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Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal 1. Introduction In today’s dynamic and competitive world many retailers have initiated to develop their stores as a brand, therefore creativity and sustainability can be important organizational resource and a desirable approach to differentiate from other competitors. The ? store as brand? and retail branding is emerging as one of the most important strategic initiatives in the modern retail industry specially in United States and Europe (Carpenter et al, 2005, pp. 43-53).
Better customers experience has become center of attention for the retailers, which have made retailers to focus on the store design and improving the retail environment. Consumers’ perceptions of store image and shopping experience influence their behavior. According to (Joyce & Lambert, 1996 , pp. 24-33) retail environments have also been found to influence people to enter, remain in, and utilize environments. Better store image and shopping experience makes customers to visit store another time for shopping, which help retails to develop closer relation and to gain customers loyalty. The uniqueness of the retail brand is more difficult to substitute and therefore leads to consumer loyalty? (Carpenter et al, 2005). The idea behind this proposal is to present recommendations for retail innovation that will contribute to a distinctive retailer brand. The research has been done to develop an innovative and sustainable store design for Australia’s largest home entertainment retailer- JB HI-FI. They offer world’s top brands, having wide range of entertainment appliances at cheaper prices and also provide genuine personal service by experienced and specialist staff (JB HI-FI, 2009).
Company’s history and further information are provided on appendix-A-I (Pg. 10). 2. Evaluation of the current level of branding and innovation, recommendations for innovative store design In the following part present situation of the store, branding and innovation activity taken up at JB Hi-Fi is assessed and analyzed. Further more some recommendations are also provided to improve store design which can help the retailer to be more sustainable and to have competitive edge. Mainly focus has been given on three components of the store design: store infrastructure, store layout and visual merchandising.
Retail Branding and Innovation Page 1 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal 2. 1 Store infrastructure Store infrastructure means the fixed components which make up the store such as floor, lighting, windows, customer service equipment, store temperature, fixtures and fitting. To attain sustainability and to give better shopping experience the store needs to be improved in some area like lighting and furniture which are discussed below. A new feature ? Experience zone? is also added to enhance the customer experience. 2. 1. 1 Lighting Good illumination is essential in order to achieve a quality shopping experience.
The final effect of the display depends on good, carefully planned lighting, enabling the customer to see the merchandise with perfect clarity. According to findings by Summers & Hebertb (2001) retailers can develop in-store lighting as part of a store’s atmospherics to aid in attracting and retaining consumer patronage. At present in JB HI-FI have good lighting conditions but there is very less use of natural lighting and dose not have sustainability feature. They have to use lights in day time which increases electricity consumption and also their operational costs.
JB HI-FI has an opportunity to decrease operational cost by setting up in-store sustainable lightning. Some lightening opportunities which are cost effective as well as sustainable are suggested in appendix-A/II (Pg. 10); installing proposed lightening features the store can be more sustainable and cost effective in long run. 2. 1. 2 Furniture The store have old fashioned wooden furniture, yellow and black coloured interior, which gives unpleasant experience to the customer attractive look to the customers. Because of unpleasant environment the customers may not spend much time in the store and make bad image of the store in their mind.
Retailers should spend a great deal of time and money on store environments to create images that offer them a competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace (Joyce & Lambert, 1996 , pp. 24-33). Thus, store needs to improve in this area so that it can give better environment and experience to the customers in order to differentiate from the competitors. As per Kerfoot et al (2003, pp. 14352) as furniture being a part of visual merchandising, an attractive furniture has positive affect on customer’s psychology or behavior, which ultimately leads to purchase.
By evaluating the Retail Branding and Innovation Page 2 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal present situation and the possible sustainable options, an innovative store design is developed by designing display shelves, fixtures and the store interior made up of stainless steel, glass and using sustainably grown solid wood or plywood covered all surfaces and edges with laminates or seal them with low emitting paint or varnish to reduce emissions of VOC, which are more attractive and sustainable then present wooden furniture.
To give an idea how store interior will look a picture is placed in the appendix-A/VI (Pg. 16). Sustainability features are given in appendix-A/II (Pg. 12). 2. 1. 3 Experience Zone The proposed store design plan includes ? experience zones,? which are models of rooms (family room, home office, etc. ) complete with appropriately targeted merchandise. This will give the proper experience to the customer how the merchandise will look and the actual quality of the merchandise. According to the research by Mooy & Robben (2002, pp. 32 – 446) the product itself can act as a decisive communication tool and provide consumers with product-related information in the buying decision situation. Mainly this zone is made for televisions, home theaters and music systems which are costly and customers are very rational in purchasing this items, it will be very effective if the customer gets the real experience of the items they are interested in. The planned location of the experience zone is shown in the store layout appendixA/V (Pg. 15) and also to have an idea, a picture of the experience zone is placed in the appendixA/VI (Pg. 6). 2. 2 Store Layout A well developed store design can attract and keep the shoppers in store for longer time. Store layouts generally show the size and location of each department, permanent structures, fixture locations and customer traffic patterns. Each floor plan and store layout will depend on the type of products sold, the building location, building shape and how much the business can afford to put into the overall store design. A well-planned retail store layout allows a retailer to maximize the sales for each square foot of the allocated selling space within the store.
Aghazadeh (2005) is of the opinion the main objective of effective and well planned retail layout is to maximize profitability Retail Branding and Innovation Page 3 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal per square foot of floor space. So a retailer should try to plan a layout that make the most productive use of available space. At present JB Hi-Fi has hybrid store layout. The classic grid layout is used for CD’s, DVD’s, Laptop, PC, and accessories sections, and free flow layout is used for television section at the back of the store.
It has product based store layout and has a mixed floor plan, the mixed floor plan include the straight, diagonal and angular floor plans to create the most functional store design. The store has sufficient space to display the wide range of merchandising and has made best use the available space. The cash counter is placed at the center of the store (shown in the layout appendix-A Pg. 14) which is easily located and accessed by the customers, also there are help desk at some intervals which makes it easier to get help from the technical staff.
The flow of the customer is also normal, in the busy hours the store dose not look crowded and also every section of the store is easily accessed. Layout of the analyzed store is shown in the appendixA/IV (Pg. 14). 2. 2. 1 Facilities for customers with disabilities One of the drawback of assessed store is they do not have facilities for the disabled customers. The entrance door dose not have facility to access the wheel chair in the store as well as in some area due to mixed floor plan in some division it becomes too congested and dose not have enough space to drive the wheel chair.
Thus, discourages the disabled customer to enter the store, according to Kaufman-Scarborough (1999, p. 475) a focus on disabled people can make the life of disabled people easier and can be a big growth potential and a key competitive advantage for companies. Thus proper facility for the disabled customers will help them to have great shopping experience and gives competitive advantage. Planned change in the layout and also proposed wheel chair is shown in the appendix-A/V (Pg. 15) and appendix-A/VI (Pg. 18-19). 2. 3 Visual merchandising
Visual Merchandising looks at combining product, environment, and space into a stimulating and engaging display to encourage the sale of a product or service. Many elements can be used for visual merchandising in creating displays, including colour, lighting, product information, sensory inputs such as smell, touch, and sound as well as technologies such as digital displays and interactive installations (McGoldrick, 2002, p. 460). The present visual merchandising of JB Hi-Fi dose not has attractive look and looks like an electronic warehouse. By analyzing the store Retail Branding and Innovation Page 4
Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal there are some areas which needs to be improved which give a touch to the store environment. Following are recommendations where JB Hi-Fi can improve their current visual merchandising to contribute to a distinctive retailer brand. 2. 3. 1 Window Display Windows are essentially a good advertising space for the store and act as a sales person with in it. Good window displays will enhance communication of the product, brand and image of the retailer. Equally the window can communicate a viewpoint or trigger an emotional response, giving the customer a reason to enter the store. Window displays are one of the first opportunities for retailers to interact physically with the potential customers? (Miller & Merriless, 2007, p. 96). This does not always have to be a costly operation and effective windows are windows that are perfect sneak peep of the whole store. Window display should be changed after every 4 to 6 weeks to grab the attention (Cumberland, 2008). The examined store is having poster advertisements to communicate the ongoing promotional offers to attract the customers. But having a good window display in place of posters is more effective marketing tool to attract more customers.
Research by authors indicates that window displays are particularly important as a retail marketing tool in Australia as compared with Britain and United States (Miller & Merriless, 2007, p. 96). A picture of the window display is placed in the appendix-A/VI (Pg. 18) to give an idea how it looks like. 2. 3. 2 Colour The interior and exterior colour of the store also affects the mind of the customer. Colour is one of the important factors that affect the shopping experience of the customers and hence the type of colour scheme with in the store is very important.
According to Bellizzi et al. (1983, pp. 21-45) colours effect the customers attraction to display, shopping experience and also conveys the store image. He has undertaken a laboratory experiment to indicate the effects of different colours on customers and shopping experience. Further information on colour is given in appendix-A/III (Pg. 12). JB Hi-Fi is having black and yellow in store as well as brand colour scheme which really suits with the current identity of a cheap electronics retailer. Electronics goods are durable goods and Retail Branding and Innovation
Page 5 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal customers don’t purchase it daily, so they spend more time in comparison and selection of the goods. Therefore to ensure pleasant experience of the customers it is argued to use more neutral and cool colour scheme with in the store instead of warm colour scheme. ?Where a more difficult and prolonged buying decision is usual, warm tense colour may make shopping unpleasant and cause the shopping trip to be more rapidly terminated; cool colours may be more appropriate in such circumstances? (Bellizzi et al, 1983, pp. 1-45). So to give better customer experience it is necessary to change the current yellow (very warm and exciting) and black colour scheme to light brown (neutral and exciting) blue and white colour scheme. 2. 3. 3 Music As discussed earlier in-store presentation is the key to the success of retail environment. Music is also an important factor to consider in building a pleasant retail environment, it plays a vital role in enhancing the store atmosphere, reinforcing the retail brand image and ultimately ensuring that customer has a positive retail experience.
Background music for retail includes any music that can be supportive to a retail store environment. The music genres and styles vary based on the type of retail store. According to McGoldrick (2002, p. 462) ? the right choice of music can also improve customers disposition towards waiting for service.? So the right selection of the music genres is very important and should also match with the brand image. At present JB Hi-Fi is not playing any in-store background music to support their visual merchandising and enhance the customer shopping experience.
Thus it is profitable to encompass in-store music with the visual merchandising to enhance the customer experience and thus reinforcing the brand. Slow tempo music and instrumental music would be an appropriate type of music for JB Hi-Fi. Slow tempo music was found to reduce the pace of traffic flow instore, compared with fast music or no music at all; the slow music also achieves the best effect upon sales volume (Milliman, 1982, pp. 49-63). This type of music suits the type of retail store as well as the new image of the store brand. A list of songs and artists are placed in the appendixA/III (Pg. 3). Retail Branding and Innovation Page 6 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal 3. Conclusion The challenges of sustainable development require innovative approaches that inspire businesses, governments and people to action. The retail sector can make a huge contribution to sustainability through their operations. Therefore an innovative and sustainable store design is an important factor contributing to sustainable development and also builds a unique retailer brand. This report evaluates the existing store design and sustainability features of JB Hi-Fi and recommends potential improvements.
After analysis there are some areas where possible improvements are needed such as in-store Lighting, colour scheme and furniture. Furthermore there are some facilities which are to be developed such as window display, music, services for disabled customers and experience zone. Other possible changes are discussed in appendix and by implementing these suggestions JB HiFi will offer a convenient shopping experience, which will increase customer satisfaction and thus create customer loyalty. Retail Branding and Innovation Page 7 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal References Aghazadeh, S. -M. , 2005.
Layout Strategies for Retail Operations: A Case Study. Management Research News, 28, pp. 31-46. Bellizzi, J. , Crowley, A. & Hasty, R. , 1983. The effects of colour in store design. Journal of Retailing, 59(1), pp. 21-45. Bovea, M. D. & Vidal, R. , 2004. Materials selection for sustainable product design: a case study of wood based furniture eco-design. Materials and Design , 25, p. 111–116. Carpenter, J. M. , Moore, M. & Fairhurst, A. E. , 2005. Consumer shopping value for retail brands. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 9(1), pp. 43-53. City of Yarra, 2005. Sustainable Design Guidelines.
Yarra city Council Cumberland, S. , 2008. Good Retail by design. (Online). Available at: http://www. afsd. com. au/article/dsbm/dsbm8a. htm (accessed 29 September 2009) Durieu, X. , 2003. How Europe’s retail sector helps promote sustainable production. Industry and Environment, 26(1), pp. 7-9. Environment shop, 2005. Environmental Products / Lighting. (Online). Available at: http://www. environmentshop. com. au/Products. asp? CID=121=212 (accessed 30 September 2009) EPEAT, 2009. Buying Greener Computers. EPEAT EPEAT, 2009. Welcome to EPEAT. (Online). Available at: http://www. epeat. net/default. spx (accessed 30 September 2009) Formisano, B. , 2006. VOC – Volatile Organic Compound. (Online). Available at: http://homerepair. about. com/od/termsst/g/voc. htm (accessed 28 September 2009) JB HI-FI, 2009. About Us. (Online). Available at: http://www. jbhifi. com. au/about-us/ (accessed 9 September 2009) JB Hi-Fi, 2009. Bundall – Gold Coast JB Hi-Fi Store. (Online). Available at: http://www. jbhifi. com. au/stores/australia/qld/bundall (accessed 10 September 2009) Joyce, M. L. & Lambert, D. R. , 1996. Memories of the way stores were and retail store image. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 24(1), pp. 4-33. Kaufman-Scarborough, C. , 1999. Reasonable Access for Mobility-Disabled Persons is More Than Widening the Door. Journal of Retailing, 78, p. 475. Retail Branding and Innovation Page 8 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal Kerfoot, S. , Davies, B. & Ward, P. , 2003. Visual Merchandising and the creation of discernible. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 31(3), pp. 143-52. Made-in-china. com, 2009. Electric Wheel Chair (HF6-73). (Online). Available at: http://www. made-in-china. com/china-products/productvieweosQOVjcwthC/Electric- WheelChair-HF6-73-. tml (accessed 29 September 2009) Made-in-china. com, 2009. Manual Wheel Chair (809). (Online). Available at: http://www. madein-china. com/china-products/productviewFosQdtJEbnWy/Manual-Wheel-Chair-809-. html (accessed 29 September 2009) Magrath, A. , 2005. Managing in the age of design. Across the Board, 42(5), pp. 18-27. McGoldrick, P. , 2002. Retail Marketing. The McGraw-Hill Companies. Miller, D. & Merriless, B. , 2007. Retail Marketing. Tilde University Press. Milliman, E. R. , 1982. Using background music to affect the behivour of supermarket shoppers. Journal of Marketing, 46(3), pp. 49-63. Mooy, S. Robben, H. , 2002. Managing consumers’ product evaluations through direct product experience. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 11(7), pp. 432 – 446. PV Database, 2008. BIPV Products. (Online). Available at: http://www. pvdatabase. org/products_viewall. php (accessed 27 September 2009) Snowy, 2008. Recycling computers, consumer electronics and TVs. (Online). Available at: http://www. abc. net. au/science/articles/2008/05/21/2267391. htm (accessed 30 September 2009) Summers, T. A. & Hebertb, P. R. , 2001. Shedding some light on store atmospherics: influence of illumination on consumer behavior.
Journal of Business Research, 54(2), pp. 145-50. www. ez-tracks. com, 2009. Relex and Enjoy Instrumental. (Online). Available at: http://www. eztracks. com/Instrumental. html (accessed 1 October 2009) Zeit, T. , 2008. Best Buy’s New Concept. (Online). Available at: http://vmsd. com/content/bestbuys-new-concept? page=0%2C1 (accessed 27 September 2009) Retail Branding and Innovation Page 9 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal Appendix-A I. Retailer brand and Profile Company Brand image Establishment Locations Stores Product portfolio categories Annual revenues Market share Main competitors Selected Store
Trading Hours JB HI-FI Discount retailer, Best brands, huge range, cheapest price, good service, experienced specialist staff Since 1974 Australia and New Zealand 105 Speakers, Televisions, DVD’s, VCR’s, Cameras, Car Sound, Home Theatre, Computers and Portable Audio, video games, recorded music, DVD music and DVD movies Approximately $65,085,000 Dick Smith, Harvey Norman, Strathfield JB Hi-FI 53 – 57 Upton St, Bundall, 4217 QLD Monday to Friday from 9:00am – 6:00pm Thursday till 9:00pm, Saturday 9. 00am – 5. 30pm, Sunday 10. 00am – 5. 00pm http://www. jbhifi. com. au Home page (JB HI-FI, 2009) & (JB Hi-Fi, 2009) II.
Store infrastructure and sustainability features i. Lightning Changing the front side of the store in glass wall can maximize the benefit of natural lighting and will also get space for window display. Installing electronic sensors to automatically switch off lights in daylight areas, when there is sufficient natural light. Use occupancy sensors to control lights in areas which are not continuously occupied, such as storerooms and service areas. Use time switches to ensure display-lights do not operate when not required. (City of Yarra, 2005). Retail Branding and Innovation Page 10
Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal Transparent Solar panel for roof Transparent solar panel as the roof, to have natural light in day time and also can use the solar electricity as a substitute to thermal or nuclear generated electricity. (PV Database, 2008) Low Voltage Lighting 3 Watt High Power LED 12V Compact Fluorescent Lamp Low voltage consumption lamp and LEDs helps in saving electricity and more cost efficient. Also have long life then ordinary lights. LED 3W Multicolor with remote (Environment shop, 2005) Fixed CFL Down light Fitting Square Retail Branding and Innovation Page 11 Page 11
Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal ii. Furniture Following are the material to be use for sustainable furniture. According to Life cycle assessment methodology done by Bovea & Vidal (2004, pp. 111-16)it was found that these materials have long life and low VOC (volatile organic compounds), so are more sustainable then other materials. Wood based boards Type of materials Standard particleboard, low formaldehyde content particleboard and medium density fiber board low density laminates, high density laminates and natural wood veneers Surface and edge coverings (Bovea & Vidal, 2004)
III. Visual merchandising, Innovation and sustainability features i. Colour Effects of different colours in a retail store Colours Psychological effect Violet Blue Brown Green Yellow Orange Red Aggressive and tiring Restful Exciting Very restful Exciting Exciting Very stimulating Temperature effect Cold Cold Neutral Cold-neutral Very warm Warm Warm Distance effect Very close Further away Claustrophobic Further away Close Close Close (Bellizzi et al, 1983, pp. 21-45) Retail Branding and Innovation Page 12 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal New colour scheme White Blue Brown
Sustainability in paint Walls, ceilings and other surfaces should be painted with low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) conventional water-based paints or mineral based paints that contain extremely low-VOC or no-VOC formulations. Oil based paint has the highest level of VOC’s. Exposure to VOC’s can trigger asthma attacks, create throat and eye irritation, nausea and headaches among other health problems. Long term exposure can lead to cancer and diseases of the kidney and liver (Formisano, 2006). ii. Music The store should make up a mood that is playful and very fun just to come in and look around, very relaxing.
Following are some of the songs recommended to play as background music to the change customer behavior. Songs Forever In Love A Night To Remember Fur Elise ‘A’ Comme Amour You Decorated My Life Falling Into You Time To Say Goodbye Silhouette Air For Guitar and Strings Sonata in F major (www. ez-tracks. com, 2009) Kenny G * Yanni Various – Beethoven Richard Clayderman Kenny Rogers Celine Dion Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman Kenny G Gregor F. Narholz Various Beethoven Artist/Album Retail Branding and Innovation Page 13 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal Retail Branding and Innovation Page 14
Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal Retail Branding and Innovation Page 15 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal VI. Pictures (Zeit, 2008) i. Audio video CD’s and DVD’s section Simpler, clearer signage lets customers to access the store more quickly, easily and reduces the chance of getting bore. Also has the enough space to access the store by disabled customers. ii. Experience zone Experience zone that will be similar to homelike room settings assemble products and services into a complete end-use model. This can be very successful to retain and attract customer in store for longer time.
Retail Branding and Innovation Page 16 Page 16 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal iii. The all new display furniture for laptops The new attractive sustainable furniture showing off featured products such as laptops, PC’s and other merchandise giving attractive look to customers and thus giving better customer experience. iv. Elegant interior The all new white, brown and blue colour concept of JB Hi-Fi along with features like carpeting, better lighting, and slow music gives more in-store comfort and experience to customers and employees. Retail Branding and Innovation Page 17 Page 17
Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal v. Window display A window designs to attract customers into the shop. It is a valuable investment to have windows properly merchandised. vi. Electric Wheel Chair Description Body: Steel material Powder coated Armrest: Elevating (sponge) Footrest: Detachable (Sponge) Front wheel: 8″foam Rear wheel: 12″PU (Made-in-china. com, 2009) Retail Branding and Innovation Page 18 Page 18 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal vii. Manual Wheel Chair Description Body: Stainless steel Armrest: Fixed PVC (Sponge) Footrest: Fixed PVC Front Wheel: 8″ Solid Rubber Tire
Back Wheel: 24″ Solid Rubber Tire (Made-in-china. com, 2009) Cushion: PVC (Dark Blue) Weight capacity: 100kg Retail Branding and Innovation Page 19 Page 19 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal VII. Additional suggestion to be more sustainable and innovative i. Minimizing car use Encouraging staff to cycle or walk to work instead of coming by car. Regular cycling and walking reduces the likelihood of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, stress and depression. In addition walking and cycling will help to reduce the numbers of cars on the road thus reducing the environmental pollution.
To encourage bicycle use, provide secure bicycle parking, individual showers and locker facilities for employees (City of Yarra, 2005). ii. EPEAT products To keep the merchandise those are registered with EPEAT and encourage the sales of EPEAT registered products. This strategy is applied by Best Buy electronics (one of the biggest electronics retailer in world). EPEAT is a system that helps purchasers evaluate, compare and select electronic products based on their environmental attributes. The system currently covers desktop and laptop computers, thin clients, workstations and computer monitors (EPEAT, 2009).
No. of products registered with EPEAT in Australia Total Desktops Integrated desktop computers Monitors Notebooks Thin clients Workstation desktop Workstation notebooks Total 0 0 0 1 28 0 28 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 63 2 5 0 0 71 13 36 0 6 0 83 76 38 5 6 0 154 (EPEAT, 2009) Retail Branding and Innovation Page 20 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal Major Environmental Benefits Compared to conventional products, over their lifetime the 109+ million EPEAT registered products sold worldwide in 2007 will: ? ? ? ? Reduce use of primary materials by 75. million metric tons Reduce use of toxic materials, including mercury, by 3,220 metric tons Eliminate use of enough mercury to fill 482,381 household fever thermometers Prevent disposal of 124,000 metric tons of hazardous waste These EPEAT/ENERGY STAR registered products will also consume less energy throughout their life, and: ? Save 42. 2 billion kWh of electricity—enough to power 3. 7 million U. S. homes for a year ? Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3. 31 million metric tons—equivalent to removing over 2. 6 million U. S. cars from the road for a year. Eliminate 174 million metric tons of air emissions (including greenhouse gas emissions) ? Eliminate 365 thousand metric tons of water pollutant emissions. (EPEAT, 2009) iii. Recycling The store can contribute to the environmental protection by implementing e-waste recycling program and encouraging the customers to bring back their old e-goods for recycling. After collection they can give these goods to big recycling companies in Australia who are having technology and systems to recycle about 98% of all components of computers, TVs and electronic gear (Snowy, 2008).
Retail Branding and Innovation Page 21 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal Appendix-B Main idea behind this project was to research and report an innovative and sustainable store design proposal for a retailer by performing a role of store design consultant. Here in this report as a consultant the research has been done to develop an innovative and sustainable store design for Australia’s largest home entertainment retailer- JB HI-FI. I monitored the store for 2-3 weeks for evaluating the current level of branding, in-store promotion and innovation at JB Hi-Fi.
This includes observation research with in the store on three components of the store design: store infrastructure, store layout and visual merchandising. The observation of the store really helped me to analyse the store pattern, the current level of branding and innovation, current dimensions of store design, in-store promotion and negative aspects of the store. After evaluating the current situation, I started examining actual literature on this topic. This was done by searching for actual news relating to JB HI-FI via internet (for example through insideretailing. com. u and company’s website) and by reviewing journal articles and books about retailing, branding, sustainability, innovation and store design. On the basis of reviewing literature and analysing the current situation, I gather resources which could be relevant for the report. The exercise of ? brainstorming? positively helped me to have better understanding of the actual situation of the store and finding the weakness of the existing situation. Furthermore it also helped me to find new ways of innovation and sustainability in store design, that can give retailer competitive edge.
After completing evaluation of the store and the literature research, I started working on the formulation of the report. Recommendations are given to attain sustainability in store infrastructure and to give better shopping experience. The store needs to be improved in some area like lighting, furniture and colour scheme. Additionally, new feature like ? Experience zone? , facilities for diabled customers, solar panel installation, background music and window display are proposed to incorporate for enhancing the customer experience. Retail Branding and Innovation Page 22 Innovative Sustainable Store Design Proposal
This report really helped me to develop my skills in many areas. I gained not only the theoretical knowledge but also practical knowledge. By evaluating the situation of the store it helped me to develop my knowledge of the store design, type of layout, also understood how a store can be more sustainable and innovative. Going through the literature and surfing web, helped me to gain idea on different methods of how retailer can be more sustainable, in addition I came to know about the different sustainable product which are very eco-friendly and came to know about the current trends of sustainability in the retail industries.
Overall this report really helped me in developing my professional skills for my future career as a retail branding and innovation consultant and study aspiration. The assignment gives more practical knowledge, also gives an opportunity to investigate and offer a stage to act as a store design consultant to develop distinctive retailer brand. Retail Branding and Innovation