The document provides observations from visits to four different retail stores - a household goods store, a design store, an international fashion brand store, and a pharmacy. For each store, bullet points describe the physical environment, personnel, customers, and shopping behaviors observed. The purpose is to analyze differences in retail experiences and customer interactions across various store types.

1. A crash course on creativity
Retail Observation Lab
Andrea Locatelli

2. Household goods
● Not particularly inviting
● No customization of existing
environment other than shelving
● Feels kind of cold and crowded
because of the large number of
products
● Cash register next to the door
● Personnel does not initiate contact ● Customers mostly alone
● 2 salespeople for the whole store ● All ages, in the morning mainly elderly,
● Products arranged by function kids in the afternoon for sodas,
makeup etc
● Lots of emphasis on price
● Most customers know what they want,
● Some impulse products by the register some browse
● Seasonal stuff (e.g. halloween costumes
now) on emphasis
● High percentage of customers buy
something

3. Design items/gadget/clothing
● Doors closed
● May be perceived as a little “radical
chic”
● Inside feels warm and interesting
● No fixed arrangement invites
browsing
● Cash register next to door
● Personnel initiates contact if customer ● Customers alone or in small groups
seems lost
● Age mainly 20-30s upward
● Most common script is to help customers
find what they want ● Customers enter the store and wonder
randomly most of the time
● Chaotic arrangement of products, mostly
by room or function ● Not everybody makes a purchase
● Little impulse products by the register, but
lots of little impulse products around the
store

4. International fashion brand
● Automatic doors, clear branding and
door personnel invite customers in
● Well lit and warm with dark furniture
● Ambient music playing
● Distinctive smell on each floor
(different on male vs. female floor)
● Cash registers on each floor
● Personnel has scripted way of asking if ● Customers alone, in pairs or groups
they can help
● Pairs are friends or
● Mostly initiate contact if customers signal
mother/son/daughter, groups are
they'd like some help
younger kids
● 2-3 salespeople per floor
● Age 15 and up but few older than 50
● Products arranged by type and outfit, best-
sellers have their own display table ● Customers stay fairly long, lots of
browsing and not a lot of buying
● Little impulse products at the registers

5. Pharmacy
● Automatic doors
● Well lit and clean
● Kind of crowded with shelves
● Multiple cash register behind the
counters with multiple pharmacists
serving them
● Personnel is all licensed pharmacists ● Customers mostly elderly
● Customers line up for the next available ● Everybody gets to talk to a pharmacist
pharmacist even if they pick something
(who also act as cashiers) so can get
themselves from the shelves
advice when needed
● Longer counter means more
pharmacists/registers and more sales ● Customers mostly alone
● Products arranged by type and season, ● Almost every customer makes a
purchase
● Sale items are on display and clearly visible
while you are standing in line