Last Wednesday, I went to the Trafford Centre in Manchester, not only to do some shopping but to also go around different stores and look at how they attract and draw in their customers in terms of the store layout, lighting, music, window displays, store employees and in some ways, the smell. The first store I walked around was Selfridges which according to their website, was the first store to open outside of London.
Figure 1. Selfridges. Retrieved from http://www.selfridges.com/content/store/manchester-trafford/
It has a wide and open entrance and is located on two floors of the shopping centre. You can access it from both outside the shopping centre, near the car park and inside the shopping centre. Because of it having such a wide entrance, there were no window displays, however I don't think that matters so much because you can see products clearly even if you just walk past the entrance.
Figures 2 & 3. Selfridges Entrance. Own Images
It was clear that I went just before Mother's Day as there were signs hanging from the ceiling and posters throughout the store reminding you to purchase nice Mother's Day gifts. I noticed that as you walk into Selfridges on the ground floor, you see mainly beauty related brands like Mac, Nars, Chanel and Jo Malone and towards the back of the store, you see clothing brands and handbags like Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Boss, therefore you have to walk through the beauty products in order to get not only to the clothes and other similar products but also to the escalators. With the beauty products being at the front of the store, you instantly smell the different smells from the brands that are really nice, another way in which they attract customers because they want to know what the lovely smell is and therefore go looking for it throughout the store. I could see that at a lot of the beauty stands, there were friendly professionals giving expert advice to customers as well as giving them make overs and letting them try out the products before they decide whether to buy them or not. The lighting in Selfridges is very bright making the products easier to look at but it also makes the store stand out.
Figures 4-8. Selfridges. Own Images
When I visited another Selfridges store which was located in London, I noticed that a lot of the brands gave out Selfridges bags when a product was purchased whether it was from Mac or Mulberry, where as at the one in the Trafford Centre, the bags matched the brand, for example Jo Malone sold their products in Jo Malone bags rather than Selfridges bags. I especially liked Jo Malone in this Selfridges as one of the women who worked there was very friendly and helpful. Certain expensive stores that I have been in, in the past, left me feeling inferior because people would sometimes look at you as if they thought you were about to steal something, where as in this store, they were polite. I also liked the layout of the products at Jo Malone as shown in the images below.
Figures 9&10. Jo Malone, Selfridges. Own Images
Overall my experience in Selfridges was very good and I would definitely go there again, even if I just went browsing.
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