Ethnography on Staples "That Was Easy"

Ever since I was smaller I always loved school supplies. My mother always bought me all these different kinds of pens, pencils, and crayons. Now I work at a very popular office supply superstore that store is Staples. Staples are stores where you can by a variety of products for your office and home. Malcolm Gladwell’s article “The Science of Shopping.” Talks about shopping in retail stores that are more clothing stores. However a good amount of that article can be connected to how Staples runs and operates its business. The article talks about the different scientific selling technique studied by Paco Underhill, a person who studies different shopping trends in different stores. Staples main focus is to grab the eyes of many business people and help produce sales. Since I work at this store stepping outside the box and giving you to different views on this store is my goal with this ethnography.  

Staples is a store that targets people in or running any types of business. When I walk into work I can always recognize the staples logo from miles away. As I look up I recognize staples by the huge red sign with the white lettering detailing the red rectangle. People especially know a staples store by the L in the logo is stapled shaped. I approach the front and see windows with huge posters displaying laptops and yellow sticky notes. Walking inside is like walking into a bright waiting room. When looking up I see that the building has large high ceilings with bright lights running up and down the aisles. Once you enter the store is divided into many sections. Always to the right you have the copy and print center with shades of different blue designing this area. Then straight ahead you have the office supply section with very high red shelves with product below to buy. The shelves are so tall that you need a ladder to get to the over stock. Above the product is the over stock with closed boxes with numbers on them. Then to the left of the office supply section you have shelves that are not as high. It’s about an average height of a person and able to look over these shelves. Behind the electronics section you have the furniture show room where desks and chairs are displayed. The desks are all in the front while the chairs are all up against the back wall. Then as you walk in to the right are the registers and the service desk. What you can clearly observe with product though is that this environment is meant to be bright and eye catching. Above all the products are long white light bulbs the same one used to brighten the store.           

When walking into aisle five seems as if you are walking in a long hallway at school. Looking to the right of this aisle are the staples and staplers. In a row are testing staplers and paper to staple together. This shows what Paco Underhill calls the “make up play area” in which customers are able to interact with products and seeing what best fits their needs. Staplers are very important in many work environments and are used daily. Lots of factors play a key role in what a customer is looking for in a stapler. People may want a stand up stapler or the traditional table top stapler. It’s also important how many sheets of paper each stapler may be able to punch. I see some small hand held staplers and also bug huge gray bulky ones. One stapler you try and press down on it and it doesn’t even work. The reason it didn’t work is it’s because it’s an electric stapler. People who have arthritis need staplers too and doing that constant repetitive motion makes their hands tired. So Staples even have staplers for people who may have medical problems such as arthritis. Throughout the store staples have these “make up play areas” so customers can interact with products to get a feel for what they might be looking for.

            Walking around a little bit more one customer caught my eye. It was an older gentleman who is dressed in a suit. He was looking at some cross pens which are fancier pens for business people who work in an office. The pens are in a rotating wooden pallet like a spinning desk organizer. Looking at this man and looking at the pens they seem to fit one another perfectly. Walking more I saw a Chinese woman near the register rolls. Really looking at her I saw that she must have her own business. She was looking to see if her role she had would match another one of the roles on the shelf. She also smelled like food and is wearing a white apron with some Chinese writing on it. Looking at these two customers I noticed how a lot of people who own their own business or work for a business come here. Then a sales associate goes up to the Chinese woman and asked “do you need any help?” She said “Yes I need the right register role” The sales associated assisted her and asked her questions to find out what register role she needed. “Twenty years ago the sale staff would consult with you and tell you what you needed, as opposed to asking and recommending” Burns said “And in those days people believed what the sales person told them” The Chinese woman was happy she got her register role and thanked the associate and went to the front of the store. Here I see that the associate helped the customer and showed her the correct register role. This shows how customers really rely on associate help.

            Going deeper into the store seeing all the different kinds of products and office supplies I noticed one thing. More customers are in the back of the store than in the front. I walk around to see the difference in people from the back of the store from the front of the store. I noticed that higher concentrations of customers are in the back of the aisles. The store seemed to layout “destination items” throughout the store. So the more popular items are in the back of the store vs. the front of the store. I think the store does this layout because it gets customers to see more products than they would if the more popular items where in the front. It makes customers go that extra mile to get what they want but without them realizing this. This store seems to have more sales in the front half of the aisles then it does the back half. So this trick Staples is doing is to make customers. Customers spend money on something that wasn’t there main focus in the beginning.

            When seeing customers head to the registers everyone has something to buy from this store. With its variety of products in all areas of the store and having good deals why not buy something? Staples has its goals in targeting business owners which is staples goal to help their business thrive. Staples do have its interesting variety of customers here and there and the company grows with the business they help support. Through the variety of marketing skills talked in “The Science of Shopping,” Staples can attract any variety of customers eye and may in fact grow even more as a company.

Works cited

Gladwell, Malcolm. “The Science of Shopping.” The New Yorker Nov. 1996.Web.24 Feb.2011.