A CRASH COURSE ON CREATIVITY

OBSERVATIONS LAB

SUBMITTED BY BOB JERSIN (BOB@JERSINFINANCIAL.COM)

SUBMIT Date: 11/1/2012

INDEX

I. LISTING OF STORE OBSERVED and PHOTOGRAPHED

II. OBSERVATIONS & PICTURES ON THE MOST INVITING STORE

III. DETAIL AND OBSERVATIONS AND PICTURES OF OTHER 5 STORES

IV. RAW DATA ACCUMULATED ON CLASS QUESTIONS, BY STORE

I. LISTING OF STORES OBSERVED

1. COSTCO

2. TARGET

3. WHOLE FOODS

4. SAFEWAY

5. LUCKY SUPERMARKET

6. HOME DEPOT

The six stores above were visited and each was assessed. Photographs

were taken of each. The observations of each are described in the sections

that follow.

II. OBSERVATIONS ON THE MOST INVITING STORE

MY FAVORITE STORE: WHOLE FOODS

My favorite store was Whole Foods. They had a very inviting display

outside of their doors as well as inside, with colorful fruits, and flowers, as

the pictures show, below.

The entrance to Whole Foods had a display outside, which was inviting and

looked like a Farmers Market. They used brightly colored foods effectively to

beautify the area. Just inside the entry, there were colorful vegetables and a

wine colored cement floor, which looked very attractive.

The smells in Whole foods were wonderful, and included that of cooked

foods, and lavender.

This store put a lot of work into making sure the environment was pleasant,

attractive, colorful and cozy. Calm music was playing which added a sense

of relaxation.

WHOLE FOODS

FROM OUTSIDE OUTSIDE ENTRANCE

INSIDE WHOLE FOODS ENTRANCE

WINE COLORED FLOOR & COLORFUL FOODS IN CRATES

III. DETAILED OBSERVATIONS OF OTHER FIVE STORES

DRAW:

Only Whole Foods and Safeway had a good draw, and this was due to

their putting goods outside of their entry way.

Whole Foods was noted in the prior section. They and Safeway both had food

outside of the stores, attracting people to their location and enticing them

inside. Once inside, both store continued the attraction. Whole foods

displayed vegetables, while Safeway had a display of flowers for sale.

SAFEWAY FLOWER DISPLAY ON WOODEN FLOORING

The other three stores, Costco, Lucky and Target, did not have much if any

outdoor enticement. Home dopot had some flowers and merchandise out, but

it was NOT attractively done.

SIGNAGE:

All store had large signage, which gave the impression that they were

substantial stores. However, the Lucky’s sign was backed by paint which

was splotchy, and gave a bad impression. The Whole Foods sign was the

most unusual font, giving a more modern and up to date look and feel.

An entry way enhancement which Target had was a spread of sales

advertisements under glass to inform all entrants of special sales. Then they

had to go find them in the store. A game of hide and go seek?

TARGET ENTRY AD DISPLAY

FLOORING:

Costco and Home Depot both had plan cement flooring.

Target, Lucky and Safeway had vinyl flooring which was softer in appearance

and feel

Whole Foods had a colored cement floor which looks especially nice.

NOISE

Home Depot was by far the noisiest store, with loud beeping from forklifts as

a warning to customers, and constant PA paging, High Speed Fans, as well as

cart rattling noises. No music here!

The most subdued sounds were in Whole Foods, which included soft music.

Safeway and Lucky also had music. The others did not (Costco/Home

Depot/Target)

REGISTERS, and PATHWAYS

All stores had a bank of registers up front, which helped direct customers

down common pathways. The best common pathway stores were Costco and

Whole Foods. The others had more off-pathway customer drift.

SMELLS

All store smelled decent, however, Whole Foods was the best smelling,

followed by Safeway. Home Depot smelled generally fresh, but also of wood

and some isles smelled of chemicals, so I wanted to get away from those

isles.

LIGHTING

All stores were well lit. The brightest were: Costco, Target, Whole Foods and

Lucky. Home Depot was just a bit dimmer, and Safeway was the most dim.

TIME IN STORE

Whole Foods was the best place to spend time, and Costco was second, due

to the quantity of merchandise, and the free food samples. Yum!

STORE PERSONNEL

SALES

The only sales contact was at Home Depot, after ten minutes. The other

stores did not seem to have sales people.

AGE AND GENDER

1. COSTCO (30 years old, twice the number of males as females)

2. TARGET (35 years old, mostly females)

3. WHOLE FOODS (40, both sexes)

4. SAFEWAY (40, both sexes)

5. LUCKY SUPERMARKET (35, both sexes)

6. HOME DEPOT (45, both sexes)

UNIFORMS

Only Costco had no uniform. Target was the most elaborate. Other stores

used smocks for the uniforms.

Target’s interior was all red, even the carts were red.

PRODUCTS

The first product noticed:

1. COSTCO (high end TV’s)

2. TARGET (Cosmetics)

3. WHOLE FOODS (Organic Fruits and Vegetables)

4. SAFEWAY (Pumpkins, Flowers and Fruit)

5. LUCKY SUPERMARKET

Bare Entrance, a few flowers and a wine box

6. HOME DEPOT (Flowers, yes even at Home Depot! But also a junky mess of

a mix of out door products)

All Products in all stores were arranged by Function.

All Prices were easy to find in all stores.

Costco had the most samples. Whole Foods had the BEST tasting samples.

The other stores did not have any samples.

There were no impulse items at the register in Costco, but there were at all

other stores.

RECOMMENDATION: Costco should add impulse items by register. Many

customers wait in line a long time and this would be a good opportunity to

add revenue to the store.

CENTRAL DISPLAY

All stores except target had a central display

CUSTOMERS

Customers at all stores were mostly alone, however, there were some

children with parents at Safeway.

Average Customer Age & Gender

1. COSTCO (40 – both)

2. TARGET (40 – female)

3. WHOLE FOODS (50 – both – mostly slender people)

4. SAFEWAY (40 – female)

5. LUCKY SUPERMARKET (40, both)

6. HOME DEPOT (40, more men 3/2)

(See pathways, above)

Product touching took place in all stores.

Customers were mostly on a mission in all stores.

100% of customers purchase something in every store, except Target which

had about a 95% purchase rate.

Customers stayed in Costco the longest time (about 45 minutes) much of

which was due to the long check out lines, and the size of the store.

IMPRESSIONS

1. COSTCO (BULK ITEMS AT A DISCOUNT)

2. WHOLE FOODS (HIGH VALUE AND GOOD FOR YOU PRODUCTS)

3. SAFEWAY (NICE SUPER MARKET)

4. LUCKY SUPERMARKET (LOWER END MARKET, LOWER END FOOD)

5. HOME DEPOT (MUCH LOWER ESTHETICS THAN LOWES, BUT THEY MAKE

MORE MONEY SO THEY MUST BE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT).

IV. RAW DATA

Ranking by Catagory

(Categories quantified with a low assesment of zero

to a high of 10 for each subcategory)

6 STORE QUANTIFIED

RANKING BY CATEGORIES

ENTRANCE TOTAL DRAW OPEN DOOR FEELING SIGN INDICATION

COSTCO 41 6 10 8 10 7

TARGET 40 7 7 8 10 8

WHOLE FOODS 49 10 9 10 10 10

SAFEWAY 41 8 6 8 10 9

LUCKY 26 4 4 5 7 6

HOME DEPOT 37 7 7 6 10 7

8warm

HIGH

10 - 0

7cool

in

store

Acceptable

Visible

ENVIRONMENT

CEILING BRIGHT LOUD CAUSE TEMP. MERCH. SMELL SMELL TIME VALUE MUSIC NOISE Register COLORS FLOORS SECURITY

COSTCO 92 10 10 2 carts/talking 8 5 NO 6 35 8 No 8 Front None Cement 10

TARGET 76 8 10 5 talking 8 5 stuffy 4 25 6 No 5 Front Red/White Vynal 0

WHOLE FOODS 83 10 10 3 music 8 5 Fresh/lavender 10 20 10 Yes 7 Front Green/Yellow

Colored

Cement 0

SAFEWAY 74 8 7 3 carts/talking/music 7 5 Food 8 20 9 Yes 7 Front Yellow Wood/Vynal 0

LUCKY 68 8 10 4 Carts/announcements 7 5 Sweet 8 15 5 Yes 6 Front multiple Vynal 0

HOME DEPOT 79 10 9 1 fans/announcements/carts 7 5 Fresh/wood 7 25 6 No 9 Front orange/black Cement 0

MATCHES

PERSONNEL

CONTACT UNIFORM IMAGE AGE GENDER

COSTCO 13 0 5 8 30 MMF MMF = 2 MALES FOR EVERY FEMALE

TARGET 20 0 10 10 35 F

WHOLE FOODS 15 0 8 7 40 MF

SAFEWAY 16 0 8 8 40 MF

LUCKY 16 0 8 8 35 MMF

HOME DEPOT 21 5 8 8 45 MMF

CENTRAL SALE

MOST VISIBLE IMPULSE BY

PRODUCTS

FIRST PROD DISPLAY ITMES ARRANGEMENT SAMEPLES? EXPENSIVE PRICING CASHIER

COSTCO 30 TV 10 MIXED FUNCTIONAL 10 ENTRY 10 NONE

TARGET 25 MAKEUP 5 MIXED FUNCTIONAL 0

SIDE

FRONT 10 10

WHOLE FOODS 35 VEGGIES 10 NONE FUNCTIONAL 5 CENTER 10 10

SAFEWAY 28 PUMPKINS 8 BACK FUNCTIONAL 0

SIDE

FRONT 10 10

LUCKY 29 PUMPKINS 9 MIXED FUNCTIONAL 0 BACK 10 10

HOME DEPOT 26 FLOWERS 6 CENTER FUNCTIONAL 0

BEG OF

ISLES 10 10

AVE. IN STORE

ON PERCENT

CUSTOMERS

ALONE

CUST

AGE TIME SAME PATH TOUCH MISSION PURCHASE

COSTCO

YES 40 50 YES SOME YES 100

TARGET

YES 40 20 SOMEWHAT YES YES 95

WHOLE FOODS

YES 50 20 YES YES YES 100

SAFEWAY

YES 40 30 SOMEWHAT YES YES 100

LUCKY

YES 40 20 SOMEWHAT YES YES 100

HOME DEPOT

YES 40 25 NO YES YES 100

MORE PHOTOGRAPHS

TARGET

SAFEWAY

HOME DEPOT