In-Store Environment
JOHN
RYAN
with overhead point of sale. Practically, this
means signage informing shoppers that there were
“Christmas Cards”, “Soft Toys”, “Boxed Cards”
and suchlike.
Quite good really, except for the fact that in a
store of this size, it is pretty obvious where things
are – although this does tend to characterise value
greetings card retailing. The real problem with
point of sale overkill is that it has a tendency to
be ignored by shoppers when there is too much of
it. And Croydon’s Card Factory certainly works
along these lines. You really only notice a fraction
of the overhead signs as the progress from front
to back of the store is so rapid that you will have
reached the rear almost before you’ve had time to
read anything.
That said, you will at least have encountered
a broad range of cheap merchandise and possibly
clocked the fact that there are three rolls of gift
wrap for £1.
The store also conforms to value retailing
norms in terms of its stripped for action inte-
rior. The fl oors are basic vinyl and virtually no
expense whatsoever has been incurred with the
lighting which is of the type found in 1980s offi ce
John Ryan battles the
alue retailing is a form of the
blocks and is utterly devoid of personality.
V
noble art where there is really
The point is: who cares? Certainly not the
only one thing that counts: price.
many shoppers who fi lled the two aisles and then
snow and shoppers It matters little what you do with
lined up to hand their money over to the Santa-
the rest of the shop, as long as
hatted, blue t-shirted staff who were manning the
to see Card Factory in
the prices are cheap, or rather
tills at the back of the shop.
cheaper, than similar items elsewhere.
This store is next door to a branch of discount
festive action.
Card Factory is a value retailer and one of its
bookshop The Works and is a perfectly respect-
branches is on the upper level of Croydon’s Whitgift
able no-frills value retailer. With the pressure that
centre – a place where lower rents mean that retail-
there has been on consumers over the last year,
ers of its ilk tend to congregate. And as if that were
it is not to be wondered at that it is busy. In more
Factory
not enough of a clue, the most cursory inspection
buoyant times, there might be a question mark
of this store will suffi ce to tell what lies within.
over whether shoppers would fl ock, but as things
“Card Factory” screams the fascia, with the letters
stand, Card Factory is perfectly in tune with the
in canary yellow set against a royal blue background
price-conscious zeitgeist.
fun
(a colour scheme favoured by discount chain 99p
This is a completely unremarkable retail for-
Stores), and next to this is the double deck legend
mat, but one that is fi nding favour with shoppers
“Compare the quality Compare the price”. No
by giving them what they want and need.
mistaking what Card Factory is all about then, and it
is less than a stone’s throw from Clinton Cards – on
* John Ryan covers store design and visual
merchandising for Retail Week.
the other side of the mall walkway.
“Card Factory was
Visiting this modestly-sized shop two days
perhaps the most
before Christmas was a revelation. It was groaning
with shoppers, all snapping up multi-buy discount
densely merchandised
rolls of wrapping paper and last minute greetings
store of its kind in
cards. Card Factory was perhaps the most densely
the centre, with stock
merchandised store of its kind in the centre, with
stock running from fl oor to ceiling and the great
running from fl oor to
bulk of it aimed, entirely correctly, at Yuletide shop-
ceiling”
pers on a budget.
And as well as the inevitable acreage of red-
coloured cards, associated with the jolly man with
the beard and reindeer, the entire shop was awash
30
www.greetingstoday.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122