Selling by design: using lifestyle analysis to revamp retail space

American Demographics, Oct, 1996 by Barbara J. Eichhorn

The elements of design and lifestyle analysis can combine to create more powerful selling environments. This tale of two bowling centers sets up the pins for a new era in retail decor.

Which color actually triggers the salivary glands to create a desire for sugar? Which shade of gold can generate a customer purchase response for fast food? What can parking lots tell retailers about how to design their interior space? Businesses with a handle on the combinations of colors, shapes, and textures that influence buying decisions can sell by design.

Residential and commercial designers have long used elements such as color to create an emotional response in their customers--light walls to foster a sense of openness, for example. But these have been essentially subjective choices rooted in basic principles of interior design, not defined by or linked to a particular marketing discipline. Increasingly, designers are examining how certain aspects of their work may impact purchase responses in consumers. These design theories evolve out of an assumption that the way individuals respond to colors and shapes is not arbitrary but learned, inherited, and dependent on a variety of identifiable characteristics including lifestyle patterns. This helps turn left-brain marketing information into right-brain design solutions. In the future, the designer's tools of color, shape, and texture will take on the added dimension of marketing through lifestyle analysis.

In his 1896 book, The Principles of Light and Color, Edwin D. Babbit explored the potential of light and colors as a "power to vitalize, heal, refine and delight." His studies spawned a kind of chromatic acupuncture in which colors were placed in strategic locations to cure a variety of ailments ranging from toothaches (indigo) to baldness (orange).

A far more practical view was suggested by Faber Birren in his 1950 work, Color Psychology and Color Therapy. Birren focused on "functional color" and how "it differs from so-called interior decoration in that personal preferences or emotional attitudes are denied for well-ordered scientific practice." Birrens "color prescriptions" have had far-reaching impact on everything from the creation of yellow-page directories (to relieve monotony for telephone operators) to brightly colored accent walls in factories that grab attention and therefore help reduce industrial accidents caused by inattentiveness. These efforts were largely confined to the industrial sector, but more recent studies have explored how various forms, symbols, and logos affect consumer response to company and brand names.

The Lifecode process takes these insights a step further, by identifying and quantifying the design characteristics best suited for specific target audiences. It uses design elements coupled with customer lifestyle profiles to trigger the targeted emotional reactions required for customers to see and feel the benefit of owning a product. In place of advertising headlines and art-directed eye flow in a magazine ad, this system employs visual cues such as chair shapes, window patterns, floor surfaces, and traffic flow to create a three-dimensional ad at the point of purchase.

The Lifecode process evolved out of the most unlikely of settings, a neighborhood bowling center. Step into the world of Olathe Lanes East in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe, Kansas. Other than the familiar sound of crashing pins, there's very little that would make Ralph Kramden of "The Honeymooners" feel at home. Everything about this facility runs counter to previous industry wisdom. It was created as the result of a simple observation made in a parking lot.

A TALE OF TWO BOWLING CENTERS

In January 1990, shortly after an early-morning electrical fire had reduced the thriving Olathe Lanes East bowling facility to little more than a concrete pad and a pile of melted steel, the owner, Charlie Boyd, contacted our company to rebuild the lanes. He really wanted us to just rebuild the lanes as quickly as possible, with virtually no changes from its previous decor. However, after a couple of meetings, I noticed something that prompted me to dig a little deeper.

Following the fire, Boyd and his staff had rerouted all of the league and recreational activity to his other facility, Olathe Lanes West, less than three miles away. When I pulled into the parking lot of this center on Tuesday or Thursday, it was filled with Fords and Chevrolets, pickup trucks and older cars--no imports. But on Wednesday and Friday, the lot was filled with BMWs, Cadillacs, sport vans, and other upscale vehicles. It was obvious that the lanes actually had two entirely different sets of customers despite their physical proximity. Even though Boyd believed that "bowlers are bowlers," he couldn't disagree with what he saw in his own parking lot. He agreed to let us take a more in-depth look at his customer base.

At that time, we were not familiar with Claritas's PRIZM profiles or other widely available geodemographic cluster systems that identify the lifestyle makeup of neighborhoods. We built our own profiles from scratch using a questionnaire loosely based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the VALS 2 psychographic scheme from SRI International. We asked basic questions about where customers lived, as well as their attitudes and buying styles.