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How to design women-attracting retail environment?

Market review
As women’s purchasing power keeps growing, developers cannot ignore their shopping preferences and behaviours when designing or redesigning retail environments.

After stumbling across some insightful statistics regarding women and their shopping habits I wanted to share my thoughts and explore in more detail female-attracting retail design. But first let’s have a look at the facts... Recent figures from retail developers and the ICSC (International Council for Shopping Centres) show that women make up on average 60 to 70 pct of the shopping customers (depending on where they are in the world). Women also make 85 pct of all the consumer purchases, including everything from cars to healthcare products. They are the primary shoppers in their households and spend about eight years of their lives shopping(!). While the average American female is expected to start earning more than the average American male by 2028, it is clear that women generally are becoming more significant earners, spenders and influencers than ever before. How could retail environments address this trend? They could be designed and organised to better cater to their female audience, design should be inspired and guided by women themselves.

A magnet for women

There are probably three major factors that I believe need to be taken into account when designing retail to entice a woman: the offer, the facilities and the means of access. Of course, the digital age has dramatically changed how we shop, however, the majority of women still do and will go into the stores. It’s because they want to see, touch and try things on before buying them, even if the transaction is to take place online. Although it is the role of retailers to seduce women with their offerings, a variety of choice, product availability, accessibility, selling techniques and technologies, there are some aspects of physical engagement in the ritual of shopping and the buying process that they really ought to consider.

Often the simple things that are taken for granted by retail environments are those that could make a real difference in attracting or repelling the female shopper. Many are down to the retail operators / shops and outfitters themselves such as too few and too small fitting rooms. Overcrowded stores are a common reason for abandoning a purchase. While there are women with plenty of time, for others queuing is not an option.

So how designing to meet the women’s needs can have a positive impact from the outset? Generally, women are fairly practical, and they often would like or prefer to see the product segmentation within a shopping centre, where certain types of products and stores are offered in clusters or zones e.g. sportswear, children’s wear, shoes, etc. This helps to compare offers, suitability and prices without having to conquer long distances or change floors. And yes, even male shoppers would love this ‘no-nonsense’ and time-saving arrangement.

This however, doesn’t always sit comfortably with shopping centre owners, leasing agents and letting layout gurus, who at any cost would like us to spend as much time in their retail environment as possible. Just to attract out attention and our wallets!

Women are the majority of shoppers. This won’t change any time soon and it ought to be considered when designing and researching retail environments.

Women as retail tourists

A ‘retail tourist’ is someone who is interested in spending their day out and the overall visitor experience offered, not just shopping. This includes the use of the leisure, entertainment and food services as well as:

  • Women shopping with small children (mommies, grannies and nannies) want to be able to move around easily. They need wide enough passages and walkways so that they are not being bumped into or stopped in overcrowded areas.
  • Cloakrooms. Too few shopping centres have permanent cloakrooms for their clients. I’d encourage building owners and managers to set up permanent cloakrooms as they are convenient; they allow customers to move around more freely, without cumbersome baggage and wet umbrellas, especially when they don’t use car to get there.
  • Toilets. Shopping centres regularly carry out toilet modernisations, both in terms of interior design and equipment (modern hand dryers, soap and cream dispensers). Now they often have lobbies/ foyers with comfortable sofas, chairs, vending machines, etc. There are no strict regulations on the specific number of WCs required in shopping centres, the number is often ‘guessed’, or estimated based on a developer’s/ designer’s/ expert’s experience. And most of them will tell that you need to save on space. However, standing in a long queue will always be an unpleasant experience. Men’s facilities usually outperform the number of cubicles offered to women, hence the queues further lengthened by the ‘nose powdering’ time factor.
  • ‘Co-ed’ or family toilets. They ought to become a standard for example for mothers of 3-6 year-old boys and fathers of daughters of that age. How is a mother supposed to handle a ‘little man’ in the ladies? Both the ‘little man’ and his mother may not feel comfortable in such a situation. And what about dads on a mission with a ‘little woman’ in the gents?
  • Furniture. The number of seats, ‘stops’ and rest zones should always be sufficient for all.
  • Floors and flooring don’t always cater for the vast number of footwear types worn. As a result, there are many accidents on slippery surfaces (especially when it rains and in the winter) and claims for damages are becoming more common.
  • Also, mall kiosks appear sometimes to be over-scaled for the space they are in, blocking passages instead of encouraging the people flow around. Spaces ought to be easily accessible and wide enough to be frequented by everyone.
  • Well-lit and sensibly-located signage with key information is extremely important. Clear visual communication (not just in the form of interactive directories) is particularly important for the growing number of the elders in the society. Also, women tend to appreciate more well-arranged public spaces they visit, caring more about tactile surfaces, the lighting or public art.
  • Access to parking spaces and a car park are something women greatly care about. They strongly support the so-called “family” parking, as well as parking spaces for seniors, not just the disabled. Better lighting and ease of moving between parking zones should be provided to meet women’s need for feeling safe. For the same reason parking space availability monitoring, including the information on a parking bay’s type, are more than welcome, ought to become a standard permanent feature.

For various reasons some of the aspects mentioned are not always being addressed. Is it mostly due to financial and space limitations and a strong focus on what seems to be more “profitable”, namely the leasable space? Is it also because the key decision makers are mostly men? Maybe we need more women engaged in all retail environment design stages and get feedback from them before ground breaks for another project? Many shopping centres are supposed to be designed for and serve the whole family and their needs, including the now compulsory leisure experience. But it’s still mostly a woman, who decides on whether the family will shop or not! Why not make women’s lives easier so they will come back for more...

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