CHAPTER 2. STATE OF THE ART
2.2 The customer journey through the fashion store
Most people can recall the sensation of entering a space that incites a bodily or emotional reaction.
Most people can also recall a particular store where the atmosphere creates a particular feeling, without being aware of what it might be that gives rise to that feeling. It is important to remember that the consumer experience is a comprehensive one, where all variables are experienced simultaneously and in combination. Design cues are blended in unforeseeable ways, dependent on individual perspective, and coming together to form an integrated experience for the individual consumer. The experience of store environment as holistic is discussed further in section 2.3, and the importance of treating the experience as an individual one is discussed further in section 2.5.
As discussed in the previous section, the consumer's journey does not take place exclusively in the retail space. With the scope of today's marketing campaigns it begins long before entering the store and, buttressed either by products taken home or by the memory of an in-store or out-of-store experience, can continue long afterward. But this dissertation shines its light on the experience of the store atmosphere itself, and how its design affects consumers while they are under its influence. But let us take one small step further back in time, to the moment when the consumer approaches the facade, and decides to enter the store. The potential shopper might be guided by cues in the area just outside the store: logos, images, music playing inside the store, or an alluring scent wafting out from within its doors. A window decoration or a product display in the entrance area might exert a magnetic pull. Outside the store in a typical urban environment, the consumer is bombarded with commercial and social cues from the surrounding area, in amounts and types that are impossible to predict or control, all competing for his or her attention.
For practical purposes it is impossible to describe a ‘typical’ consumer journey, since they are of necessity so varied in nature. A consumer might have come to the store to pick up a delivery purchased online; she might want to examine the quality of a product that she has seen in an advertisement; she might be on a quest for a particular item—a pair of red shoes, for example; or she might simply want to explore the current collection, looking for inspiration or distraction in a free hour from work. Nonetheless, the moment the consumer sets foot in the store, she enters an environment controlled by the retailer. Depending on the type of store, the customer might be greeted by an employee, or she might be left alone to browse. In either case, she is
receiving inputs and signals all the while, and cognitive processes are being activated as she looks for recognizable patterns and signals in an inscrutable blending of conscious and unconscious attention (Puccinelli 2009).
Despite the fact that consumers enter the store for a wide variety of reasons, and therefore have different needs for the shop to accommodate, certain elements are common to most fashion stores. Furniture and layout lend support to the product displays. Products are normally well-lit, with the strongest products placed either at eye level, or a level that facilitates touching them. The consumer might, for example, be presented with dresses on hangers, which gives her an idea of how they might look on her body; while sweaters and t-shirts are presented on a table, where she can easily reach out and touch them, giving her an idea of how the material might feel against her skin. Mirrors are often integrated in the interior. If the consumer finds a promising product she might might pick it up, hold it up in front of her, or even drape it over herself in front of a mirror. If she likes what she sees, she might take the item to the fitting room area, where she can remove her own clothing, and put on an entirely new outfit. In order to ease this transformation, there is often a soft, pleasing, and hopefully flattering light in the fitting room, which might also be equipped with conveniently located hooks for both the old clothing and the new. There might also be a stool or a chair, where she can sit while taking her shoes off, and there is almost certainly a mirror—sometimes more than one—so that she can view the results of the transformation from the best possible angle. During the decision-making process, she might communicate with an employee, or collect information online about the brand or about specific products, using her phone or another device. She might also communicate with friends—be they with her in the store or participating with the help of a mobile device—perhaps soliciting an opinion about style, or guidance about fit or maintenance. The consumer might be shopping for a particular occasion—a dinner party or a job interview, or simply have a practical or a self-indulgent need for an item of clothing. Regardless of the purpose, fitting rooms—if they are designed to the task—have the unique opportunity to give the consumer a glimpse of this new version of the self. After evaluating and comparing products, a decision will follow. She might purchase the product and bring it home or leave it in the store and continue browsing. If she decides to purchase the product in the store, the next step in the process normally takes place in a cash desk area, where packaging and payment are handled. The product changes hands, and the customer leaves the shop with a parcel in hand and a receipt documenting the exchange.
The boundaries of the shopping space may be more clearly defined in stores that have their own discrete spaces and separate entrances—a shop in a mall, or on a shopping street, for example—as opposed to a shop in a department store, or a store-within-store arrangement,
way or another. Design cues communicate what is on the inside, and what is on the outside. Erwin Goffman (1959) uses a theatre metaphor to describe what happens when a person enters the ‘scene of action.’ In this metaphor, he makes a clear delineation between ‘frontstage’ and ‘backstage.’
When speaking of shopping environments, we might even be tempted to use the term ‘pre-stage’
to describe the store, because customers actually use the space to imagine themselves in a future event and context. In this way the shopping environment has the potential to influence not only the product, but also the consumer’s imagination of a future context, or even of themselves.
Despite the rise and prominence of online shopping, the idea that a store is a beneficial environment, in which to view and experience fashion products remains a part of the general consciousness. This is naturally due to the opportunity a store provides to interact with products, but it also reflects a desire for in-store experiences (Deloitte 2017; National Retail Federation 2017). Store atmospheres are to a large extent branding tools, which can help consumers to ascertain what kind of store experience they can expect to have. Retailers use design cues to paint a picture of the brand's identity: category, style, values, price level, or service level, to name just a few traits (Ward et al. 1992; Puccinelli et al. 2009). A luxury shop, for example, typically has fewer items on display, an attentive but discreet level of service, and perhaps a guard stationed by the entrance to monitor the flow of customers in and out. A discount shop, on the other hand, normally has larger, more accommodating entrances, a large number of products, displayed on adaptable, modular furniture, and a service level that leaves the customer more or less to his own devices.
With a little imagination, it is possible to envision many different versions of the consumer journey through the shopping environment. And none of these consumers would likely have any difficulty, on the one hand, agreeing on which elements the environment consists of, in terms of furniture, surfaces, and decorations. On the other hand, these very same elements will have very different effects on different consumers, and they will have a much harder time reaching a consensus on the qualities of the atmosphere, or on how much they like or dislike it. A further discussion of the differing effects of store design on customers as individuals follows in section 2.6, and we broach the subject once again in the section on Scientific Approach.