University of Washington
Geography 350
Experiencing retail


PHENOMENOLOGY
Phenomenology is the study of experience:  the ways we experience things and the meanings that experiences have for the individual.  Thus, phenomenology is the third-person study of things as experienced by someone in the first person -- very different from ontology, the study of things as they (debatably) "are."  The "things" that can be experienced and studies include objects, events, others, even oneself.1


HERMENEUTICS
Hermeneutics is the art of interpretation -- originally, interpretation of religious texts, but we can also attempt to interpret movies, architecture, urban space, and retail space.  "What does this space mean to those who experience it?"  "What elements of the space create that meaning?"  Thus, it's obvious that hermeneutics, as applied to spaces and events, is related to phenomenology, the study of how people experience spaces or events.


RETAILING AND SHOPPING
Shopping is both a space and an event.  What's important to retailers is that:
  1. how a shopper experiences the space and event of shopping influences how long and how expansively (s)he shops, and
  2. different shoppers will derive different experiences, impressions, and even meanings from the same setting.2  Phenomenology is unique to the individual, and thus we must interpret retail spaces differently for different people.
The question for the retailer is how to manipulate the elements of the shopping experience to lead the desired market segment to linger and to buy.

Components of retail spaces:
  • exterior and interior signage
  • visibility of the interior from the outside, of the outside from the inside
  • floor, wall, ceiling furnishings
  • decorative features
  • space per shopper
  • visibility of prices
  • sound -- sources, genres, volume, punctuated with announcements?
  • colors
  • number, availability, location, age, gender, dress, formality of staff
  • place and time:  Warf and Chapman  [2006] refer to "authentic" and "inauthentic" senses of place.
  • ancillary features:  bathrooms, rest areas, refreshments
What components of retail space does Goss [1993] emphasize? 
How do Warf and Chapman [2006] attempt to characterize the components of Wal-Mart's retail space?

Components of the shopping experience:
Note that there is not a right or wrong design, but rather, designs that appeal to different shoppers at different times.
  • How and how often do staff members interact directly with a shopper?
  • How can the desired shopper be made comfortable?
  • How is the shopper encouraged to deal with fatigue?  (Caffeine?  Couches?  Benches?  The front door?)
  • How is the shopper encouraged to deal with bathroom needs?
  • Are there supervised activities for young children?
  • Is it easy for the shopper to measure time?
What components of the shopping experience does Goss [1993] emphasize?

Characterizing retail spaces -- the first step in the hermeneutics of retailing:
  • upscale/downscale
  • functional/entertaining
  • masculine/feminine
  • young/older
  • of-the-moment/traditional
  • ??
Warf and Chapman [2006] claim that Wal-Mart's spaces carry political meanings.  How?  If you've experienced Wal-Mart's spaces, do you agree?  Are political meanings evident in any space where you shop?


NOTES
1Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
2See Warf and Chapman [2006: 168-9].


REFERENCES
Goss, J.  1993.  The "magic of the mall": an analysis of form, function, and meaning in the contemporary retail built environment.  Annals of the Association of American Geographers 83(1): 18-47.

Warf, B.  and Chapman, T.  2006.  Cathedrals of consumption: a political phenomenology of Wal-Mart.  Ch. 12 in Wal-Mart World, ed. by S. Brunn.  New York: Routledge.
copyright James W. Harrington
revised 10 May 2011