Retail Anthropology Term Project
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Retail Anthropology Term Project
Introduction: The Industry
The discount department store industry is one of the industries that faces plenty of customer demand. More customers today are turning to discount stores when shopping for their products both for use at home and in their businesses. A discount department store is a store that sells products at a discounted rate. The products sold in these stores are of a wide assortment and they range from electronic equipment, clothing, and jewelry, as well as, food products. Discount department stores were first established after World War II, as most of the retail outlets began embracing a low-profit, high-volume business strategy so as to increase the customer base in each retail store. These types of retail stores are mainly focused on attracting price-conscious customers who intend to spend the least amount of money for the purchase of particular products.
Examples of discount department stores in the US include, Walmart, Kmart, Target, Best Buy, and Dillard’s Inc. among others. Currently, the discount department stores in the US have a market share of about 87%, thus illustrating their significance to the US economy. The current inflation and debt crisis faced by Americans has made products sold in discount department stores the most sort after products in the market. The changing demographics have also impacted the existence of discount department stores, as most people cannot afford to buy items from other retail shops because of the prices. Current consumer behavior has also changed trends, as most people prefer buying many items at a cheap price, as opposed to, purchasing one item at a high price.
Retailers Profiles
Three main retailer stores were chosen for this study including Dillard’s Inc., Best Buy, and Walmart. These retail stores were specifically chosen because they offer similar services, thus making the comparison between the stores much simpler. Additionally, the retail stores were chosen based on their location. This is because the different store locations promoted customer inflow, because they are located in places with heavy human traffic.
Dillard’s Inc.: Pierre Bossier Mall Location
Dillard’s Inc. is one of America’s discount department chain stores. The store is concerned with the sale of a number of products ranging from clothing, to furniture and house-wares, and is one of the most highly recognized discount department stores in the US. Founded by William Dillard in 1938, the store serves over 2million customers with 40,000 employees in their stores located in America (Icons Group Inc. 1-24). Dillard’s Inc. operates stores in 290 locations, within 30 states in Sunbelt through to Central USA. Its main competitors include Abercrombie and Fitch Co., American Oagle outfitters Inc., and ANN Inc., all of which are clothing stores in located in the US (Icons Group Inc. 1-24). The primary target markets for Dillard’s Inc. are middle and upper-middle-income earners, especially young women and mothers. Accordingly, women’s clothing and apparel contribute to 35% of the company’s total sales thus the rationale behind having women as the company’s primary market targets (Icons Group Inc. 1-24). Dillard’s competitive strengths lie in their ability to generate a considerable amount of sales for the company. More specifically, the company focuses on human resources and product prices to attain a competitive advantage over other stores in the same industry. The image the company intends to convey to its consumers is that they can look good at an affordable price. The design of clothes sold in Dillard’s Inc. are similar to those of designer stores, and for that reason, Dillard’s customers are satisfied with the products they purchase from all their stores. For this retail anthropology survey, one of the 30 Dillard’s Inc. stores were chosen. The store that was chosen for this study is the Dillard’s Inc. store located at Pierre Bossier Mall located in Texas USA.
Best Buy: Youree Drive Location
Best Buy is an American specialty discount retailer of electronic products. More specifically, the company sells various electronic products such as computers, mobile phones, cameras, and home appliances among other things. Founded in 1966, the company is well recognized in the US as a specialty store, and for that reason, it has won various awards for the services offered to consumers. Best Buy is a corporation containing about 1,150 subsidiary branches around the state (Serres 1). Examples of the company’s subsidiaries include the Geek Squad and Future shop label among other companies, all of which operate as franchises for the company. Best Buy’s competitive strengths lie in the fact that the company is a specialty store, and for that reason uses product specification as a strategy for competitive advantage (Serres 1). The primary targets for this store include the consumer who is a lover of electronics and digital devices. The main competitors of Best Buy include Walmart, Target, and Amazon, all of which are involve in the sale of electronic equipment (Serres 1). Just like Dillard’s Inc., one of the Best Buy’s chain stores were chosen for the retail anthropology study, and this store is the Best Buy located at Youree Drive, Shreveport, Los Angeles.
Walmart: Shreveport Barksdale Location
Walmart, specifically the store located at Shreveport Barksdale, is the third retail store that was chosen for this retail anthropology study. The company is an American multinational corporation running various chain stores all over the world. Founded by Sam Walton in 1962, the company has about 8,970 chain stores, in more than 15 countries worldwide (Soderquist 11). The company has employed over 2million employees to serve over 1billion customers, as the chains are located in different areas around the world (Soderquist 35). The company’s chief competitors include Carefour SA, Costco Wholesale Corporation, and the Target Corporation, all of which are sellers of discounted goods and products (Soderquist 51). . Walmart’s primary targets are low to middle income earners in the respective states, and this is because the store offers products on discounted prices. Walmart’s competitive strategy has always been price differentiation, as it specifically deals with the sale of products at a discounted price (Soderquist 21).This competitive strategy has managed to secure the company a market share of about 21%, thus, making it one of the most preferred retail stores in America (Soderquist 36). In terms of company image, Walmart presents itself to the consumers as an all-in-one store that is intent on assuring customer satisfaction at all times.
Presentation and Discussion of Findings
A retail investigation of the abovementioned retail stores was carried out to determine customer conduct within these stores. Specifically, this investigation aimed at discovering how each store’s design has been optimized for their customers. Three main variables were considered for this investigation including customer traffic flow, crowdedness, and accessibility. A rating scale of 1-10 was also used, where I represented the worst scores for each store and 10 represented the best scores. Accordingly, the results of this investigation are presented in the Table 1 below
Table 1
Store Traffic Flow Crowdedness Accessibility Overall Score
Dillard’s 5 5 4 14
Best Buy 9 8 10 27
Walmart 9 10 7 26
Based on the information recorded on the table above it is clear that all the retail stores used in the study have considered their customer needs in the design of their premises. In relation to traffic flow, each of the retail stores in the study presented a variance from the other. The design of Dillard’s Inc.’s premises is in such a way that promoted an effective and efficient traffic flow and spacing. The display distribution used in the store allows the use of a similar path by the customers, especially since most of the items on sale in the store were marked 50%, thus attracting the customers’ attention in the store. Unlike the design at Dillard’s Inc., Best Buy has been designed in such a way that the customers do not have to move in similar paths. This difference in paths is as a result of the fact that the customers can access different departments using multiple isles.
The cell phone displays are the main attraction in the Best Buy store and they are placed at the entrance of the store making them the first thing the customers see when the access the store. Traffic flow in this retail store is first-rate because all the items in the store are spaced well. Lastly, Walmart’s design is similar to that of Best Buy, in that it does not allow the customers to follow similar paths when accessing the store. The retail store is also designed in such a way that customers can access the different isles using multiple lanes in the store. Walmart also offers discounts on many of their items in the store, allowing the customers to stop and take a look at all the item on display. Traffic in this store flowed well throughout the store. However, the area around the register is packed with people because of the large numbers of customers to the store.
Crowdedness refers to the space in the stores that allows customers to move freely inside the store. This space is both the space to allow customers to move around the store, as well as, the space for the items in the store. In relation to crowdedness, Dillard’s Inc. is not crowded, and has enough space for stacking items in the store, as well as, the customers to move around. Best Buy, on the other hand, is rather crowded, mostly in the electronics and cell phones department. This is because of the discount sale of cell phones and other electronic items. Additionally, the registers were also rather crowded because of the number of cashiers on duty in the store. There were only two cashiers on duty, thus increasing the crowd of people in the store However, in the other sections of the store, there is plenty of room for the customers to move around, as well as, in and out of the store. In terms of crowdedness, Walmart is very crowded. The store isles are well spaced though the large numbers of people in the store make it hard for the customers to navigate around the store without bumping into each other. The cash registers were also backed up with plenty of customers thus increasing the crowdedness in the store.
The last variable used for this retail anthropology investigation is accessibility, which refers to the admission or right to entry of customers to the store. Accessibility refers to both accessibility within the store, and accessibility to the store from the outside. In Dillard’s Inc., customer, even those who are handicapped, have easy access to the store from the outside. However, accessibility within the store is hard for the handicapped customers, especially those in wheel chairs. This is because the store isles are narrow, which does not allow easy navigation of these customers in the store. The displays in the store are also visible and the store provides Braille signs for the blind customers to the store. Best Buy and Walmart are both fully accessible for all customers even those who are handicapped. Customers can access the store both from outside and within the store, and the isles are wide enough for the customers to access the store accordingly.
Recommendations
After a survey of each of the retailers mentioned above, it is evident that some of the retail stores need to make some changes in the design of their premises. Based on the scores in each of the retail store, it is evident that Best Buy is the best designed store in terms of consideration of the fulfillment of customer needs, as it attained a score of 26 out of 30. Walmart followed closely with a score of 27, thus indicating that the retail store also considers the needs of customers in their design. Dillard’s Inc., on the other hand, scored the lowest in the retail anthropology survey, with a total of 14 points out of the expected 30. This, therefore illustrates that Dillard’s Inc. is the retail store that requires more changes in their design as compared to the other two retail stores. Dillard’s Inc. needs to make changes in their design in accordance with all the variables that were used to determine the scores on the design of their store.
More specifically, the two main changes that this store needs to make involve an expansion of the size of the isles, so as to reduce traffic flow and crowdedness and increase accessibility for all customers, especially those on wheel chairs. An increase and expansion of the store isles will involve increasing the number of isles in the store, and widening the existing isles. This will allow easy accessibility to all the store departments thus inviting more customers to shop in the store. Walmart, on the other hand, should consider the possibility of making some changes in their design that will allow full accessibility of all customers to all of the departments in the store. Though most of the sections in the store are readily accessible, others need some changes owing to customer design of some goods as compared to others such as electronics. Conclusively, Best Buy Inc. should develop design strategies that reduce crowdedness in the store. One of the strategies that the store can consider taking up is increasing the number of cashiers at the cash register so as to reduce the number of customers queuing during payment for their purchases.
References
Icon Group International. Dillard’s, Inc.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial
Gap Analysis. USA: Icon Group International, Incorporated, 2000. Print.
Serres, Chris. Adaptation is Key for Best Buy. Star Tribune, 08 February 2007. Web. 14
November 2011.
Soderquist, Don. The Wal-Mart way: the inside story of the success of the world’s largest
company. USA: Thomas Nelson Inc, 2005. Print.
Zane, Christopher. Reinventing the Wheel: Creating Lifetime Customers. Change This, 05
October 2011. Web. 14 November 2011.
