Shop-straphobia?

A couple days before the start of classes, I realized that I needed to get my act together. I made a trip to Wal-Mart to casually browse the school section for some useful organizational tools. I didn’t have anything in particular in mind, but I was willing to purchase whatever caught my eye. I stood at the far end of the aisle perusing the different varieties of envelopes and office supplies when a woman appeared at the other end of the aisle. Like me, she did not seem to be intent on finding any specific product. As our searches continued, the space between us became smaller and smaller, until we found ourselves eyeballing the same spot on the shelf. In a moment of utter awkwardness, we both stepped around each other, as I pretended to be captivated by the tape dispenser on the opposite side of the aisle. She continued walking in the other direction. The discomfort of the close proximity to each other put an end to my carefree and willing attitude and caused me to abandon my search for school supplies altogether. I headed to the grocery section. Call me a recluse, but this girl likes her solitude.


It seems that claustrophobia, even in its tamer forms, has the ability to extinguish a desire to buy. In a retail environment, whether it be a grocery store or a shopping mall, the “too close for comfort” principle seems to apply. In the book Why We Buy, Paco Underhill coins his own term for this phenomenon: the butt-brush effect. He describes that in one study he conducted at a department store, he noticed that women in the men’s tie section would consistently get “brushed in the butt” by another shopper due to the unfortunate location of the section directly in front of the store’s entrance. Immediately after this “butt brush” occurred, the women browsing the ties quickly moved to a different department. Nobody likes unwelcome contact with strangers, and shopping settings are no exception. As soon as management changed the layout of the store, sales of men’s ties substantially increased.

What I am offering up is an idea that is one step below the butt-brush effect but still has the same effect on shoppers. It’s like the sixth sense of shopping: Whenever too many shoppers are uncomfortably close by in any given vicinity, everyone involved seems to desert the area and shop elsewhere. Think of it as the strange feeling of heading towards the direction of a fellow shopper examining clothing on a rack. The natural instinct is to avoid any awkwardness with this person by moving to a different aisle or, at least, walking around them to resume perusing on their other side. Even if it means you missed a few pieces of (what looked like) really cute clothes.

If companies want to take this sixth sense of shopping into account, it is important that they design their stores in a way that allows for easy movement and little to no interaction with other shoppers. I expect that this would lead to more “on a whim” buys. Nobody feels compelled to buy after an awkward encounter.

Organizational tools for the new school year may be tempting, but my dignity rules. After all, didn't I need some frozen pizzas?


Erin Devine
BEM Marketing Concentration, Music minor

The Checkout Button that Wasn’t Pressed

These days, it seems as though you can buy just about anything online.  Bizarre items, such as a can of uranium, a wedding chapel, and a UFO detector, are all up for grabs on Amazon.com.  While these products may not be in the online shopping cart of the average consumer, most of us feel comfortable buying a wide range of products online, from textbooks to concert tickets to clothing.  Online shopping offers a huge benefit to consumers:  convenience.  Why drive to the mall and spend hours searching for the perfect outfit in the correct size when you can simply visit your favorite store’s website, click on an outfit, and choose the desired size in less than ten minutes?  Online shopping has made the consumer’s world easier and more time efficient.

While I rarely think twice about buying an outfit online, I recently came across a product that I was not so comfortable purchasing on the Internet.  I had just moved into my first unfurnished apartment, and I was searching for the perfect set of chairs to match a table that I had previously bought.  I had several requirements for these chairs:  they had to be the perfect height, the cushions had to be comfortable and made out of the perfect material, and the legs had to be the perfect color of wood.  Of course, the real kicker was that all of this perfection had to be affordable-I am a college student on a budget, after all. 

The search for the perfect set of chairs turned out to be more challenging than I had anticipated.  After spending countless hours searching fruitlessly for these chairs, the thought of turning to the Internet to quickly find and purchase a set of chairs became very attractive.  I eagerly opened my laptop.  A few hours after browsing several websites, I found what I thought to be my dream set of chairs.  But when it came down to the wire and I was faced with the prominent “CHECKOUT” button on the screen in front of me, I hesitated.  This was one of my first significant purchases on my own, and I was afraid to purchase online.  The convenience that online furniture shopping offered did not abate the fear that the chairs that I would receive might not match up to the chairs that were pictured online.  I was very weary of purchasing these chairs, especially since I had been having so much trouble finding good chairs in person.  So much could go wrong:  the chairs could be a few inches higher than the description on the website listed, the color could be off from the picture, the customers who raved about how comfortable the chairs were in their user reviews may not have the same standards of comfort as me.  Ultimately, the inability to physically see and feel the chairs before purchase overrode the convenience offered to me by online shopping.  After making this decision to forgo purchasing my dream chairs on the Internet, I wondered if other consumers had similar experiences with online furniture shopping.  After reading a consumer behavior report published by mr.pricegrabber.com, I discovered that other consumers were just as hesitant as me about buying furniture online.  In this report, 74% of consumers said that they research furniture online before making a purchase, but only 9% of consumers actually make the purchase online.  Of the consumers that would not purchase furniture online, 70% said that they needed to see the actual product first and 7% admitted that they are afraid to make large purchases online.  Both of these reasons were factors in my decision to decline from purchasing furniture online.  Of the consumers that said they would purchase online, 34% reported price as their reason while 21% said convenience was the major factor in their decision.  As we live in a world that is becoming increasingly reliant on the Internet, I wonder how furniture retailers can find a way to raise online furniture sales.  Should they play up the convenience and price benefits, or should they focus on finding an innovative way to weaken the need to see the actual product before purchase?

In the end, I did find a perfect set of chairs that I bought in person from a local store.  While this purchase will hopefully put me out of the chair market for a long time, I wonder if, by the time I need to buy a new set of chairs, consumers will have more confidence in online furniture shopping.  


Erica DeBrock is a double major in BEM (with a concentration in Marketing) and Spanish.

Ready To Run

I have always enjoyed running, but have never considered myself to be a true “runner.” So, when my roommate asked if I would sign up for a program with her to train for a 5K, I quickly jumped at the opportunity to work towards this title. The program, called No Boundaries, is overseen by Fleet Feet, a sportswear store just off of Miller Street in Winston. We attended our first informational meeting on Thursday night, during which they handed each participant a long list of what we will need at each practice. There was the usual: shoes, socks, water bottle – but a few surprises showed up on the list as well: inserts, reflective gear, compression tights. What the heck are compression tights? After skimming the list, my roommate and I quickly decided we would need to pay a visit to Fleet Feet the next day to sort out all that we would need. After all, if we are really going to do this, we’ll need to look the part.

The next afternoon we returned to the store ready to purchase our gear. The most important item I would need was a pair of running shoes; my three-year-old Nike Shox are just not cutting it anymore. In the past, when I have needed new sneakers I would just head over to Foot Locker, pick the pair I thought looked the best, confirm the size and head out the door with my purchase, all within about ten minutes. I expected this experience to be similar, but I soon learned that it was anything but. Once inside the door, we were immediately greeted by an associate and whisked over to a vast wall of shoes. Instead of simply saying, “pick a pair,” we were brought over to a bench where we received multiple measurements of our feet. After size was determined, we were told to walk in a straight line and back as the associate watched us. When we sat back down, she began to tell us how we walked; if we were favoring one side of our foot when we stepped down, if our heel was arched enough, etc. I was amazed that she could tell us all this information in just a few short steps.

Once our feet had been “reviewed,” the associate went to the back room where she picked out two pairs of shoes she thought would be best for each of us. I have to admit, I am all for the right kind of shoe for my feet, but I want them to look good too, so I was a bit apprehensive about what she would bring to me. The first two pairs she had me try on were by running brand Saucony. Although she assured me that these would fit my needs for the program, this brand has never been in my initial consideration set when picking athletic shoes. A brand that has always been in this group, though, is Nike. I have built a sense of personal loyalty to this brand not just based on their high quality shoes, but the company’ extensive line of athletic apparel as well (as I would guess of most Wake girls, my workout drawer is 75% filled with Nike shorts). I timidly asked the Associate if there were any Nike shoes that would fit my foot, and she directed me to a single pair that would be appropriate. All I had to see was the bright white swoosh, and I was sold. Once size was confirmed, I was the official owner of a new pair of running shoes.

Excited about my new purchase, I moved onto what else I would need, including socks, water bottle, etc. When I mentioned to the associate that I did not have a stopwatch, she directed me to their selection: a case of Timex watches, the cheapest of which was $90. While she could have told me that these were the top of the line and I would not be able to get anything similar anywhere, she suggested I look at Target for cheaper alternatives that had the same capabilities. I quickly thanked her for the tip and decided I was done shopping for the day.

An hour and a half later, I stood at the checkout desk with my final purchases, including shoes, inserts and socks. Although the total was not exactly music to my ears, I was confident about my purchases. Through this experience, I became aware of two very important consumer insights. The first is concerned with brand familiarity; if a brand is in a consumer’s initial consideration set, it is three times more likely to be purchased in the end. Because Nike was a brand that I automatically thought of when considering shoes, this trigger had a major influence in my purchase. Ultimately, this single example shows how important it is for brands to increase visibility in the consumer market. Through being well known in a given industry, brands have the ability to reap the benefits of healthy sales and positive customer experiences. The second is concerned with exceptional customer service; according to a recent survey by online database customer1, 60% of American customers are willing to pay more when they have a positive customer experience. Because the associate with whom I worked was so attentive and concerned with meeting my best needs (as opposed to just making the sale), I was willing to spend more money on my ultimate purchase. In addition, I left the store feeling confident about my purchases and encouraged to return to this particular store if I had any future needs. Overall, it goes to show how just a little attentiveness and kindness can go a long way in the eye of the consumer.

As my roommate and I walked out of Fleet Feet with bags in tow, we began to discuss our excitement about starting the program. I am looking forward to starting on the training, and hopefully soon achieving the illustrious title of ‘runner’!

Here is the link to the Fleet Feet Winston-Salem website. They have amazing training programs for all levels of runners, a fun thing to check out if you are interested!
http://www.fleetfeetwinston-salem.com/

Carolyn Toll

Who actually reads Bridal Magazines?

                Since I am getting married in May, I have become prey to the money pit I used to make fun of – Bridal Magazines. Not only do many of my friends give them to me as gifts, newlyweds offer me their back issues, and for some unknown reason I cannot pass one at Lowe’s Foods without adding it to my basket. This does not include the stacks my mother and future mother-in-law have on their coffee tables. It’s truly compulsive.

                In planning my wedding, I have found them very useful. Not only was I able to get ideas for my dress, but I also used them as sources for pictures I could bring my florist and other vendors to give them an idea of what I liked. On top of thousands of pictures of dresses in an equally astounding number of shades of white (who knew there was ivory, champagne, bright white, and light white – I thought there was just white), there are many useful articles about how to deal with issues like pesky in-laws, awkward “plus-one” conversations, budgeting tools, and plenty of advertisements for honeymoon packages. All of these things are to be expected when browsing a wedding magazine and are very useful for the bride-to-be when planning her special day.

                To my surprise, the back cover of almost every issue of Brides has an advertisement from Cartier or Tiffany’s for engagement rings. This was surprising to me since I didn’t receive or purchase my first issue until I had a ring on my finger. I would have understood advertising for wedding bands or bridal jewelry, but engagement rings? This made me think.

                Top jewelry brands like Cartier and Tiffany’s would not shell out the cash for such prime real estate like the back cover if every girl (and her mother), who bought these already had a rock on her left hand. I would love to get my hands on the statistics on readership for these magazines. How many are planning their big day with their grooms and how many are day dreaming about when prince charming will ride in on his white horse, little light blue box in hand? The number of readers who are not engaged has to be sizable.

                This got me thinking, is there an opportunity for a magazine devoted to younger girls who may not have met Mr. Right quite yet, but are already busy planning their weddings? Would they buy this or be too embarrassed to be classified as “that girl” that every young gentleman would run away from - screaming? Would they use a more discreet online tool instead?

                According to a recent survey by The Knot, the cost of the average wedding is almost $28,000. While we’ve all heard the statistics on opulent weddings like the recent Kardashian extravaganza, it still seems astonishing to me that in the recent economic climate that the average wedding is $28,000. With Daddies laying out this much cash, wouldn’t it be good if his little princess knew what she wanted and what her parents could afford before she even gets close to the altar? Maybe if she knew the cost differences between hydrangeas and calla lilies she can be a savvier shopper when it comes time to interview her first florist? I know that in some of my planning, I have felt overwhelmed in the amount of choices and wished I had known more about things like how to hire a videographer and what is a reasonable quote.

                I’m not sure. I can’t say that I never looked at wedding dresses with friends online before I was engaged, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have subscribed to a pre-engagement planning tool or a “Hey, you’re not a bride yet, but you want to be” Magazine. However, I think there are a lot of young women that would. I wonder if that segment’s needs are being met by the countless bridal magazines that are currently out there? Perhaps similarly to getting a training bra before you Mom ever takes you to a department store to get your first bra, there should be a magazine for those that are just trying to drop hints on ring sizes, shapes, and styles and day dream about the day that they’ll have to decide if they want a cathedral or a fingertip veil?  

Bride-to-be,

Christina Waxlax

Haggling with the "People of Wal-Mart"

Haggling

Roddey Player

The art of haggling, whether trying to buy a car, TV, etc…, has been perfected by some, and absolutely failed by others.  I’ve had plenty of experiences with both of these groups growing up in a retail environment, and I believe I have seen the complete opposite of the spectrum.  Recently, I went to Wal-Mart, and was held up in line for ten minutes because there was a customer there that was attempting to get a better deal on a TV and DVD player while I was waiting in line for the cashier.  This severely frustrated me because I never look forward to go shopping for longer than I have to, but after a couple minutes, I began to enjoy myself watching a person who clearly didn’t know how to get herself a better deal, try to get a better deal from a cashier that clearly didn’t have the authority to give her a better deal, even if the customer was in fact, an expert in the art of haggling.

This problem brought up a question in my mind about how do people know when it is ok to haggle or not.  Is there some unwritten code about where you can or cannot try to get yourself a better deal? It’s understood that in the process of buying a car, it’s very acceptable to haggle and potentially knock thousands of dollars off the original price, but why is it unacceptable to do this at Wal-mart while buying a TV to maybe knock off 20 dollars? Was it just a “people of Wal-mart” skit in hilarity, or was there something more behind this exercise in futility?

I work for a consumer electronics and appliance store as a sales associate, and just about every sale I make, I have to experience haggling in some form or another by people dragging their feet mumbling about getting a better deal at store X or corporation Y.  There are built in price drops for that possibility, and even though there will be a slight dent in the commission earnings for the salesperson, the consumer can take 50 dollars off of a couple hundred dollar ticket.  We certainly do not advertise this fact, so how do people know that we could give them a better deal if they try to talk the seller into it by being difficult while in the store.

In case you’re all wondering, (which I’m sure you are…) the customer left the TV and the DVD player on the register, along with the rest of her potential purchases, and stormed out of the store, yelling at the person paid to watch the door and say “have a nice day,” on her way out.  This frustrated the cashier, who looked like she was about to cry afterwards, and the manager, who was called out to help.  The differences in this case against cases of haggling that I saw all summer, are completely dissimilar, although this one was quite entertaining to not be a part of.

Checking In

            This summer I downloaded the Foursquare application on my iPhone.  In case you’re not familiar with the app, Foursquare is a location-based social networking website.  It allows you to check in at your physical location and it finds specials and places of interest near you.   The poor college student part of me was immediately obsessed with Foursquare.  During work, I would check in at bars near my office so by 5 o’clock I could get a free drink rewarding my 5^th check-in or whatever.  But the implications of Foursquare and similar applications are even cooler.  Location-based services (LBS) represent, in my opinion, the future of how society interacts with technology.   First the internet connected people with content.  Then social networks connected people with people.  The recent creation of Google’s Plus One, where the searcher sees friends’ valuation of sites in their search results, indicates that web content is becoming increasingly relevant to the user.  Now LBS have funneled our entire treasury of knowledge- aka the internet- to the most fundamental point of relevancy: physical location. 

            Advertisements are a facet of delivering content to people.   In this case, the content is a product or service and the people are consumers.  Advertising in the past can be compared to the unfiltered internet.  The ads aimed to serve as many impressions as possible, would hopefully be included in a few consumers’ consideration sets, and would maybe lead to a purchase.  Like the internet circa 1996, old advertising was very limited in its degree of relevancy to any specific consumer.  Then came cookies, which could actually track the web-user’s interests and habits.   “But how do facebook sidebar ads know I’m a student in Winston-Salem and like Gossip Girl?” Cookies.  Like a search engine, cookies filter the entire web for the targeted consumers.   If that didn’t seem crazy enough, consider this: Location-based advertising.  Now we get ads pertinent to our interests and location.

            To me, LBS and location-based advertising seemed like a natural step towards advertising’s intent to hone in on their target.   My true applause goes to the extraordinarily innovative ways marketers and agencies have utilized LBS to promote a product.  I think these 3 ads really have a modern cool-factor because they capitalize on consumer location and allow the consumer to interact more with the brand:

1.      Bing: Decode Jay-Z by Droga 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNic4wf8AYg

Using LBS to promote a LBS- AWESOME.  Printing the words of Jay-Z’s life on the pages of his city- AWESOME.

2.       IKEA Interactive Catalogue by Mobile Dreams Factory:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqeLNxoBtjM

Life is starting to get really easy.  Maybe in’12 that chair I took a picture of will actually materialize instantly in my living room. 

3.      MINI Getaway Stockholm 2010 by Jung von Matt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt9OlGq3gWUThis leverages a game to make people talk and gain brand recognition, but really exemplifies the power of LBS.  The Swedes explain how the game objective of geo-tracking one another to find this virtual car united and created a conversation for their city. The great part for MINI is that their brand and product produced this effect.  That type of thing really resonates in the minds and hearts of people.  

    Emily McGraw is a BEM major with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Art History at Wake Forest University 

Goodbye Spruce. Hello Trade.

We’re moving. 

And with it comes all the excitement and trepidation of a new beginning. There’s been a lot of purging (I just heard Jon ask, “Why do we have test tubes?”) and a lot of reminiscing (Amanda to Don, “This was the first project I ever worked on at M Creative (some 13 years ago)!). Old concepts that never made it past the first round. Great ideas that went on to help our clients expand and grow their service offering, build new buildings, help underserved populations. 

We’re moving at what seems our busiest time ever in the last few years. The economy slowed us down but the ebb and flow of this business has returned us once again to a good buzz of activity and a hearty list of assignments that keep us sharp and creative and challenged. 

I’ve been at M Creative for almost 9 years now. I’ve seen the firm grow and evolve and work its way into a positioning that seems right for who we’ve become—a values driven strategic communications firm. It’s what we do. And what we become better at every day. 

Of course what remains intact with the move is a solid group of individuals committed to the work we do every day for our clients. I’m sad to be packing boxes. But oh so glad the M gang is making the move together. 

M Creative has now left the building. But we’re ready for what lies ahead in our new space on Trade Street.