A (x 4) Observation of Trader Joes
Atmosphere
Small-medium format store. Only 5 lanes total
Clean, inside, farmer’s market feel; giving a home grown feeling
Located in a popular shopping plaza next to a large university
Green is part of the brand’s color, and it’s seen all over the store.
Handwritten styled signs to convey that home grown feel again
Actors
Over 50% of the customers are young adults and college-aged looking students.
A lot of them are wearing casual clothing: jeans and a t-shirt, athletic wear
A portion of customers are in there with youngish children (ages 3 - 6)
More females and males in the store
A lot of actors are checking the labels of products that contain nutritional information and ingredients.
A good distribution of people using carts and shopping baskets
A lot of the baskets and carts were not too full.
Activities
A lot of product checking whether it’s a packaged product or fresh produce
Most people start at the fresh produce aisles then moving to refrigerated, frozen, and packaged foods last.
Many grocery stores are specifically designed so fresh produce is what customers first see when they enter the store. Produce are often seen as a grocery store’s competitive advantage that sets them apart from competitors
Actions were done with the purpose of purchasing food.
There was a smooth flow of people looking through the aisles.
Longish waiting line for the checkout register (approximately 10 minutes).
Most people stayed in line and did not renege
Multiple check out lines (x3)
Artifacts
Shopping carts and shopping baskets both in use
Some people are holding the paper advertisement but not a lot.
A lot of people are still looking at their phones while shopping, presumably to look at their shopping list/needs.
Farm-like, fall decor around the store
A lot of plastic and cardboard packaged products
Think about using dendrites for baked goods?
A (x 4) Observation of Fry’s
Atmosphere
Noticed that most Fry’s look the same
A nice grocery store layout with almost any product you would need to make food
Locates in most places in Arizona
Signage to show where the items are
Actors
There were a lot of older people that look like they either just got off of work or wearing casual clothing
Some customers brought their children (between 4 and 12 years old)
There are an equal amount of males and females in the store
I see multiple people looking at an item and contemplating in their head if they are going to buy it or not
Everyone is using a cart
A few people only came in for drinks instead of food
Activities
Customers interacting with different products (deciding how many bananas they want or the type of cheese)
Everyone is pushing carts and loading up on the food they want
People waiting in the checkout line while self checkout is moving faster
Usually multiple people in each isle
Noticed several people comparing different products and their prices
Artifacts
Shopping carts and shopping baskets both being used (mostly carts)
Some people have the Fry’s coupon newspaper
Some people were on their phone talking to someone about what they need
People often had pieces of paper with what they need on it
Plastic bags being used for the groceries