The author of this piece had a lot of really great points about what stores can do to appease consumers, such as the "Decompression Zone", the women's butt thing, and the Invariant Right. But all of these principles are really just guesses on how customers are going to behave. They may be good predictors, but I think the take away message from Gladwell's article is that the customer is unpredictable. If you do things with the intention of luring him/her in, you will invariably fail; instead designers must look at what the customer does naturally, and react to that.
How much do you personally feel you are influenced by a store's design?
I would like to think I am not influenced by a store's design, but after reading this enlightening, and quite frankly disturbing piece I would guess that I am, on some level, influenced by store design. Usually I go to stores with vary specific purposes, so I am probably not the target audience for these store masterminds, but next time I'm at the Gap I'll bet I feel the strings being pulled on the customer/marionette I have become.
Make a check list you could use to analyze a retail store like Paco Underhill does.
Why are customers coming in?
What are their first impressions?
What is the store trying to say?
Doest the store keep people in?
Is the layout logical?
Will women get their asses grabbed?
the last line is my favorite :)
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