BLOG POST N°2: WESTFIELD-STRATFORD, psycogeological trip

This second week we went to Westfield shopping centre in Stratford (east London). The purpose of the visit was to do a psycogeographic analysis of the retail spaces, by focusing on the hoarding on the front of the building, the indoor décor, the window display, if the staff wear uniform? The overall impression casual or formal? how do the staff behave? And mostly we had to focus on the voice, the message, values, bottom line and emotions.

Entering Westfield, I went through the all building before entering in a shop. The general felling of the place is ok, the layout of the shopping centre is not the best, it is organised like a long corridor, on three floors, if the place was organised in the shape of a circle it could be better.

Starting the visit, I first went to KIEHL’S, a cosmetic brand, it position it’s selves as a premium cosmetic brand the average price for a product is £25. The inside layout is very similar to a pharmacy: very clean, white, organised. The staff was welcoming, the staff where wearing doctors blouses. I’ve asked several questions about the brand and they are really aware of the all history, and they sell the products with a very ‘’complex’’ vocabulary to make you think the creams they are selling are very elaborated.

Second store I went to All Saint, a mid price cloth brands, the decoration of the store is in the spirit/DNA of the brand witch is very edgy/rock/industrial. The shop floor was very very big, for a Tuesday the place was dead, the number of members of staff was quite large about 8/10 peoples. 

The third shop I went to was Lush, a cosmetic English brand, created in 1995. It a hand made cosmetic brand, with strong value and a clear message to the customers: sustainable and eco friendly. Entering the shop the sales assistants come and speak to you, asking if I was looking for something in particular, one of them showed me briefly how the the store was organised, so I made my way thru the store and the sales assistant were constantly asking me if I needed help, witch was not the case. They have a demonstration area in the store to show the bomb bath, to demonstrate to the costumers the effect in the water and the smell. For me the way they approche the customer and demonstrate the product and talk about the product puts the costumer in situation of trust with the brand, and with this ‘’private’’ conversation the sale representative is building customer loyalty