21. The Effect of Merchandising
Merchandising includes the environment in which the product is sold as well as the way in which the merchandise is displayed.
He strays a bit, noting that merchandizing borrows on art, but for different reasons. Art does not consider action, and in fact is often contrived to give the viewer pause. Neither does art deal with the objects of reality, but creates an other-worldly vision. Both are contrary to the interests of the retailer, who wishes to encourage interaction with mundane objects.
He suggests that "everyone knows" the way in which sensation affects behavior - even senses such as taste and smell can be observed to change the reactions of individuals, though by varying degrees. Those who plan social events pay great attention to the details of environment, and some in the retail sector are beginning to leverage these techniques.
One can witness the attractive power of the displays in shop windows to catch the attention of passers-by and draw then into a store. Some shop displays are sensational, and great interest is given to them, whereas others fail entirely to gather attention. There is much that psychology can likely contribute to the effectiveness of window displays.
He then goes into detail about an experiment he conducted: a series of cards was shown to individuals, each of which bore a number, to determine which got the best attention. He altered the shape of the cards, their color, the length of exposure, the amount of lighting, and various other factors. His experiment indicated that every one of these factors has some influence on the outcome.
He uses the example of a jewelry to show how this might be relevant to commercial interest: he could vary the items in his window, showing various items of various colors on various backgrounds, cluttered or with space around them, etc. to make his wares more memorable, hence presumably more desired, to those who notice his display. This would naturally lead to greater or lesser sales.
(EN: I sense the jeweler may be a very good example, but somewhat contrived in that it is unlikely most buyers would see the display and march right in to purchase ... but instead see the display, think on it a while, and come slowly to desire the merchandise and develop a wish to purchase over a longer period of time.)
He shifts his focus next to packaging, as this is a matter that manufacturers control and over which retailers have little influence, as it is not common practice for most manufactured goods for the retailer to unpack them, but merely to display the in the original packaging. As such it is more the burden of the manufacturer than the retailer to package goods in an appealing manner.
He mentions a practical experiment in which chocolate was sold under 12 different labels that used various colors and illustrations. He also mentioned that experiments that asked individuals to assess the attractiveness of the packaging did not coincide with the sales of the items. In such an instance the laboratory situation was itself different, and people remarked according to their aesthetic preferences - which are different to the factors that motivate actual behavior in a real market.
He also remarks the connection between packaging and product types - that, in effect, a package that utterly failed to sell chocolates might be highly successful in selling tobacco. There is a need for "harmony" in merchandising.
He concludes this short chapter by suggesting that we have thus far seem only the starting points of the application of psychology to merchandizing, and there is a great need for research and tremendous opportunity for improvement by a more systematic examination.