Maintain Your Distance for Slumming Shoppers

More than 40% of new stores opening in the U.S. during the last year are dollar stores, says Money magazine. This during the same period that about 9,000 permanent stores in the U.S. closed. It would seem that for survival, every type of retailer should devote at least part of the building to bargain seekers.
     But you don’t want to alienate your other shoppers—people whose self-esteem would be threatened by what they consider to be slumming. Researchers at Mannheim University suggest a solution: Give high-class shoppers plenty of space. This helps them avoid physical proximity to what they fear will be any riffraff who think the shopper is like them. In addition, spaciousness relaxes the type of stress arising from a discrepancy between how we see ourselves and how we want to see ourselves.
     The researchers note that dollar stores are often cluttered. Clearing that clutter would help maintain distances. But an experience from a decade ago suggests that clutter reinforces the bargain image: From late 2009 through early 2011, many Big Box retailers tidied up aisles and shelves. In some cases, the cleanup came from a realization that consumers were wanting to keep all things more straightforward in their lives because of the economically uncertain times. Loblaw Companies Limited—Canada’s largest grocery retailer—rolled out their “Clutter-Free Check Out Lanes,” and Superquinn in Ireland moved in that same direction.
     Walmart cut down on the clutter in order to attract shoppers from Target. End caps got narrower, the floor-toward-ceiling power aisle shelves got much shorter, and people coming from opposite directions could actually navigate two shopping carts comfortably past each other.
     Walmart shoppers loved the spaciousness. Customer satisfaction surged. On the other hand, the size of the average sale plummeted. In response, Walmart began plumping up the racks and cluttering up the aisles. Around the same time, Dollar General decided to raise shelf heights.
     To attract the full range of shoppers, manage clutter strategically. When opportunities allow, also add spaciousness in the physical layout of store areas devoted to bargain merchandise. The scenarios used in the Mannheim studies described a spacious environment as one “with no baffles or pillars integrated into the design, so you can easily navigate and find all the products you need.” Other research suggests that stress from slumming could be reduced by integrating into store designs live plants or posters illustrating scenes of nature.

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Clear Up Clutter Ambiguities 

Place Attention on Biomorphic Design 

Plumb for Consumers’ Desire to Slum