The Ross Dress for Less clothes store in Avondale, Arizona attract people of all ages. You will see people from different ethnicity, genders and ages came to this store to shop. Peoples who have work hard the entire week came to shop on their break days. Young girls shop with their mother, single people coming to find an outfit that would fit to go on a date, student who save moneys to get some new clothes. The store’s merchandise is affordable and contains many different styles and sizes that would fit many people. Residents who live around the neighborhood came to the store to find some new clothing items. From a college student who dresses simple for their class to a professional office worker who is seeking attire that is affordable and appropriate for work. The store is trying to get the customer’s attention by displaying the merchandise in a certain location, having items for everyone and know that they all needed it well allow them to be able to sell it, and trying to keep the customer inside the store longer will let them check out more merchandise which lead to more sell that bring benefit to the store.
The main goal of a store is to be able to sell merchandise to the customer. Clothing is something that everyone needed and wear every day whether going out or sleeping. It protect everyone privacy and keep you warm from the cold weather. It come with all sorts of shapes, colors, and sizes that could fit everyone. Ross atmosphere is similar to an office room full of employee working hard in a company. There are many department in the store even though it was a clothes store. The store was separated into two side, one is for female cloth and the other one is for male, therefore it is easy for the costumers to figure out where they should go to find what they need. The clothing department is for teenager, adult, or parent to find what they need or for their kids. There is also a baby and kids clothing section in the back of the store, which is next to the toys section. Therefore when parent brought their kids there to try on some cloth, the kids would most likely to have their eyes on the toys and will tried to make their parents buy it for them.
Ross Dress for Less having displace at the entrance inside of the store to get the customer attention, and tried to sell items that would be popular for the season. There is nothing displayed in front of the store, but once you enter the store they have items that is fit for the holidays that is coming and displayed it close to the entrance so that the customer would notice it upon entering the store. Right after I enter the store, I know that there are a lot of pink and red items that was display on the shelf since Valentine is coming up. Walking straight into the middle of the store is female clothe, which is what the store focus on more. The store display more female clothing items then for male. The item was hanging on the stand and was scatter everywhere, so it take time to tried to find the size that you need for a certain items. In ‘The Signs of Shopping’ (1993), writer, Anne Norton states that “It provided an occasion for women to spend long stretches of time in the company of their friends, without the presence of their husbands”, which let women spend a little of time by themselves shopping and get something that they want with the moneys that they work so hard to earn all week. Ross is not like a store like Macy’s in a mall where cloth was display at a certain place and with different sizes together so that it was easier for people to find what they need. Sometime you have to go around and tried to find the size for that items that you want. On the left size there is a hair pin, makeup, nail polish, belt and wallet and purse section this play together because when female are looking for one of them they could be interested in the other items as well. Going in further there is a high heel and shoe section right next to all the makeup and clothing section which go together with all of the others items.
It would always taking longer then you would expect to find what you need at Ross because the merchandise was displays randomly, which would cause you to look at other items too while looking for what you want. After I enter the store I headed straight to the female clothing section because I know that if I want to try to observe and learn about a shopper behavior that would be a great place to find. After going around a few minutes I found this lady wearing a white legging with a long and black sleeve looking and going through all sorts of different type of sleeve and shirt in the female clothing section. What I know is that she is looking at the quality of the items and tried to make sure that the items is not damage or dirty since the items was display randomly there is a change that the item have been damage. After the quality check, she went to look at the price and tried to make sure that the price is reasonable and does it worth it to buy it with this price. Malcolm Gladwell from the essay ‘The Science of Shopping’ (1996) said that purchaser “spent an average of eleven minutes and twenty-seven seconds in the store, non-purchasers two minutes and thirty-six seconds”, but when going to Ross it would take longer for the customer to shop because all the items was place randomly and even a non-purchasers take longer than two minutes to shop at Ross Dress for Less.
I have the experience to learn about the shopper behavior while shopping while doing this essay. I have went to Ross many time but I have never really pay attention to the details and have the thought while does the store decide to place this section here. While working on the essay and going out to observe the behavior and action of the customer I not only learn about the customer but I have also learn about the store itself. I have learned that the reason they place an items in a certain places is to be able to get attention from the customer. By placing items that fit the other items would help the store increase in sell since it is catching the customer interested. I have also learned the lesson of paying attention to details would help me understand why a person did a certain things and how could it help that person in general.
References
Malcolm, G. (1996, November 4). The Science of Shopping. The New Yorker.
Maasik, S., & Solomon, J. (1994). Consuming Passions. In Signs of life in the U.S.A.: Readings on popular culture for writers (Seventh ed., p. 106). Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press.
Darkness 