Selling style and attitude with a generous splash of substance; Design Forum's mantra of reality merchandising marries image and style with relevant functionality - Special Section: Reinventing the Discount Store - Store Design

Discount Store News, May 15, 1995 by Pete Hisey

The ultimate in store design among discounters has long been "pretty at a price," essentially a department store look accomplished with more affordable fixturing, lighting and furnishings.

But several trends are pushing discounters toward a new look.

These range from Wal-Mart's prosaic campaign to give space back to the customer to the more profound, particularly deep and widespread efforts based on changes in customer motivation.

A major change has been a gradual, but seemingly permanent, disaffection with brand names. Coke and Kodak don't have much to worry about, but the influx of high-grade private label products and a growing suspicion of the intrinsic value of a national brand have coupled to make shoppers far more resistant to traditional promotions and merchandising strategies.

In part, this is a hangover from the '80s, when driving a BMW, pushing an Aprica stroller and wearing a Brooks Brothers suit seemed to be as good as it got. The reaction that set in against that mindset in the late '80s and early '90s gave rise to the anti-brand mentality and the emphasis of value over prestige.

In fact, consumers are still as concerned with prestige as they ever were, but the definition has changed. Land Rover and Jeep have replaced BMW and Porsche as the preferred transportation of the aspiring class, due in large part to an almost totally irrelevant perception of unparalleled quality and functionality. The closest to off-road most of these vehicles will ever get is a scenic turnoff on the interstate.

Successful retailers in the future will sell attitude as much as merchandise and more than brands, noted Design Forum president Lee Carpenter. "Everything we work with has to have an attitude," Carpenter said. "Everything they do should reflect a clearly understandable corporate culture. For instance, the Body Shop promotes Amnesty International. What do the two things have in common?"

The answer: Customers feel comfortable supporting a company that has a clearly defined world view.

"Attitude should permeate the store ... and the merchandise," Carpenter continued. Everyone, he noted, knows what Ben & Jerry's stands for. The Warner Bros. stores, featuring such monumental attitudes as Daffy Duck and Foghorn Leghorn, is another example. George Jones, president of international licensing, noted that the "Toons with a 'tude" history of Looney Tunes leaves the company well-positioned in a consumer marketplace that values attitude.

What consumers are looking for, noted Design Forum vp of design Bill Chidley, is "genuine things." And that opens opportunities for retailers to reach a consumer who values a product for its intrinsic value, its real usefulness, and is willing to pay more for the real deal.

Land Rover's use of an obstacle course at several showrooms allows the shopper to test products in the environment for which they're (presumably) being purchased. "It's a real chance to show product potential," Chidley said. "It may be the only time they're used in that context, but people want to see a product perform."

Consumers, he said, want to be indulged without appearing to be indulged. A Volvo is as luxurious as any other car in its class, but the perception of safety defuses the indulgence factor. "A Land Rover says `I love the outdoors,' not `I just spent $60,000 on this,' a more politically sensitive statement," Chidley noted. "The retailer can confer prestige and moral value in this context," he added.

And that leads to Design Forum's legend for the next century--reality merchandising. According to Carpenter, that means presenting products in an environment similar to that in which they will be used. "The goal is to form a one-to-one relationship, to link the consumer to the merchandise," he said.

Design Forum is perhaps best known in the mass retail world for its work on the team that developed Tandy's electronics gigastore The Incredible Universe, which makes thousands of skus available for hands-on "test drives' and adds live music performances on a full stage, frequent product demos, non-stop music and video on a monstrous video wall and interactive fun, like virtual reality "rides" and an on-site video karaoke booth to drive up the involvement factor.

That approach is now shifting into an even higher gear. At a recent Store Fixturing Show, Design Forum exhibited its rendition of a Gander Mountain store. The high-end retailer of hiking, camping and other outdoors products already includes a working waterfall (complete with sounds of birds chirping and the smell of mountain flowers) in its stores. Design Forum added other touches, like an Arctic chamber to try out down parkas in real subzero temperatures, and a "Weather the Storm" chamber to test waterproof gear.

"Merchandising in the future will mean a lot more than how many sleeve-outs you can get onto a rounder," Carpenter said. "It will mean allowing consumers to interact with all the merchandise in a store. If people try it, they're far more likely to buy it."

The retail world is headed for a consolidation into two distinct segments, Carpenter said. "There will be commodity retailers ... and others," he noted. And for those others, made up of everything from department stores to convenience stores, and probably discounters other than Wal-Mart, extra services, a clear image and a highly interactive and entertaining environment will be a must.