A paper based on an observation exercise for a crash course on creativity at Stanford University (professor Tina Seelig)

1. It´s all about the prices!
by Plamena

2. My observation exercise included 6 stores on a main street in
Bochum, Germany. The observation itself did not lead to any
new discoveries about new businesses but it did help me
rediscover the retail world with fresh eyes.
Instead of being there to buy I went there to discover the
ideas behind the face of the shop. And after gathering the
following data, I came up with the following conclusions1.
1
Please do have in mind that I was not very welcome to take pictures inside the store. Even though this
interfered with my assignment, it also led to a new discovery that I kindly included in my conclusions.

3. 1. A doormat imitates a `welcome doormat`
2. A beautiful girl poster at the back attracts and one could
see it from the door
3.An interesting idea with the legs on the
wall; however the light in the store doesn´t
concentrate on the items but rather on the
walls.
4. The drawers look like those we use at
home and not typical store drawers

4. The electronics store was full with posters with text on them,
even the ads on the windows were mainly with posters and
no items. The information was too overwhelming.

5. The beauty shop was on the other hand full with posters with
no text on them but with beautiful faces. The lights were
invisible and they were coming from the advertising posters
of the different brands. Window ads with posters & products.

6. The book store was the most appealing one with its bright
colors. It was the store with the most items (both discounted
and not) to be sold outside the premises of the store.

7. This was the least appealing store: the featured items on the
window were not well illuminated and the colors were too
dark. The idea behind the colors might be to represent luxury
goods, however, one could not see well enough the item. So,
even though the quality of the product is good, one could not
see it inside the shop. Also, the three signs of the store were
quite confusing.

8. Who doesn´t know C&A? Well, apparently this is what they
use to reduce costs in their stores. The lights were ok, the
colors of the store were ok, the temperature inside was ok,
everything was ok. With this ok their items were losing their
light (quality). The one thing that was well displayed were the
price tags and the price posters which were screaming: Look,
I´m cheap, buy me! The whole concept of cheap selling in
bulk did not appeal to me very much, but then again I did
enter the shop. All this tells me that whatever the
representation, a client is FIRST led by a price.

9. To sum up, If I ever open a store it will have the following
features (description for a clothing shop):
one relatively big sign but not that big
colorful external representation
open door
a combination of well illuminated posters with beautiful girls
on it & mannequins with featured trendy cloths
a welcome doormat with the name of my shop
white colors with lights mainly on the items
products displayed at eye level
high ceiling
music playing
sparse merchandise
distinctive smell
something to remind the cozy atmosphere at home but also
luxury items to tell you that you experience something that
you cannot at home
a camera to take pictures of the people trying the cloths on
...
And very well displayed prices. This is the main drive for a
person to come inside your store.
Thank you for taking time reading my small
paper! :)
Plamena