Significance Of Experiential Marketing And How It Can Fortify A Retailer's Brand Image

Urban Outfitters is a popular clothing and accessory store that was founded in 1970, and generates success from the type of merchandise it retails, as well as through the contemporary culture and ethos that it promotes to its customers. The store has stated that it is targeted towards a specific audience that ranges from eighteen to thirty years old, who are well “educated, [and] urban-minded” (“Urban Outfitters”). Urban Outfitters offers a specific shopping experience that is unique to its store, because it focuses on a well-defined audience that is attracted by its modern environment and trendy clothes. Many individuals are unconsciously lured into the store first by the placement of the store itself, then by what the consumer can see in the front windows, and lastly by the specific and well thought out placement of the store’s merchandise. It is evident that the theories regarding retail geography defined by Paco Underhill, including the stores location, the decompression zone, the invariant right, destination items, the

When customers walk into the store, they first try to adjust themselves according to the surroundings of the store. It is very important to get the customers attention.By viewing the setup and location of the store in relation to the shopping, Paco

The retail industry is redefining business formulas to maximize opportunities of interaction with consumers by developing service solutions to support value creation processes (Montagnini, 2009). Eataly represents an innovative, brand-new retail formula in the Italian food market, bridging retail and consumer education concepts to enhance guests value experience (Montagnini, 2009). Eataly’s business model is an attractive value proposition that has proven to be innovative and successful. This model is greatly executed by utilizing enormous spaces in high-traffic areas, which helps fulfil Eataly’s three tenants: eat, shop, and learn (Edwards, 2015).

Human needs in the past have been satisfied by marketplaces that are community driven. It is then he claims, that the lack of communal intention that makes the Mall of America, and other malls unhealthy and unnatural. Guterson writes that malls void of community, are not marketplaces, but are rather attractions set on profit. The marketing behind the Mall of America is aimed at growing tourism, and making the mall a symbol of America and American culture. This gimmick has proved to be successful as over 700,000 people from foreign countries visit the mall every year (Guterson, 284). The attention the mall is receiving from the rest of the globe suggests that as Guterson writes, “The concept of shopping in a frivolous atmosphere, concocted to loosen consumers’ wallets, is poised to proliferate globally” (Guterson, 284). As American malls continue to be lucrative, the science of controlling shoppers will only become more present around the world. Guterson claims that the fantasy environments that malls create are so powerful that they can inspire addiction to the excitability and pleasures that malls create (Guterson, 284). Guterson warns against the future of megamalls, pointing out the emptiness that they can create inside us. After standing on the roof of the Mall of America, Guterson understands that American culture is not the modern American mall. Rather, it is the fields and farms that

A famous writer for the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell has written an article, “The Science of Shopping”, which is based on Paco Underhill’s study of retail anthropology. The intention of a retail store is obvious- that is to attract customers and convince them to perchance as much as they can. There is so much knowledge that we can study, such that how the environment affects people’s thinking. These are tiny details that we don’t usually think about. The reason of how Paco Underhill success is because he notices these details. Details determine success or failure. Paco Undnerhill—a talent and passion environmental psychologist, provides us a new point of view of the science of displaying products,

Whenever I go to Stop & Shop, I tend to take interest in the thousands of products that surround me as I walk down an aisle. The wafting aroma of freshly baked pastries and the sight of cold soft drinks are just some of the things that trigger my appetite for food. Most often, I find myself buying more than what I originally planned on. That’s exactly what the layout of a supermarket tries to make consumers do. Marion Nestle argues in her article, “The Supermarket: Prime Real Estate”, how supermarkets employ clever tactics such as product layout in order to make consumers spend as much money as possible. She covers fundamental rules that stores employ in order to keep customers in aisles for the longest time, a series of cognitive studies that stores perform on customers, and examples of how supermarkets encourage customers to buy more product. Overall, Nestle’s insight into how supermarkets manipulate people into spending extra money has made me a more savvy consumer and I feel if more people were to read her article, then they can avoid some of the supermarket’s marketing tactics as well.

When first spotting Victoria’s Secret, customers see a luminous and vibrant entrance of pink and white stripes. Victoria’s Secret captivates consumers casually walking through dimly lit Empire Mall. Victoria’s Secret immediately draws eyes inward. Fixed in the middle of the entrance is a sign with an enormous font shouting, “FREE Travel Tote.” Victoria’s Secret displaying a sign like this is not uncommon. It drives consumers in. Free things are as appealing to shoppers as rain is in a desert. As customers begin to

and reoriented”. (2003, P. 295). He shows how the use of these symbols creates a form of refuge for people since they feel close to nature. This offers sensual and aesthetic pleasures to mall visitor. He points out to old people who frequent malls to exercise and socialize, something they find difficult in the uncivil society they live in. James J Farrell also acknowledges that the security at malls brings a sense of self and brings about a set of social relationships. (2003). These writers bring into focus the different aspects of malls that offer a ground for people to socialize and relax and enjoy. They point out to the fact that malls are centers of entertainment for mall visitors.

The spatial design of a store may seem like something unimportant, but in it carries the many secrets that get customers coming back. Paco Underhill is a retail anthropologist who’s many strategies to get shoppers to buy more is laid out in Malcom Gladwell’s article The Science Of Shopping. The way in which we walk into a store, look at items, and more are all analyzed to create a perfect shopping experience. By putting Paco’s strategies to use, as well as some of their own, my local Aldi in Hackensack, creates an effective shopping experience.

For generations, Americans has been brainwashed by the media to believe that what is displayed on television is the ideal perception of what real beauty have manipulated American citizens of what style looks like. Furthermore, with their many brainwashing strategies, that means more and more consumers spending beyond their budget. Our perspectives have been heavily influenced by what they believe is nice, but can we afford it all? With unrealistic combination of goods in store, plazas, and mall, consuming has become a bad behavior of some. In support of my argument of the “Overspending”, author Gladwell’s article “The Science of Shopping” also argues that stores adjust to fit the needs and wants of the shopper are evidently presented. With that being said, we have no idea when we are being manipulated into unrealistic shopping behavior that is influenced by the way the advertisement is presented in visual sight. Author Gladwell gets a “retail anthropologist” and “urban geographer” named Paco Underhill to give breakdown points of how he helps brand name stores influence consumers into persuasion of buying more. However, most of us fall short of that discipline, while being persuaded to overspend during our store visits.

Pop-up retailers exemplify the energy of brick and mortar, specifically for digitally indigenous brands. The outlets allow retailers to investigate physical feet traffic and conversions, metrics that are unavailable on digital platforms. The benefits associated with brick-and-mortar store places are so transformative that online-native companies are changing business models, often by using pop-up outlets as an initial foray in to the world of traditional retailing.

Girod (2005) gives an example of a charity retailer Oxfam which saved the company from bankruptcy in the late nineties by developing an innovative HR approach. Some of the learnings from Oxfam case can be incorporated in commercial retail environment. Firstly, brand building strategies mean networking. Different business functions have to coevolve with one another and most importantly customers have to be included in innovation strategy. This can only be achieved if staff members understand and characterise company’s identity and demands of consumers. Employees are able to notice declining and rising brands and create a structural system that avoids strategic gaps by innovating or sustaining brand leadership. Overall, retail is based on continues

Today’s customers are more aware and empowered, and have more bargaining power due to the exponential increase in competition – direct, indirect or substitute. In retailing, they want hassle-free shopping, have less time at their disposal to locate the shop and the merchandise and are reluctant to keep waiting. The modern format retail stores are doing their best to anticipate the customer’s demands and are going all out to redesign their store interiors, offer more choices in varieties and assortments, and are giving as many services as feasible.

The purpose of this paper was to observe the consumers of a retail store of my choice; I chose to observe Victoria’s Secret and Targets consumers, because I myself am consumers of those stores quite often, then to analyze the behavior of the consumers of Victoria’s Secret and Target. Victoria’s Secret and Target consumers differ because of the difference in type of retail they offer and sell. Victoria’s Secret consumers know what they are going to be shopping for women and certain needs or wants they are looking to satisfy. Target consumers shop for any age and any gender,

Marketing is an evolutionary and fluid process that needs to be continually adapted to consumers in order to keep them coming back time and time again. With increased competition and volatility on a global scale companies must strive to differentiate themselves from competitors. Managers should be aware that consumers are changing at an increasing rate as they become more informed, and should shift from a product and service orientation to a consumer focused orientation. Simply focusing on an exchange is no longer applicable in today’s economy. Pine and Gilmore (1998, p. 97) have stated that we have entered the “experience economy”,