STORE ATMOSPHERE Making people want to buy a piece of their Pohnpei memory

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17. STORE ATMOSPHERE Making people want to buy a piece of their Pohnpei memory

WHAT • Just be creative and try to do it yourself if you don’t have funds to purchase a ‘complete solution’ • Look in other more advanced stores or on the Internet for inspiration • Hanging something nice and thematic on the wall • Playing local music in store • Painting on the outside wall of a store WHEN HOW E.g. • Customers appreciate the setting and atmosphere, not just the product itself • Particularly needed for gift shops and often for natural high-quality, organic products stores • Creating an atmosphere that is in line with what people are buying; simply, an atmosphere that makes people feel warm and wanting to buy your products IN-STORE PROMO 17 vs. Not really an atmosphere for exotic gift shopping … … This one, though very simple, seems a much cozier gift shop ambiance 261 Every type of store requires a certain type of atmosphere. Just think a bit about what would make your store look more attractive and genuine given the types of products you’re selling. For example, if you’re selling souvenirs and handicrafts, the first store above looks cold and utilitarian. It may be functional and allows people to see the store’s products, but if the person is just browsing it doesn’t encourage them to buy anything. The second store, however, is much more open to the customer and could encourage them to buy more. The customer can get up close with the handicrafts and examine them. It also looks a little more ‘traditional,’ so the décor of the store matches its products. – 2.3 PROMOTION: In-store Promotions – The next page shows a couple of examples of creating a thematic atmosphere. 262 STORE ATMOSPHERE EXAMPLES To attract island visitors for genuine island dining, this marine theme and a palm helps For selling marine souvenirs, having a thematic window display helps IN-STORE PROMO 17 263 Making the right atmosphere is similar to making POS materials in that you can do it yourself, have professionals do it for you, or a combination. For example, let’s take making a store look more appealing from the outside by painting a nice picture on the wall. If you have a friend who’s a bit artistic and you have a good idea of what the picture should be, you can do it all yourself or with your friend’s help, and thus very inexpensively. You could also consider hiring a professional, or even an art student. – 2.3 PROMOTION: In-store Promotions – Next page shows how serious some companies take store atmosphere and the whole store operation. 264 STORE ATMOSPHERE EXAMPLES: STRUCTURED FORM TO EVALUATE STORE ATMOSPHERE AND OPERATIONS IN-STORE PROMO 17 Lighting type adjusted across the store to emphasize different products; fresh coffee or baking smell enhances experience Positive effort made with ambience ― e.g. lighting an music used to enhance shopping experience Broadly acceptable ambience ― all signage is clean and clear, product laid out neatly on shelves Beyond the initial design, no effort made with store ambience ― packaging cases on floor, POS material poorly displayed or missing etc. Ambience Equipment is all working and looks as if it were new There are no outstanding maintenance issues Store is well maintained; no outstanding maintenance issues, no more significant than one or two missing light bulbs There are significant maintenance issues e.g. toilets or coffee machine broken Maintenance Toilets sparkle so much that they look as if they are cleaned between every user Toilets are clean and soap etc. is well stocked. There is a notice on the wall showing how regularly the toilets are checked and it has been filled in Toilets meet minimum standard that costumers would accept Toilets are dirty Toilets Please write na if stores do not have toilets Every corner of the store is so clean that it sparkles All areas of the store ― including hard to reach areas ― are clean e.g., corners of the floor, shelving Main selling area of the store and windows are clean Store is dirty ― both in hard to reach corners and in the main selling area e.g. floor unwashed Cleanliness No significant stock outs; all ‘must have’ and ‘good to have’ items are in stock Very few stock outs and where products are missing there is always an in stock alternative; none on the ‘must have’ products is missing and over half the ‘good to have’ items are in stock Some stock outs mainly in short shelf-life products e.g. sandwiches; only 10 percent of ‘must have’ products are missing Significant numbers of gaps on shelves for both long and short- life products; more than half ‘must have’ items are missing Stock outs Mystery shopper should be provided with a list of 10 ‘must have’ items and check them in each store Fixtures draw attention to key products Fixtures display product in attractive way Fixtures make product easy to access; all products clearly and accurately labeled and priced Poor visibility of product displayed on inappropriate fixtures e.g. bread displayed in abandoned fridge Product display Word Class Above Benchmark Minimum Benchmark Significant Opportunity STORE INTERIOR 265 Developing the right store atmosphere is a relatively ‘intangible discipline’, particularly compared to other promotional techniques. However, it can be broken into two parts: 1 Doing all the right things along with other in-store and presentation promotions 2 Being creative, which is obviously more difficult to teach Some companies take creating the right store atmosphere and all store operations very seriously. They have questionnaires to evaluate whether everything is right at the store level and do random checks of their stores. They will assess the store atmosphere and determine whether the entire store presentation and operation is done properly along several structured dimensions, such as the ones listed on the above questionnaire. Along with the questionnaire, the company will take sample pictures of shelves, cleanliness of bathrooms, etc. If things are not in order, the responsible store manager can lose hisher bonus. – 2.3 PROMOTION: In-store Promotions – The next few pages give a couple of templates and checklists for you to summarize your learning and to start thinking seriously about how to improve promotions for your business. 266

18. PROACTIVE PERSONAL SELLING: Convincing customers using your spoken words