Shopping Malls: The Hidden Conspiracy

What one might not notice while visiting the “mall” is that it is a place where each “boutique” has been properly geographically stationed in order to attain its maximum potential as well as appropriately conform to the look the developer wishes to achieve. With exits at extremities and the notion of time nowhere to be seen, one is almost compelled to spend hours wondering senselessly. The mall’s sole purpose is to have you leave with an item you had no clue served any purpose to you. It can do so by sending you in circles with “fountains and benches carefully positioned to entice shoppers into stores” (Bergren 5), and by soothing ones eyesight with plantations of exotic trees

A third form of price scrutiny is classified as “price lining” (Tuckwell 282). Through price lining, the retailer places a group of items all priced at the same monetary value. What this does, is take the price issue out of the sale making it easy for customers to choose the article they wish to purchase not by looking at the price tag but simply at the good itself. “Customary pricing” is also a form of pricing tactics. In pricing an item at a cost that people are accustomed to paying, the client chooses that particular item because of preference and not for the bargain they will be getting if they buy that particular item over another. The fifth and final pricing policy is that of “Unit pricing” (Tuckwell 283) which is more often used in grocery stores more than anything. This type of pricing is when you price something per standard unit of product.

With properly selecting the placement of each good, it should come as no surprise that racks are always placed at the back of a department store for a good reason. In doing so, it allows for customer to have to pass through a multitude of new displays before reaching their target item. It places a doubt in the consumers mind as to why they are purchasing an older good when there are newer goods available.

Many boutiques also juggle with the class of an item. What this means is simply that the luxury of an item can sometimes be enhanced if arranged in a particular manner. Jareaux states, “an item in a glass case with a lot of space around it implies real luxury” (Jareaux 717). It is, however, no coincidence that the price is always facing downward this forces the consumer to ask a sales representative to discover the price of the good. It also permits the salesperson to attempt to sway the client into purchasing the item. Another great sales tactic is to contrast luxury with discounts. What this means is that most department stores like to promote “Bazaar behavior” (717). This behavior can be achieved by placing items in disarray making it seem as though within that clustered pile of items great discounts await the individual who goes searching for them like gloves, scarves, toys etc.

Mall design has grown into a huge industry. Every inch of space has carefully been plotted out. A scientifically determined mix of stores must also be selected as well as a, “necessity of approp

Some topics in this essay:
Robin Jareaux, Anne Herrmann, Keith Tuckwell, Ann Hermann’s, William Kowinski, , department stores, department store, pricing odd-even pricing, placed near, pricing odd-even, “impulse buying”, particular item, tuckwell 282, odd-even pricing, shopping mall,