Resumo de Retail Arrangement

Target, Inc. has stores around

the country that generally follow the same floor plan from store to store, just

like Wal-Mart stores, Waffle Houses, etc. I happened to work in the Target

Greatland #1049 in Richmond, VA and am quite familiar with the layout of the

store. I therefore have drawn many conclusions about how the store manipulates

its customers through product placement and structural design, and have even

learned a few facts from managers in this area. As a disclaimer, I must note

that these ideas are not endorsed by Target, Inc. and are solely my own

assumptions. That being said, Target has engineered its customers to adhere to

age-old gender biases and uses other techniques to sell their products

efficiently.

If the store were divided directly

down the center aisle, the left half would, on the majority, contain all of the

items that one would assume a man would like to buy. Conversely, the right half

would contain all of the items that a woman would want to buy, or that society

thinks she is supposed to buy. In the men?s half, you would find men?s

clothing, electronics, sports equipment, lawn care items, and automotive

accessories. In the women?s half, you would find jewelry, lingerie, women?s clothing,

young girls? clothing, children?s toys, domestics, household appliances, food,

and the pharmacy. Since it is assumed that women would be the ones taking care

of the children, the toys are found in ?her? section. While shoes and young

boy?s clothing are technically on the men?s side, they flank the center aisle.

Women, who usually do all of the household shopping, according to this 1950s

standard to which Target adheres, would be the ones walking down the center

aisle and thus be drawn to both sides. Men?s items, besides clothing, are

presumably separated from women?s so that they do not need to obtain permission

from their wives to purchase them. If you have ever been in the Automotive

department of a Target store, you would know that it is hidden in the back

corner and it would be difficult for a woman to locate her shopping husband if

he were in that particular section. While not many men would ?hide? from their

wives in such a manner, Target would prefer men to make impulse buys without

the typically more sensible logic of a woman. The less people that have to make

a decision on an item, the more likely it is that the item gets purchased.

Essentially, if just the woman makes the decision about buying a woman?s item

and just the man makes the decision about buying a man?s item, then more things

will be bought overall. Therefore, Target uses this gender separation (and

bias) to sell more products.

The power of a whiney child is

immense because some parent?s do not wish to ?make a scene? and others just

can?t say no to their children. Target uses this power by placing electronics

at the front left, toys in the back, and most items near the cash registers.

Older children often ask their parents to buy them video game systems, which

are prominently placed in the electronics department next to the entrance of

the store. Keeping in mind that the entrance to the store is also the exit,

children have twice as much time to notice the things they want and bug their

parents about them. Also, once again following the previously discussed gender

bias, women would be the ones taking care of the smaller children in the store

and thus would be taking them down the center aisle that contains clothing and

shoes. In doing so, the smaller children would be well able to see the toy

section immediately in front of them at the back of the store. The smaller

children would use their powers of persuasion (crying) to get the mothers to

the toy department and make purchases. Finally, along the register aisles, you

will find candy, toys (such as Mattchbox cars), and useless items. For example,

Target sells a product called an AquaBaby. It is a plastic cubbe filled with

water, a snail, a plant, and a fish, and it sells for $21.99. My manager told

me that they were placed there so that children would convince their parents to

buy them ? and I have seen it happen more than once. In the area of candy,

people will buy any attractively packaged mint flavored item and so all of the

registers are well stocked with a wide variety. The last seller?s touch at the

register is a cooler with cold drinks for those who?ve been shopping too long

to pick up on the way out.

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