Essay 2 - Draft

Essay 2 – Draft 

Science of Shopping
March 6, 2011

I decided to select Wal-Mart because I’ve worked part time there for almost 8 years.   I didn’t do this because I thought it would be easy but because I never really thought about any of the things mentioned in Gladwell’s article.  I had a small idea that stores paid people to give them advice on how to sell more and we use “mystery shoppers” at Wal-Mart, but now I had the opportunity to look at Wal-Mart in a brand new way.  It even made my work hours more interesting.

Because I’m an employee, it was very convenient for me to get plenty of observation time in.  What was more difficult was trying to answer all these questions I wanted to answer. because I had to keep everything in my mind.  Obviously, I couldn’t write anything down and sometimes my observations were interrupted by a customer.  So, I decided to try and observe just one topic on my list per shift.  The plan was to try and record my observations on a digital recorder the same night or at least the following morning before I forgot.  It definitely was a good plan for me.  It helped me break down each subset and not loose any details when I went on to the next observation point.  It also helped me make sure that I didn’t miss anything I wanted to include in the essay.

I think the most difficult observation topics were those that dealt with how the customers behaved and how the customers and staff interacted.  I guess it was because I had to try and look at things from the customer’s point of view and that was new to me.  I’m not saying I always think Wal-Mart is right, I’m just saying that I’m usually on the receiving end of the customers question or complaints so; it’s natural to look at it from more of a staff person’s viewpoint.

For the first time I really took my time to observe what I saw and how I felt as I walked into the main street side entrance of Wal-Mart.  I noticed that it was made mainly of hard surfaces like glass, metal frames, and a hard tile floor.  The floor is generally grimy with either heavy industrial carpets that are full of sand, mud or snow.  There is always a variety of debris and trash on the floor – like candy bar wrappers and empty potato chip bags.  This comes mainly from customers anxious to eat the items of food they just bought in the store.  Somewhere along the line they just decide its ok to throw trash on the floor.

The walls on either side are dull beige.  They look like they really need to be painted.They are filled up with a variety of raggedy posters and flyers announcing upcoming events like high school plays and food drives.  Most of these local events have long since passed.  There is also a display of armed forces photos of soldiers with their names listed below.  The idea  is to honor and remember those serving the country and those who have served in past wars like Vietnam and even World War II. Somehow it really bothers me that many of the pictures are starting to fray and look dirty.   My grandfather was in all the big battles of WWII - D. Day and Normandy, so I have great respect for veterans and I find the uncared for pictures disrespectful .  In general, the whole entrance feels really neglected.  Another negative thing I should mention is that you feel physically “blown into” Wal-Mart.  For some reason this area of Swansea has a little wind tunnel and even on the warmest days, you feel like you’re in a wind storm.  It's so bad that the guys who do carriages often complain about getting sand in their eyes.  It definitely does match the decompression zone described by Paco Underhill in Malcolm Gladwell's article, "The Science of Shopping" but in an extreme way.  Paco tells his clients over and over again to "Never, ever put anything of value in the decompression zone, not even shopping baskets or tie racks or big promotional displays, because no one is going to see it." That's alright, but  I don't think, Paco would suggest it should be a neglected or dirty either.

When you walk in the front of the store you can see that Underhill's belief in the existence of “Invariant right” was proven true. Underhill states that, "One of the fundamental rules of how human beings show is that upon entering a store, the shopper invariable and reflexively turns to the right." Underhill's research also held true in my observations. I discovered that at least 90 to 95% of Wal-Mart customers do turn right.

So, how about once you’ve made the turn right?  Well, your senses are bombarded with bright florescent lights, blaring overhead announcements and sounds of cash registers.  Overall, my observations of the whole store lead me to describe it as a very loud and noisy place to shop.  This is definitely not the relaxing, zen kind of place you might think of in a high end store.

There was another item I remembered from Gladwell's article that proved to be true.  That is advice about what items to place on the left.  Underhill's research states that people will only readily cross to the left in order to satisfy a need - like hunger.  I specifically looked to see what items were placed on the left at the entrance and sure enough they  matched Underhill’s recommendations.  At the Swansea Wal-Mart the left of the main entrance is the permanent location of the return desk. The merchandise after the return desk constantly changes - based on what's in demand with the current season.  Right now, that merchandise is      women's bathing suits.

When I observed the traffic flow of the store it wasn't good at all.  In the middle of the main isle is what I call “hot merchandise”.  This contains all the products that management thinks customers are coming in to buy.  For the guys this is where you’ll find all the latest DVD releases.  So, if that's all you came in for, you don't have to walk all the way to Electronics at the back of the store.  For women,the merchandise in this location is based on the next event on the calendar - St. Patrick's Day or Christmas; this is where you'll find the holiday displays.  Right now, you’ll see plenty of shamrocks and big green hats followed by rows of stuffed bunnies, Easter baskets and any chocolate candy you could want.   Getting back to traffic patterns, the The worse times are on the weekends.  Just picture the day before Christmas and you'll get the idea.  It's like real street traffic, with shopping carts flying everywhere followed by accidents and very short tempers.

The location of the merchandise also lets you know that this is a no-nonsense store, geared to the main shoppes of the family: women. Swansea Wal-Mart was definitely laid out for female customers.  As I said earlier, on the immediate left is women’s clothing, with the first items being the most in demand based on the current season.  Continuing down the left to the end of the store is regular women’s clothes, then baby clothes and baby items.  The back of the store on the left is shoes followed by sewing and craft items.  If your at the main entrance and take the "all important turn right", you'll find women's jewelry immediately on your left and 

the cash registers on the right.  Beyond that, is a nail place and play area for kids.  Down the rest of the right are food and paper/cleaning products on the left and health and beauty aides on the right, with a pharmacy beyond that. 

Most of the women shoppers probably range from mid 20’s to late 60’s but we also have tons of teenage girls and elderly women too.  The elderly women usually shop very early in the morning and usually come during the week when most people are at work.  Many are often accompanied by their husbands,  They also seem to be the customers who has the hardest time with the noise.  Teenage girls come mainly on the weekends and come in with their boyfriend or with girlfriends.  The single male shoppers usually come in on week nights.  In fact, most of the customers after 9:00 p.m. are single men.  The other big time for male shoppers is during the weekend.  The difference is they are usually with their wife or girlfriend. Often times their purchases are electronics or food and pet products.  The merchandise for men is basically laid out at the back end of the store - towards the mall side and the back end of the store facing south.  That's where you'll

find electronics, movies and music, followed by sporting,camping goods,car products and tools.

How do Wal-Mart customers behave?  Well, that’s kind of subjective.  If I had to pick one word to describe the majority of them, it would be …STRESSED.  Most people seem like they have too much to do and not enough time to do it.  The mothers with little kids seem the most stressed and many don’t seem to be able to (or want to) keep their kids under control.  I could tell you some pretty amazing stories and I’ve heard a lot of yelling and swearing, especially around the holiday season.

The customers and sales staff can sometimes have a combative interaction.  Again, I’m thinking about Christmas time in particular but whatever time of the year it is, customers are stressed, running in to get whatever they need and they can be pretty impatient if they can’t find what they want or they can’t find a staff person to help them.  Let’s face it, Wal-Mart is not the type of high end store people go to in order to get pampered.  The shopping experience at Wal-Mart is one of necessity with a “get in and get out” mind frame.

After really paying attention to what goes on in Wal-Mart based on the points I’ve highlighted from Paco Underhill years of research, I was really amazed at how much of what I observed in my own retail field site observation matched Underhill’s research.

With the exception of the dirty “Decompression Zone” and the general atmosphere which did not try to sooth or create a place that you wanted to spend hours in, everything else proved to be right on target.  From the “Invariant Right” to the “Necessities Left”, to the way the merchandise was placed and featured, Underhill had it right.  I don’t think I’ll ever look at Wal-Mart, or any other retail location the same way again.

*Work Cited
Gladwell, Malcolm "The Science of Shopping." The New Yorker 4 November 1996.