Retail Analysis

1. The store I observed was Victoria's Secret in Jackson, MI. They market teenage girls up to middle-aged women.

2. a.)The appearance of the store entrance from the outside is at the top are big and pink letters that say "Victoria's Secret". There are golden arches for the entrance surrounded by glass windows on both sides. Two manikins are on display wearing the latest bra and underwear. There are also signs all on the windows.
b.) Inside the store, a soft pop type of music. It was an upbeat type trying to make the customer feel happy to be in the store. The volume is not that loud either making it easier to look around.
c.) The merchandise are laid out on tables and other types are hung up on the sides of the store near the walls. The products are all separated and put together with the same type of products. There was really no set way how the store was separated. One product would be in one part of the store and it could also be in a different part.
d.) The floors are carpeted. Of course the color is pink. This carpet gives off a certain girly look being soft and pink.
e.) There are many signs displayed throughout the entire store. Many signs on the tables and on the walls labeling sales. Other signs may indicate the price of a certain item. The signs are all so big and two-sided making it very easy to read from either direction. The font is a very readable but girly type of font.
f.) The cashier area is in the back of the store. Many different types of lipsticks, lotions, or eye shadow are near the area. The items are small and cheaper to try and get the customer to buy one more item before checking out. These products are intentionally put there.

3. The image this business tries to project is a sexy, and classy look. The pictures of models all around the store are of beautiful women in only their bras and underwear. Some of these models have glasses on to try and show a more classy look. The products them self give off a sexy and classy look by the type of material they are made up of. There are also colorful products.

4. I noticed that a majority of the customers were women. They would pick up different kinds of underwear that were on display and pick them up and put them down and just go through the entire table doing the same thing. With the products hanging up some customers would pull a certain product out look at it put it back and then just shuffle through the rest of the clothes looking for the right one. Another thing I noticed is that women would hold a product up to their body and look at one of the many mirrors around the store and see how a product looked.

5. One thing that I found interesting is how the store was separated in three parts with each part being a different type of wallpaper. One part was pink polka-dots all on the walls, then another part was pink stripes all on the wall, and then near the back in the third part were pink hearts all around. I also thought that the amount of mirrors was very interesting. There were many mirrors around the store. Another thing was near the back where the cashier was were a lot of clearance sale items. This makes the customer go through the whole store to get to the cheaper products.

P.S. I went into the store with my girlfriend and she kind of helped me describe some of the features in the store.