Visual Merchandising and Store Design | VMSD.com

Best Buy set out to create a store design that’s more appealing to women – and ended up with one that’s better for everybody.

By Tom Zeit

If you generally enjoy shopping at consumer electronics stores, you’re probably a guy. Their prime customers have always been men, and the stores are designed for them. But Best Buy research found that the female audience influences 89 percent of all technology purchases. “I can have Dad’s enthusiasm all I want,” the sales associates reported, “but if I get Mom to say yes, I’ve got the sale.”

So, with a company initiative called the Women’s Leadership Forum led by senior vp Julie Gilbert, Best Buy asked its female customers and employees what they didn’t like and what they wanted. And the information poured in. That led to the “New Blue” concept and a complete redesign of three stores in the Minneapolis area, one in Denver and plenty more to follow.

What Women Want

From a decor standpoint, women asked for carpeting. They wanted the colors of the store to be more like what’s typically in their homes – warm tones such as browns and taupes. And they emphasized nicer bathrooms. “Women judge the store and its brand based on how clean the bathrooms are,” explains Gilbert. “They’re often bringing their kids in there, and it answers the question: ‘Am I respected here?’ ” In response, they got 250-square-foot bathrooms with pedestal sinks, glass-tiled walls, wood-grain stalls, globe lighting above extra-large mirrors, pendant lighting for make-up, and piped-in soft music and scents.

The bright, blasting lighting that’s typical in larger retail spaces also proved unpopular. So Best Buy reduced the amount of metal halide light overhead, added some lower-wattage, home-like lighting levels and redirected some of the halide lamps onto a track system illuminating the visual graphics (which are both fewer and bigger than before and consist mostly of lifestyle images). That brought more color into the environment. And because women also found the store too noisy, the home theater and sound system product areas were placed at the back of the store, with musical instruments in a soundproof room.

Adds James Damian, senior vp of Best Buy’s design group, “We’ve heard from our female customers time and again that they don’t come to the store to read collateral material. They’re doing that online. So putting all that manufacturer’s info and techno-speak on signs throughout the store had little to no impact.”

Make it Easier