Joan Riera went on a shopping expedition with his wife to observe various stores including Media Markt, Jack & Jones, Marc Rapid, Kokoa, Sports Base, Swatch, and Tascon. He provided highlights and observations from each store, noting things like music, displays, organization, and opportunities for improvement. Some key opportunities he identified included using unused ceiling space at Media Markt for displays, adding a drink vending machine at Jack & Jones, reorganizing piles of goods at Marc Rapid, and setting up outdoor seating at Kokoa in fall/winter. He concluded that taking an observer's perspective can help identify overlooked opportunities.

1. Joan Riera 29/10/2012

2. Summary
1. Introduction!
2. Into the wilds:
1. Shop 1: Media Markt
2. Shop 2: Jack & Jones
3. Shop 3: Marc Rapid
4. Shop 4: Kokoa
5. Shop 5: Sport Base
6. Shop 6: Swatch
7. Shop 7: Tascon
3. Conclusions

3. 1. Introduction!
• Following the instructions of the assignment, I decided to tag
along with my wife for some shop exploration. Life is wild in
the civilization, and there’s no shortage of things we found out
 Let’s begin the journey now!

4. 2. Into the wilds

5. Shop 1: Media Markt (highlights)
• This one was a huge place, been there many times in the past. They sell a huge
variety of things, mainly electronics and related.
• I never noticed before the fact that he different sections use different musical
themes, although the shop as a whole is a big open place. This results in some
places where the music from distinct sections come clashing, kind of odd. Also all
the products look piled, and at times this doesn’t give the best of the impressions.
Last but not least, the floor in some sections is painted as a kind of highway, the toll
always comes when you are about to leave…
• Also, the ceiling is very high in this shop, nevertheless it looks bare and unfinished,
not specially welcoming 
• As a hidden opportunity I would think into taking advantage of that ceiling: So
much space and no usage at all! It could be used for a better visualization of special
displays or videos, and that’s only the first thing that came to my mind…

6. Shop 1: Media Markt (Hunting pics)

7. Shop 2: Jack & Jones (highlights)
• Urban style clothing shop that I used to visit in the past, decided to venture forth for
the sake of knowledge
• The shop is pretty well organized regarding the product, the shopkeepers are pretty
keen and come to your help almost the moment you step in. Unfortunately they
weren’t very pleased with the camera, so the only pic I could safely take was the
entrance… So much for my spy career project…
• Nothing fancy in terms of discovery here, just the fact that the music is a bit too
loud, which I never seemed to notice in the past, and the advertising in the
walls, which refers to previous season products which you can’t get anymore. That
last point is actually a bit frustrating, since I always end up asking for the same
thing discontinued ages ago…
• A hidden opportunity for this place? Maybe a vendoring machine with drinks, they
already have the Bar counter and the fashion environment so, why not? Keep
people inside, consuming drinks, and giving themselves more time to consider
buying!

8. Shop 2: Jack & Jones (Hunting pic)
The pumpkin was not sold in the shop but… Oh well…

9. Shop 3: Marc Rapid (highlights)
• A picture frame and poster gallery, it looks messy at first, but you can find a few
small treasures… Given the fact that you have a compass and a shovel 
• This place is quite messy. I never quite realized how disorganized the product
exposing looks. Piles and piles of frames and posters. Actually if you dive into
it, you can find a kind of patron, so it’s not an unbearable task to peruse, but quite
distracting 
• I think that, in order to boost the business, they could use a re-organization of their
goods, and also a bit of music (the place was strictly mute) wouldn’t hurt either.
They could also develop the business towards a more personal-experience like
model, based around their customers; nothing specific on my mind, but I’m quite
positive that picture frame buying is more personal than most of us would think.

10. Shop 3: Marc Rapid (Hunting pics)

11. Shop 4: Kokoa (highlights)
• Chocolate! Oh really, that was a no brainer for me 
• The shop is very cozy and comfy. The shopkeeper is also very friendly and helpful.
No music at all, but they don’t need it, they use the chocolate scent to keep you
there (and it works!) I also noticed several small details, like the floor resembling a
huge chocolate tablet, or a glass globe with candy-like chocolates at the door (1€
each, just to avoid people getting tempted ravaging it and getting ill, they are so
thoughtful!)
• The opportunity that came to my mind in this case is quite seasonal, and maybe not
possible at all, but how cool would be to set up a few tables and chairs in front of
the shop in the late autumn and winter months, so people could enjoy a good cup of
hot chocolate! At a price of course, the space doesn’t come for free, and we don’t
want to ruin anyone’s diet.

12. Shop 4: Kokoa (Hunting pics)

13. Shop 5: Sports Base (highlights)
• I like sports, they make me feel pretty alive and let me enjoy the thrill of
competition. Therefore this shop is like a huge, but a bit expensive, playground to
me 
• The place is quite nice, things are somehow organized (although it is a pain to find
certain clothes even while I tried hard) The counter is again centered in this shop,
but in this case it covers the whole corner wall (the shop is L shaped) The
shopkeepers are a bit hard to reach at times (they tend to disappear… somehow…)
but knowledgeable. In this visit, I realized that there are many more sports covered
than I noticed in the past; I didn’t saw those before due to the distribution of the
shop. I also realized that the ceiling, while pretty standard, is cool as well.
• Maybe a way to improve the business for this guys would be either a better
distribution, or to make the existing one noticeable via hanging panels in the
ceiling. Also, fitness is a huge business, and it wouldn’t hurt to bring to customers
personalized attention or even keeping profiles so they could send proposals to their
existing customer base: “Because we care!”

14. Shop 5: Sports Base (Hunting pics)

15. Shop 6: Swatch (highlights)
• How long is a second? … One of the most memorable ads I have ever seen was
from this brand. I actually loved it, and I couldn’t deny myself the chance to them
for this project.
• The shop is very open, the displays feels fresh, and both simplicity and freedom are
all around you. There is also a portion of the catalogue aimed for people which may
look for something more sophisticate, but it doesn’t break the whole feeling of the
shop. By taking a close look I realized something quite curious in the walls (close
to the ceiling)… 3 TV’s turned off! At first I thought it was some kind of
extravagant decoration (they were pitch black), but after asking the shopkeeper she
told me they used to be on with video ads in the past.
• It is really a pity that those monitors are turned off, I really believe they have much
potential and could definitely be used to draw potential customers closer to the
brand. I also believe that they could use the feedback of their customers, in a way
similar to the red cross example we saw in the lecture. Swatch isn’t necessarily just
one more watch brand, but a lifestyle, they could take advantage of that to turn
tables in their favor.

16. Shop 6: Swatch (Hunting pics)

17. Shop 7: Tascon (highlights)
• Welcome to… Alcatraz. No really, this is quite possibly the closest thing I’ve ever
seen of a prison… for shoes.
• The shop looks rather awkward from the outside. First thing I notice is a counter
next to the exit, it appears to be both a working table and where you are intended to
pay for the shopping, but curiously resembles a guard post… Also, aside from some
nice displays, they have an awful amount of shoes behind iron bars, I guess they did
something really bad to end there. Last thing I noticed is the piles and piles of boxes
in a kind of second floor that went around the shop. In the end, between the second
gallery and the jail-style iron bars I felt sorry for the poor shoes…
• I think that a rather good hidden opportunity for this shop would be to either re-
arrange things in a less “prison-themed” style or just go into the opposite direction
and exploit that kind of look (“The Great Evasion Sale” or anything close, there’s
actually plenty of things you can do without falling into the ridiculous).

18. Shop 7: Tascon (Hunting pics)

19. 3. Conclusions
• All in all, I was very pleased with this expedition. Tom Kelley statement to try to
use the eyes of a traveler is very refreshing, although may be a bit hard given the
inevitable associations with those things familiar to us.
• I’m a firm believer that there’s always room for innovation and opportunities
around us, and this active-observation approach proved to be very useful in order to
widen my scope. I guess that, just like the Oral-B case, we tend to take for granted
many things, we skip forward because we’re always short of time, and that’s why
many great ideas (or even obvious things) never show up.
• I hope you enjoyed my little safari, I’m eager to take the next trip towards
creativity, see you next week!