http://www.designforum.com Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:09:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 http://www.designforum.com/q-when-is-post-important-to-kelloggs/ http://www.designforum.com/q-when-is-post-important-to-kelloggs/#comments Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:52:21 +0000 Bill Chidley http://www.designforum.com/?p=910 A: When I’m shopping at my local Kroger. No, not the “Post” as in Raisin Bran; I’m referring to the physical post, or column, that is in the cereal aisle at my store. The scene is this: my wife asks me to go get the Multi-Grain Cheerios so she can shop in peace for 10 minutes. She says, “Get the big box, unless the smaller box is on sale,” adding, “The Cheerios are close to the post about half-way down the aisle.” If she wouldn’t have given me that navigational pointer, she probably would have bought herself 15 minutes of peace. The merchandise presentation in the cereal aisle is such a mess, so lacking in organization, I could easily have squandered more time, forced to scan every package, not finding what I was looking for. But since she gave me the post as my pole star, I managed to navigate past the lions and tigers and bears to the Cheerios. After a moment of anxiety while I scan the shelf for validation—Ta-dah!—I find the Mutli-Grain big box not on sale! Contrast this with my second mission, during which my wife gets only a few minutes of peace.]]> http://www.designforum.com/q-when-is-post-important-to-kelloggs/feed/ 0 http://www.designforum.com/beaver-dams-and-the-nature-of-retail-design/ http://www.designforum.com/beaver-dams-and-the-nature-of-retail-design/#comments Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:25:39 +0000 Scott Jeffrey http://www.designforum.com/?p=996 Having read the article about the half-mile-long beaver dam in Alberta, Canada, it occurred to me that those beavers exemplify something frequently overlooked in the retail design business, the idea that it's okay to fail. You would have to imagine that over the reported 2800 linear feet of dam in what is basically a flat terrain, there's the likelihood that sometimes it just doesn't work the way they intended. The colony has to react quickly to failure to ensure the safety of their habitat. If any of you beavers are reading this post and would like to broaden your portfolio, by all means, give us a call. Failure is an option in design as long as it's smart failure and failing for the right reason. If it helps the idea move forward, then it might just net out the absolute best result. In today's market, retail brands developing a new design concept rarely have the luxury of time. Business pressure demands short design-and-build timeframes, followed by testing and refining.]]> http://www.designforum.com/beaver-dams-and-the-nature-of-retail-design/feed/ 0 http://www.designforum.com/pay-attention-cpg-friends-pantene-does-it-right/ http://www.designforum.com/pay-attention-cpg-friends-pantene-does-it-right/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:26:50 +0000 Rhonda http://www.designforum.com/?p=826 While I spend my days understanding shopper behavior and applying rigorous research and analysis methods to help companies “grow categories,” I spend my weekends shopping like crazy. With my bank account being the victim of all of these great growth strategies! As you know, retailers and manufacturers are always finding new ways to create incremental growth or, simply put, make shoppers spend more. One of my favorite places to shop is Target. Before I even make it into the store I have generally blown $20 on the dollar spot. After piling my cart with a bunch of stuff I really have no use for, my second stop is always the shampoo aisle. Regardless of need, I always stop. Something about the colors and the arrangement of the shampoo aisle just makes me feel so clean and orderly and I generally end up picking up something guaranteed to fix frizzy hair or give me more volume. Well, much to my surprise, my venture into the shampoo aisle a few weeks ago yielded a fantastic new surprise! The new Pantene display! Aisle violators grabbed my attention as they organized the offering by color and hair solution. That’s right, hair solutions--easily found! And not only did the aisle violators frame up the offering, but the bottle packaging was new and perfectly coordinated with the signs. You can image my excitement as I quickly zeroed in on the “fine” solutions area. I left the aisle with a whole new system of hair care.]]> http://www.designforum.com/pay-attention-cpg-friends-pantene-does-it-right/feed/ 1 http://www.designforum.com/the-auto-retail-experience-is-still-flat/ http://www.designforum.com/the-auto-retail-experience-is-still-flat/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:00:10 +0000 Scott Smith http://www.designforum.com/?p=723 But to what end? Consumers hate car shopping and they don’t want to go back into the dealership. Big surprise—the shopping experience there is still one of the most frustrating, untrustworthy, and manipulative games you can be subjected to. Add to that the fact that the recession has also caused most dealers to suspend investment in their facilities, and you understand why the thought of venturing into a dealership is bleak. Promising better on TV only to deliver the same old retail experience only fuels consumer frustration and mistrust. Instead, consumers do everything they can to stay out of the dealership, with online research and shopping being the preferred norm. Now even purchasing online has gained popularity. Successful brands like Apple, Whole Foods, IKEA, even Walmart, understand how to leverage the power of shopper insights to deliver game changing customer experiences that build brand excitement, loyalty and bottom line results. Auto companies must do more to improve the customer experience in showrooms! And there couldn’t be a better time. With the recent upheaval in the industry, the marketplace is ripe for someone with the courage to innovate and completely reinvent the paradigm. Success will come to those who differentiate. The upcoming flood of hybrid and electric car provides an excellent opportunity for change.]]> http://www.designforum.com/the-auto-retail-experience-is-still-flat/feed/ 0 http://www.designforum.com/good-or-bad-environment-influences-choice/ http://www.designforum.com/good-or-bad-environment-influences-choice/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:04:50 +0000 Becca Robinett http://www.designforum.com/?p=665 WNYC Radiolab the other day I came across an interesting episode centered on choice and decision making influencers. Being a designer, I am always searching for new ideas and concepts to weave into my work, so I clicked on the link. In an hour the host took me through a whirlwind of studies examining the variations of why we choose the way we do and what factors can influence our decisions. And what does it all boil down too? Stress has a tremendous affect on our ability to make appropriate selection. To quote my mother, this over-simplified answer is an "astute observation of the obvious." However, when broken apart, the program's individual experiments struck me as simple learning blocks that could easily be applied to a retail environment. Basically, if a person is over-stimulated in an environment a simple decision of what apple to buy can become ridiculously hard because there is too much information for them to just make a choice. They start to tune out their fast moving intuition to make a more educated selection on an item that they could really care less about. In the end, those who were over-stimulated tend to be disappointed.]]> http://www.designforum.com/good-or-bad-environment-influences-choice/feed/ 0 http://www.designforum.com/gender-disruption-boys-like-the-new-kotex-packaging/ http://www.designforum.com/gender-disruption-boys-like-the-new-kotex-packaging/#comments Thu, 20 May 2010 01:15:22 +0000 Kris Medford http://www.designforum.com/?p=579 What is an 18 year old guy doing talking about feminine hygiene products?! Even as I grabbed my purchase and escaped the awkwardness, I began to contemplate what transpired. Given that I spend my days knee-deep in shopper sciences, I found the situation quite compelling. Good packaging should be, in part, disruptive, and the new U by Kotex packaging is definitely that. The sub-brand is unique in the category, both in shelf presentation and in the “get real” tone of the advertising. A+ on disruption. ]]> http://www.designforum.com/gender-disruption-boys-like-the-new-kotex-packaging/feed/ 1 http://www.designforum.com/why-shopper-marketing-is-too-aspirational-for-most-brands/ http://www.designforum.com/why-shopper-marketing-is-too-aspirational-for-most-brands/#comments Tue, 04 May 2010 20:19:34 +0000 Bill Chidley http://www.designforum.com/?p=474 The urge to dive in is understandably tempting. Brands that invest in shopper marketing are seeing three times the return as compared to traditional marketing disciplines. But the discussion revolves around a very small percentage of brands, such as CVS/pharmacy and Mars Snackfoods, ShopRite and Kellogg’s, Walgreens which just announced it will engage in a shopper marketing pilot with The Hershey Company, and of course the eminence of shopper marketing, Procter & Gamble. All have been working on shopper marketing for years and have an extremely high level of expertise.]]> http://www.designforum.com/why-shopper-marketing-is-too-aspirational-for-most-brands/feed/ 0 http://www.designforum.com/it-takes-a-strong-brand-is-to-inspire-shopper-confidence/ http://www.designforum.com/it-takes-a-strong-brand-is-to-inspire-shopper-confidence/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:23:33 +0000 Justin Wartell http://www.designforum.com/?p=432 This year, retailers have made headway in the battle against “sameness” by negotiating exclusive famous name brands, making sure their private labels stand for something besides “cheaper” and by infusing the shopping experience with emotional appeal. One brand that renewed its value-plus-reason image is Old Navy. After veering off into fast fashion inspired by the designer runway, it has returned to bright basic family apparel surrounded and supported by its kitschy sense of humor. Shoppers are returning to the store and business is on the upswing.]]> http://www.designforum.com/it-takes-a-strong-brand-is-to-inspire-shopper-confidence/feed/ 0 http://www.designforum.com/shopper-marketing-strategies/ http://www.designforum.com/shopper-marketing-strategies/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:10:07 +0000 admin http://designforum.atomicclients.com/?p=278 http://www.designforum.com/shopper-marketing-strategies/feed/ 0