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Great Retail = Great Theater

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, September 8, 2011

While we've all heard it said that great retail should be like great theater, there are some who maintain that merchants, especially big-box retailers, are utilizing far more nefarious tactics to make their cash registers ring.
     For example, a recent article quoted Alan Penn, a faculty member at London's University College and an expert in store design, who believes that Ikea's famous maze-like store layout is a conscious effort on the part of the retailer to befuddle shoppers and cause them, like so many zombies, to throw impulse items into their carts.
     "In Ikea's case, you have to follow a set path past what is effectively their catalogue in physical form, with furniture placed in different settings which is meant to show you how adaptable it is," he said, adding, "By the time you get to the warehouse where you can actually buy the stool or whatever's caught your eye, you're so impressed by how cheap it is that you end up getting it."
     And the problem with that strategy would be...?
     But Penn went on to suggest that by making the store layouts "purposely confusing," shoppers, knowing they won't be able to retrace their steps, respond by simply popping those impulse items into their carts.
     A spokesperson for Ikea denied that the stores' layouts were intentionally designed to confuse shoppers. Instead, the retailer pointed out that Ikea's showrooms are designed to give customers a multitude of ideas for literally every room in the home.
     Having recently visited the Ikea store in Charlotte, N.C., I would have to agree with the Ikea spokesperson.
     For sure, the store is huge, but with the help of clear signage and an easy-to-read map given to me as I entered the store, I never felt as if the retailer was intentionally trying to confuse me.
     And, judging by the smiles on the majority of the shoppers that packed the store on my mid-week visit, neither did they.
     I think they were simply responding to the brand of retail theater that Ikea does so well.
     What will your customers see when you raise the curtain?

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