Pet Hates........or FFS

[Macca]

Explained in the link I gave.

[Marco]

They want you to spend as much as possible but they also want you to do it in the quickest time possible. If you go to your local supermarket and you struggle to park every time because the car park is so full, and then when you get in there the place is so packed you can't get around, you're going to start going somewhere else.

I agree with the bit in bold, as it's a fact, simply because the quicker you've bought what you want, and are in and out, the quicker someone else can replace you and do the same. The management want stores full of folk spending money, not dithering around. It's all about streamlining the whole operation, for maximum efficiency and profit.

However, car parks won't stay full for long, if the goal is to deliberately create a dismal experience, which I'm sorry is not something I buy.

The dismal experience is symptomatic of life in today's society, where in retail people are no longer employed in jobs that they enjoy doing and *want* to do (as it was in my day - I loved my job, was very good at it, and amply rewarded), but rather are there just because they need a job [ANY job], simply to earn money.

When I was in retail, there were staff who had spent almost their whole careers working for the one company (House of Fraser), as they loved their job, were properly paid, and so were loyal to their employers for good reason - and also staff were popular with regular customers. That simply doesn't happen now, as working conditions and expectations from management, based on how people shop now, are so different.

Therefore, as soon as stores are populated by disillusioned, unconscientious, non-incentivised, poorly-paid and overworked staff, who are there grudgingly, not because they enjoy their job and take a pride in the quality of work they produce/service that they offer to customers, then standards will fall - and *that* is the catalyst for the dismal experience, not some devious, preconceived plan by management, as in the long run it would be counterproductive.

Quite simply, if supermarkets were full of happy, switched on, conscientious, incentivised, and decently paid staff, who clearly enjoyed their job, then the dismal shopping experience you mention would largely disappear. Certainly, checkout staff would be rolling their sleeves up and working with a sense of urgency, rather than dithering about in a dream, no matter how big the queue is beside them, which is what pisses me off...

if they wanted you to stay as long as possible they'd design the experience to be more like a casino, where that is one of the primary goals. The casino will have soft lighting, mood music, a confusing, rambling layout, and the exits will not be obvious. Whereas a supermarket has nice straight aisles, multiple big exits that are in plain view, harsh strip lighting, annoying jingles playing on the PA, and so on.

I get that and, as far as that's concerned would agree, as indeed I do with the bit below:

What you're saying might be more true of a department store where they want you to take your time and browse around. The department store more closely resembles a casino in layout and atmosphere.

Not sure about a casino, but certainly a more relaxed environment than in a supermarket. I used to bring in tapes of music I'd recorded on my system at home [this would've been around 1987] and give it to one of the girls in the office, who would play it over the store PA system, and so the likes of U2, Prince, The Pet Shop Boys and George Michael, would be resounding out through the store!

Marco.

[Marco]

They have some sort of guideline in that if more than 3 people are queuing at the tills then they open another because they know that queuing at the till is one of the main things that gives a bad experience.

But if the goal, as you say, is to deliberately create a bad (dismal) experience, then surely opening tills to get folk served, rather than making them wait, is counterproductive? Nothing pisses off folk more than standing waiting at checkouts!

Marco.

[Macca]

But if the goal, as you say, is to deliberately create a bad (dismal) experience, then surely opening tills to get folk served, rather than making them wait, is counterproductive? Nothing pisses off folk more than standing waiting at checkouts!

Marco.

No the subliminal environment is deliberately dismal. They want quick and efficient staff, they want a car park that is never full. They just don't want a pleasant atmosphere inside because that will cause people to linger and I'm guessing that their research shows that people who linger do not actually spend more, they just clog the place up.


McDonald's restaurants are also designed to be unpleasant and uncomfortable for the same reasons.

[Pigmy Pony]

Why would McDonalds go to the trouble of making their restaurants unpleasant when their patrons do that for them? And anyway it would be cheaper to just make shit burgers. Oh wait, they already do that.

[Pigmy Pony]

Marco, I can picture you in your retail days, walking round the store with your handful of mix tapes. And in your work suit with the shoulder pads and the sleeves pushed up to your elbows

[Marco]

No the subliminal environment is deliberately dismal. They want quick and efficient staff, they want a car park that is never full. They just don't want a pleasant atmosphere inside because that will cause people to linger and I'm guessing that their research shows that people who linger do not actually spend more, they just clog the place up.

McDonald's restaurants are also designed to be unpleasant and uncomfortable for the same reasons.

Sorry, I disagree. I don't believe for one second that if you were to ask diners there if they felt unpleasant or uncomfortable, that they'd say yes. It would largely be the opposite, which is one of the reasons why they're there. I don't know anyone who would *choose* to sit in an unpleasant or uncomfortable place to have a meal.

Certainly the reason I don't go to McDonalds is nothing to do with the environment being unpleasant or uncomfortable, but rather that I hate the plastic shit served, posing as 'food!

Also, contrary to what you say, supermarkets are largely not populated by quick and efficient staff, usually the opposite, which is why myself and many others get so pissed off by dithering staff at checkouts, so if that's what is wanted by the management, that's not what they're getting. Plus, if supermarket car parks are *continually* empty, then they won't be doing much business, which is why they're mostly always full...

When was the last time, during the busiest trading times, that you saw an empty supermarket car park? Even when I go, outside of such times, car parks are 60-70% full, and at weekends often around 80-90% full - and they're clearly making money, so I'm afraid that part of your argument doesn't stack up.

Marco.

[struth]

macdonalds is comfortable and pleasant for its target audience. You are not really its target audience tho. The young teens and young families are.

[Macca]

Sorry, I disagree. I don't believe for one second that if you were to ask diners there if they felt unpleasant or uncomfortable, that they'd say yes.


It's subliminal! Most people don't notice how awful it is as you rightly say. But it still gets them in and out more quickly. By uncomfortable I mean the environment is deliberately made to be psychologically uncomfortable. Not that they have spikes sticking out of the seats or something.

Also, contrary to what you say, supermarkets are largely not populated by quick and efficient staff, usually the opposite,

I didn't say they were! The people who run them would like them to be quick and efficient. And you do come across some staff who are. Staff psychology now that's a whole different issue. The supermarket want you to come back, they just don't want you to linger around when you do.

Plus, if supermarket car parks are *continually* empty, then they won't be doing much business,


They want a car park that always has spaces available. Not an empty car park. And they don't want you to have to drive around too long looking for a space. The quicker everyone is in and out the less likely it is that the car park will get full or close to full.

[Pigmy Pony]

macdonalds is comfortable and pleasant for its target audience. You are not really its target audience tho. The young teens and young families are.

So true. If you are over fifty, with a dodgy back and an aversion to screaming kids, then it's not the place for you.