. Design a program for a music retailer to increase a consumers’ time in its stores.

According to Underhill’s strategy, the key point is to increase the consumer’s time in the store by:

- Displaying complementary items together: for a music retailer it could be selling helmets, speakers or even mixing tables but also specific furniture designed especially for musical goods.

- Suggesting adjacency sales such as posters of several bands. Music is an important way of showing someone’s membership to a particular group. Thus, the customer’s implication is high and the merchandising has to match with its expectations in order to sell properly.

- Working merchandising into the original design for cash register areas, rather than as an afterthought: music is liken to a relaxing moment. In order to carry on with this feeling, the cash register area could be a wide space with sofas, where the cashier comes to the customer while he or she is sitting. Thus, the difficult moment of paying is turned into a relaxing moment where the personnel take care of the clients.

3. Should an upscale retailer interpret Underhill research differently than a low end retailer? Explain your answer.

Upscale retailers still need to be sensitive of the needs of different age groups, the importance of the female market, what waiting times consumers view as acceptable, and the value of entertainment. An upscale high-fidelity components retailer may seek to increase a shopper’s time in the store through an espresso bar, critiques of a classical pianist’s latest album, the sale of top-of-the-line speakers and components, and sound rooms where shoppers can listen to different components. A low-end high-fidelity retailer may seek to increase a consumer’s time in the store through having a salesperson suggest complementary merchandise, describing the different features of DVD players, and having all DVD players displayed.

4. Relate Underhill’s “Golden Rules” to a web retailer of your choice.

Sézane is a brand which sells women clothes online only.

1. Break it down:

Sézane’s target is a modern woman. It is also a website dedicated to women who don’t often buy online. Thus, the website is very user friendly: it is almost if you were in the shop.

2. Women Rule:

Even if the target is feminine, it is so easy to use that any men who would

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