This is the 2nd assignment for the crash course on creativity on the venture's lab; www.venture-lab.org/creativity

1. PAYING ATTENTION
Aisha Abbas

2. Assignment
 Go to at least 6 different stores. They can be at the
same shopping center or different locations. Spend at
least 15 minutes in each store making
OBSERVATIONS using the lab guide for reference.
Take photos to capture your observations.
 Create a presentation that captures your INSIGHTS
and HIDDEN OPPORTUNITIES. What types of
things had you missed before? What were your
biggest surprises? Are there opportunities hidden in
plain sight?

3. Shops Classification
 6 stores of separate genus were
observed;
1. Super Market
2. Books & Stationary
3. Shoes
4. Flowers & decorations
5. Mobile/Telecom
6. Clothes boutique
This presentation gives a summary of my
observations, insights and the
opportunities, I learnt from this exercise

4. Observation Classification

5. 1. The Supermarket
This is a is
a Danish discount super
market .
On a 5 minutes walk
from my home, I buy all
my groceries from
here, every week.
As the banner and the
sign on the entrance
tells, it stay open all 7
days of the week from 8
AM to 10 PM.
Taking pictures was not allowed
inside the store

6. Observations
 Automatic door which opens
 Food Items closer to expiration on sale, near the entrance
 Longer opening hours even on the weekends draw more
customers in
 Use of bright colors to make the interior more spacious and airy
 Clean and clutter free environment
 fresh food items
 Comfortable environment to shop
 All the items are labeled with prices

7. Observations
 Noise free, music free environment. The only sounds audible are
the cash counter beeps
 Customers of all ages and gender, alone, with family, kids or
partners
 All the customers who get in the store, makes purchase
 everyone comes in on a mission
 Ice cream, impulse items i.e. chocolates, magazines, small
jewelry items near the cash counter
 Sales personnel is in uniform, is polite and greets on exit

8. Insights
 Factors affecting the
sales at a supermarket are;
Freshness of the food
items
Cleanliness of the
store
Bright and airy
atmosphere
Rates of the items
Open hours
Availability of all the
necessary house hold
items
Closeness to residential area

9. 2. Books & Stationary Shop
My second
stop was
the exciting
book store

10. Observations
 Books on sale, and colorful
postcards/greeting cards were
placed outside the shop near the
entrance drawing people into the
store
 Book store was divided into
smaller sections, each section
with a different color having
individual genre of books. i.e.
kids books in pink shelves, fiction
in green, history in blue etc
 All the kid-puzzles and board
games were placed on the centre
table near the entrance

11. Key Observations
 Bright and calm surrounding, with
peaceful music playing in the
background lightly
 Cash counter is located near the entrance/exit
 Sales personnel is around age 20-30
 Products are arranged by function
 Stationary items, Christmas decorations, envelops, stationary
accessories, calendars, greeting cards are on the eye-level
 Schoolbags, table top globes were in the least accessible locations
 Impulse items near the cash counter include fancy
sharpeners, bracelets, small games, key chains etc
 Customers of all ages from 5-70 were seen. Most customers tend to
browse through and go

12. Insights
 Colorful environment makes it interesting to
go in
 The library atmosphere with book samples
available for reading and the reading chairs
in front of the shelves makes it more
customer friendly and exciting
 20% of the customer make purchases each
day

13. 3. Flowers & Decor
My third
stop was
the
beautiful
and
fascinating
flower &
decorations
shop

14. Observations
 Beautiful Christmas decorations, flower
pots, plants, scented candles on the
entrance catch instant attention of the
people passing by
The most friendly and cooperative sales
personnel of my observation trip
 Immediate welcome to the shop and
cooperation in showing around the items
 Dark brown wooden interior with plants
and decorations and dim light gives a
mysterious and mesmerizing forest look
Store has beautiful fragrance of the
scented candles around

15. Observations
 Products are arranged color wise
 Most expensive decorations are
placed on higher shelves
 Impulse items including
nougat, candied dry fruits, jewelry
items, post cards near the cash
counter
 More customers included
females, moms with kids, couples etc
 60-80 purchases a day, out of 300
browsing customers

16. 4. Shoes Store
My 4th stop
of the day
was the
famous
shoe retail
chain

17. Observations
 Shoes on sale were place
outside the shop that draws
customers in
 Discount brochures were
placed in the shelf right after
the entrance
 Spacious and well organized
interior
 Light music playing in the
background, and the other
noise included light chatting
and the cash counter beeps

18. Observations
 Store had leather smell
 Cash register was located near the exit
 Customers of all ages, families, couples, individuals came to
shop, more were females
 25% customers who come in the shop make the purchases
 Formal clutches and bags were placed on the centre tables in
the front entrance of the store
 Impulse items near cash register included key chains, colorful
wallets
 Products were arranged by size and functions i.e. for
ladies, gents, kids, heels, boots etc
 Products like hats, bags, clutches were on the eye level
 Sales personnel had more females of age 20-30

19. 5. Clothing Boutique
My fifth
stop was
the posh
Casual
clothing
store

20. Observations
 Spacious, light and bright
surroundings, light music and
trendy casual wear draws in the
female community passing by
 Sales personnel is very friendly
between the age of 20-30, giving
full 1-1 attention to the customer
 Newest arrivals are placed on the
centre table, the display corner of
the shop
 Discounted items outside the
shop, capture the attention
 Newest items are on the eye level

21. Observations
 Last season and all year round casual items are place
in the least accessible corner of the shop
 All the prices are tagged
 No impulse items near the cash counter
 Customers are encouraged to try out the outfits
 Most customers just browse through, 7% customers
who browse the shop purchase the items
 Cash desk is towards the corner of the store

22. 6. Mobile & Telecom Customer
Service
My last
stop of the
observation
trip was the
Famous
Telecom
franchise

23. Observations
 Interesting environment with latest
products & service offer posters
 Cooperative, and extremely
attentive sales persons who are
there to tell you each and every
function/specification of the product
 Products are sorted by brand
 First products I noticed were the
latest I-phones and the notebooks
 Sales people are in uniform
 Least accessible items are ‘phone
covers’ which are placed inside the
locked showcase

24. Observations
 Customers are very
much encouraged to
check out the products
in detail
 People of both
genders, aged between
20-30 are the most
frequent customers
 5% of the browsing
customers buy the
items each day
 Cash desk is in the last
corner of the shop

25. Insights
 All the shops except the supermarket had their doors
open
 Sales personnel at all shops follow a similar script
with every customer i.e. greetings on exit
 The supermarket staff was less friendly and
welcoming as compared to the clothing
boutique, flowers / décor and the mobile telecom
shop, from which I learnt that;
 the attitude of salespersons is extremely significant in
the shops where the ratio of browsing customers to the
buying ones is much higher

26. Insights
 People do not go to supermarkets for browsing.
All the customers who enter the store make the
purchase and sales personnel's friendly attitude
is not required for driving the people into buying
 Stores with smaller sized items, larger quantity
of products had their cash counters near the exit
 Shops having lesser browsing customers per day
and smaller shop area did not have any security
cameras

27. Opportunities
 I learnt about the marketing tactics to draw
the customers into the shop and buying
things include;
 Very friendly and involved Sales personnel
 Newest items on the centre tables
 New arrivals on display and front view of the
store
 Items on sale are displayed outside the shop
 Clean and organized shop structure
 Impulse items near the cash counter
 Fancy and attractive items on the entrance

28. Opportunities
 people can be fully understood and manipulated with
a checklist of motivators or pyramid of needs
 One doesn't need to be a psychologist to successfully
market a product, but he/she needs to understand
the decision making process and the emotional and
rational factors involved
 By striking the right balance of courtesy, sound
understanding of customer’s needs and impactful
marketing, anyone can outperform in the selling
business.

29. From my observation trip, I learnt new
things about the Product Marketing, I
hope you did too