Pick a service location: Target
Develop a research question related to service design, service marketing, customer experience in your chosen location: What is it about Target stores that causes subconscious purchasing behavior? Is it the layout, promotional offers, or employee interactions?
Describe the methodology you will use to observe behavior/learn from customers what you need to know to answer your research question: I will do an in-depth observational study to gain an understanding as to what specific details of the store causes this behavior. In the study I will walk around and spend time in sections that draw my attention and study patterns that I am able to see from customer's behaviors.
Conduct the research, capturing your observations in writing or video or photographs: When I began my walk through, I immediately noticed how open and brightly lit the store was. It gave off an open and inviting feeling that I believed was an important factor for bringing customers in. After walking into the store, about less than 20 feet, I noticed a small section of products that only cost between $1-$3 and consisted of “stocking stuffer” gifting items like lip glosses, notebooks, and toys that did well to begin setting the shopping mood. The customers who were drawn in ended up placing some of those items in their carts before even entering fully into the main areas of the store. I then continued walking and came across the wide array of clothing that had numerous options for men, women, and children of all ages and sizes. There were a few promotional offers covering the area, as well as a decently sized clearance section. Together, these would have each customer leave the section with at least one item of clothing in their basket, especially female customers. I then moved on to the back area of the store that consisted of holiday items and electronics next to each other. I noticed that this was the busiest section of the store and between the two sections, only the holiday section seemed to have promotional offers and only the electronic section seemed to have a couple of dedicated electronics employees. I noticed while walking through that customers didn’t fill their carts as much, but had spent the most time handling and observing products with the intention to come back at another time to purchase those items. Across the way from the electronics was the games and toys section where I noticed that customers began adding products to their carts. There were some promotional offers in various aisles, but the signs were not large in size so they did not draw much attention. Moving on from there was the grocery section and it was at this point that I noticed that customers were filling their baskets. There were some promotions, but customers did not pay much attention to them and instead just filled their carts with various items. After that came a section that consisted of gifting, bedding, storage, and small kitchen items all at once. This was the section that had the most promotions out of the entire store and had the most people taking advantage of those offers. Next to that was a supplies section, which was the biggest section where people were filling their carts with all sorts of items. I also noticed it was right next to the cashier stands, completing the circular layout of the store. On top of that there was a small café and Starbucks that had the ability to draw in customers before, during, and after their shopping trips. Overall I noticed how much variety Target has when it comes to their products as well as how many promotions they have placed around the store even if customers only took advantage of a select few of those promotions. It was interesting to see how customers took their time in the store and how they walked through every aisle with care. Lastly, I found that even without customer and employee interaction, customers seemed to always find everything that they needed and even things they didn’t know they needed.
Analyze your data and share at least three insights you observed about the service design/marketing/customer behavior: Upon analyzing my observational data, I found three specific insights from my experience.
1. Target’s environment allows for customers to be able to create a unique experience each time they come to the store because of the fact that they carry nearly everything a customer could want, need, or subconsciously need, which is the main motive for customer spending behavior.
2. Promotions create a mindset that customers should take the time and eventually buy those products, which in turn helps customers to keep that mindset when viewing other products that may not be part of a promotional offer.
3. Even without much employee-customer interaction in the various sections of the store, Target still does well to have high customer spending and satisfaction due to the care they take in their layout.
Describe what you learned to answer your research question--how might the service provider improve their service based upon your observations: What I learned from this experience is that Target is set up to encourage subconscious purchasing behavior through their store environment, which includes its layout and promotional offers. I also learned that it is set up in a way so that customers spend as much time as possible in the store viewing products without interruption from employees. In terms of what I would recommend, I would say to try to encourage more employee interaction to see if it has a positive or negative effect on customer spending and satisfaction. Other than that, I would say Target is doing pretty well just as they are.
