Service Location: Topshop SoHo & Forever21 TimesSquare
Research Question: Does the store layout/ location or amount of store employees on the floor as well as being greeted when you enter and exit a store have any impact on customer buying behavior?
Methodology: Through an Observational Study I will first watch to see how employees and customers interact and if that seems to have any effect on the amount of clothing a customer purchases or if by not having any form of greeting or interaction if customers are less likely to buy an item. I will also look to see how the store and their products are displayed and shown; as an open concept or separate rooms/ areas.
Capture Research: Since taking pictures in a store isn’t really normal/permissible I conducted an observation by recording what I saw. At the Topshop in Soho I was greeted once I entered as well as when I had exited. As for the customers I saw walking in, they all had clothes in their hands but I did see many put clothes down once they saw the line at the cash register. There were employees in the sales floor asking if you needed help or a size, but only a few people actually took the help. Others wanted to roam the store and hangers themselves and just browse. In Forever 21 store I was not greeted and although sometimes it seems mundane and awkward to walk into a store and be greeted, I felt a little off and uncomfortable not being greeted. The store was packed and there was far less employees on the sales floor looking to help customers. The line for the cash register was also long, but less people seemed to mind here, as well as bought more clothes at Forever21 than at Topshop. Out of both stores, Forever 21 had more of an open concept than Topshop did, and had a larger variety of clothing on display for the customers to browse through. Also being in the center of Times Square; there was a lot more foot traffic and tourists in the store than at Topshop in Soho - which also had a decent amount of tourists shopping.
Analyzation:
The amount of employees on a sales floor at retail stores does not seem to have any impact on the amount of customers that chose to shop there.
Instead between these two stores, price had a larger impact on the customers. (which makes sense)
With a more open concept, Forever 21 was able to house and display more clothing and accessories than Topshop which made people browse more and end up finding more pieces they liked/ wanted to try on.
From visiting both stores and observing the interactions between the employees and customers as well as the layout concepts of both stores, I learned that people's shopping behaviors are more determined by their needs and wants rather than the actual store. For those shoppers who went into either of the stores to simply browse, they were the ones who didn’t seek help and mostly the customers at Forever 21. And then for those who had an idea or specific item that they wanted, they were the customers who looked and reacted to the employees help as well as had a sense of purpose to their browsing and being in the store they were at.
