Oh Behave!

When looking for material to blog about, I have a list of sites and magazines that I check out from week to week. Happily, I have yet to be let down by these “usual suspects” and this week was no exception. In the most recent issue of Event Design magazine, they feature an except from What is Exhibition Design?, a sort-of guidebook to the exhibition design industry written by Jan Lorenc, Lee Skolnick, and Craig Berger, and it presents an interesting thought – designing for behaviors. Everyone does the demographic research, but is there something more effective? Maybe.

As Lorenc, Skolnick, and Berger write, “life states are not in line with age states…” An older person might find more in common with someone 20 years younger and vice versa. Redirecting our focus to behavior helps “cut through demographic barriers” – place less emphasis on the quantitative and start getting to the qualitative.

But demographic research is so neat and tidy. That’s probably why it’s so popular. Behavioral research, on the other hand, can get a bit messy. SRI Consulting Business Intelligence helped cleaned it up a little with it’s creation of VALS, a marketing tool that “explains the relationship between personality traits and consumer behavior.” VALS gives us a way to categorize consumers based on their values, attitudes, and preferences in lifestyle.

On one end of the VALS spectrum you have the “innovators” who are not afraid of change and are very image-conscious. At the other end are the “survivors” who tend to be lower-income and very brand loyal. In between we find thinkers, achievers, experiencers, believers, strivers, and makers. Finding where most of your target market falls can help you create an environment that speaks to all your customers and not just one demographic.

If you’re curious like me, you might be wondering where you are on the VALS spectrum. Take this survey to find out. I am an Experiencer/Achiever. What are you?

Spring Cleaning

While it doesn’t look or feel like it here in Wisconsin, spring has finally sprung. Last Thursday marked the beginning of the new season and thus the beginning of that crazy phenomenon known as spring cleaning. Now, I’m a clean person and I keep a tidy apartment, but for whatever reason, I just can’t seem to get excited about the “big clean.” I suspect there are others that share my lack of motivation.

Knowing how important cleanliness is to shoppers but how hard it is to get motivated to clean, a panel of retail experts, including F.C. Dadson’s very own Larry Myer, gathered at last year’s Retail Construction Expo to discuss how retailers might be able to achieve attractive store interiors that require little maintenance. In honor of spring and its cleaning, I dug out Larry’s notes to share with you. Here are a few of his thoughts on how low-maintenance design can be achieved:

• Keep in mind the fixture’s purpose and choose materials and hardware that can stand up to the challenge.
  “Fixtures are an important part of a store interior. Next to the floor, they’ll probably take the biggest beating from your customers. They also tend to be in plain eyesight –if your fixtures are in a state of disrepair, shoppers are going to notice. Keeping a fresh face of your retail displays begins in the design phase. For instance, I was working with a tanning franchise that was having a problem keeping their walls clean. The tanning oils were being absorbed by the material and becoming nearly impossible to remove. The new melamine walls that were introduced featured a protective coating that kept the oils from being absorbed, allowing salon workers to remove the oil stains with a damp cloth.”

• If something isn’t installed properly, it’s more likely to break.
  “Once your displays are designed and built, another important aspect to great-looking, low maintenance fixtures is installation. Ask your manufacturer to provide detailed installation instructions with your fixture order and select an experienced installation crew. Make sure the installation supervisor has all the instructions, space plans and drawings, and the contact information for your manufacturer, architect, and those who can help if problems arise. The key is to make sure that everyone involved is as familiar with the project at they can be.”

• Design for the anticipated life expectancy of the concept.
  “Designing a store is a lot to think about, so if you only remember one piece of advice, let it be this: high design, low maintenance stores are achieved by designing for the anticipated life expectancy of the design concept. Don’t let your interiors tell you when they need to be replaced. Choose materials and components that will last as long as you want them to. Need a display for 2 months? Cardboard might be the way to go, but need that display for 2 years? It’s probably not the best choice.”

Happy Spring!

Everyone’s Irish on March 17th

Very few things in this world have the same unifying power as St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not sure how a feast day for one of Ireland’s patron saints escalated to such worldwide popularity, but one thing’s for sure: we’re all a little Irish on St. Paddy’s Day and we’re more than willing to spend a little green to show it. The National Retail Federation says consumers will spend an estimated $3.6 billion this St. Patrick’s Day with a large portion of that, I suspect, being spent in the pub.

Eager for a share of the spending pie? Having an Irish moniker is a plus, but hosting a stellar party is better. Here’s a fun article from Entrepreneur that lists the ingredients for a great St. Patrick’s Day bash.

It's All In the Upkeep

I find waking up with a super sore throat and a complete lack of a voice to be generally unsettling, but when these symptoms present themselves after having been exposed to the plague (i.e., a mixture of influenza, multi-symptom viruses, strep throat, etc.) for the past couple of weeks at the office, I didn’t hesitate to hit up my nearest convenient care facility to get some tests done.

The facility’s facade was nice enough and the nurse practitioner was every bit a knowledgeable professional, but after sitting in the examination room for a while and taking in its slightly shabby, mismatched cabinets and crooked drawer and door fronts, I couldn't help but lose a little bit of confidence in the place.

In situations where people need to visit your store or office to do business, appearance is everything. This definitely includes keeping merchandise neat and orderly, but it also means taking care of your fixtures and displays to make sure they are always looking their best as well. These things can say a lot about you and your business, and it's all too easy for them to send the wrong message.

Harnessing Your Chi

Some people do yoga. Others meditate. Feng shui is being incorporated into interior designers’ vocab. However you’re choosing to harness your chi, know that you’re in good company. It seems more and more people are hopping on the “energy flow-increasing” bandwagon, and that got me thinking, “Is there a place for this in the retail environment?”

As one McDonald’s franchise in Hacienda Heights, California is finding out, there might be. Through incorporating the basic principles of feng shui in its remodeled interior, the restaurant (which happens to be located near a Buddhist temple) is hoping to promote happiness and fortune amongst its patrons. But it sounds like the restaurant’s owners are also finding fortune for themselves with the modern interior attracting more new and repeat customers.

Interested in bringing feng shui into your space? For the do-it-yourselfer, I found plenty of reading material and how-tos online. Not quite confident in your feng shui abilities? Worry not because more and more designers are specializing in this ancient Chinese practice.

Know of a retailer that’s employing feng shui in their space? We’d love to here about it.