Brand Interactions

Stutters in the Retail Experience, p.2

More thoughts on supermarkets, stemming from the Adaptive Path article I referenced yesterday.

Julia references her experience shopping at Anthropologie, where she was able to work with a personal stylist who helped advise her on clothing choices that fit both her personal style and lifestyle. A typical Anthropologie store (admittedly, not aimed at me, but a remarkable mass retail experience nonetheless) might carry several hundred items from which to choose. A typical suburban supermarket, by way of contrast, carries upwards of 100,000 discreet items, and save for some general signage gives very few cues by which a consumer might navigate the infinite choices within.

Given that more and more of us are shopping not simply for weekly groceries, but towards specific ends, I wonder whether the Anthropologie model might carry into the grocery aisles.

Why doesn’t Whole Foods have specialists on-hand who can help guide interested consumers through a vegetarian-shopping experience, literally walking the aisles with you and pointing out solid vegetarian options.

Why couldn’t doctors and nutritionists write dietary ‘prescriptions’ that could be filled at a major supermarket chain, with a co-shopper walking the aisles with customers, pointing out low-sodium or low-cholesterol options (and how best to identify them). It seems to me that there’s a huge opportunity here, with so many of us charged by our physicians with adopting specialized diets, and then left to our own devices among aisles of pre-packaged soups and snack crackers.

Imagine being able to walk into your local grocery, and with the help of a friendly staff member, putting together your first Thanksgiving dinner, or a meal for a date. The success of Apple’s Genius Bar speaks volumes, I think, to the capacity of the consumer to invest in a deeper brand relationship (and a stronger spend) when the brand invests a relatively small amount of time listening to our specific needs.

Certainly, there are isolated examples of this: Whole Foods has made nutritionists available in select stores, albeit by appointment, for example. Still, most of the education is taking place not in the aisles themselves (which are still, remarkably, the domain of the ’sampling station’), but rather in store magazines and flat-screen broadcasts of Ellie Krieger.

I think there’s a huge opportunity here. Am I missing something?

© 2007 Heavyset.