Free Business Dissertations - Design Is Argued To Be One Of The Principle Reasons For Consumer Emotional
Design is argued to be one of the principle reasons for consumer emotional attachment relative to a product, service or experience provided within a business context, (Lamons, 2005). Thus the need of connecting with or injecting passion into the business to a large extent depends on the ways in which transfer can be made of these feelings to customers. In this manner then branding has become significant at this stage and a major goal for image design is about creating expectations within consumers of more than physical benefit of a product or a limited service request which in itself can be seen to provide the foundation for a customer experience. Recent theory about branded customer service provides an important framework in terms of brand management focusing on meeting changing customer needs, (Barlow and Stewart, 2004). It presents a strong relationship between the brand and consumer satisfaction which in particular is the case in retail industry hence a vital question for retailers is how to present a total customer offering in ways that help them achieve an enhanced experience while shopping from that retailer. The success of Selfridges store’s strategic policies related to their bringing back of the idea of shopping as entertainment and fun and turning this into an essential part of the store image. Based on this brand rebuilding strategy large scale changes were introduced at several levels from the organisational structure, products, staff as well as the physical look of the store. According to Vittorio Radice, Chief Executive of Selfridges, the department store shopping experience meets customer wants rather than needs which can be explained by Maslow’s (1970) motivation theory that people have higher levels of achievement in terms of self-actualization and self-esteem. As a result while Selfridges was going back to its roots the strategic changes it sought to initiate were designed to reflect an image of the brand which captured the ‘Spirit of the City’, (Senior, 2002).
Driving forces in the external environment at industrial level that can be defined as rivals, substitutes, and the changing power of consumers had vital impacts on Selfridge’s strategic decisions. First of all competition from other high street retail stores is increasingly intense both nationally and internationally. Selfridges traditionally traded as a store which could supply almost anything and was maintained under the umbrella of Sears aiming to create and sustain customers’ loyalty to the store. However sales had started to decline by the early 1990s due to extreme rivalry in the retailing industry and a swathe of new retailers eating up Selfridges’ market share. It is argued that retailers have to offer a powerful way of offering and infusing consumers’ with particular company retail experiences which in response we can see that Selfridges set a high standard through the labelling of it as a ‘House of Brands’, (Stuff, 2005).
Dissertations - Free Business Dissertations
