When’s the last time you went shopping for enjoyment? Not tied down by a list or a budget? Depending on your preferences and financial responsibilities, the idea of buying something you hadn’t planned for might seem illogical. Yet, one retailer has mastered the psychological tactics necessary to promote consumer buying decisions that drive high conversion rates.
Target, the eighth largest department store chain in the United States, has gotten a lot of attention lately for its effect on consumer behavior. By effect, we mean the “Target Effect”, the psychological phenomenon that the Urban Dictionary states as "the result of going into a store, intending to buy a few things, and leaving with much more."
To get a better understanding on how the “Target Effect” works and what your brand can learn from it, we interviewed Caitlin Johnson, a brand marketing expert, who spoke to us about the power of Target’s design layout and overall feel.
Here are a few major takeaways from our conversation:
From the moment customers walk through the door, the “Target Effect” is put into place
It’s subtle — artful strategies that consumers might have only thought of as convenient design choices, but were actually psychological plays to capture their attention. In almost an instant a customer’s game plan has changed; they’re met with spacious aisleways and interesting products that make shopping all the more attractive.
“Target has placed things in their store designed to catch a person’s eye, and they’ve done this purposefully in order to make you slow down [as you're shopping],” Johnson said. “The whole idea is that if you go in and grab a Starbucks [coffee] and slowly peruse through the aisles instead of getting in and getting out, you will spend more because you’re spending more time looking at items, even possibly buying something you didn’t intend to.”
The strategic nature of Target’s architecture doesn’t stop there. Well-lit, wide aisles and bright colors make Target a pleasant place to be for many consumers.
“Target is very closely related to other large retailers in terms of the aspects that they offer, but if you look at why Target is able to price a little higher and get people to want to shop there it really is about the brightness, the cleanliness and the quality of their products,” said Johnson. “Those things can make for a happy customer, and happy customers spend more — they just do.”
Target also has a selection of smaller items conveniently placed parallel to the store’s entrance. This area is called the Dollar Spot, known by Target shoppers everywhere as a discounted area filled with items ranging from one to seven dollars. The section includes items like useful household products, toys for children and seasonal products.
“Once you’ve learned about this magical spot called the Dollar Spot it’s almost instinctual to stop and see if there’s anything you might need,” said Johnson. “It breaks the seal without breaking the bank. It starts that cycle of slowing down and then opening up the possibility of a customer buying new things.”
The effect of emotion
If you’ve ever set a boundary with yourself and crossed it — set a strict diet and then ate ice cream, promised you’d go to bed early and stayed up past two — you may have noticed just how easy it is to cave into your desires. While you may not have dreamed of picking up a certain product and placing it in your cart, chances are if that item made you feel good, you didn’t mind experiencing that feeling again.
Target knows all about the value of “feel-good” items. They’ve even designed their store in a way that’ll give you more opportunities to experience a rush of dopamine with their products.
“Say you go into Target and you don’t have an intentional list and you go look at those feel good items, you might also look across the aisle and see those essential products like your dish soap or toilet paper,” said Johnson. “They set the store up like this hoping that you’ll be thinking to yourself, hey, if you know your dish soap or toilet paper is getting low, you might as well get some.”
Creating customers who are excited about the idea of shopping with your brand means incorporating ease and pleasure into every aspect of the customer experience.
“There’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to find something that you need, so basically what Target did is make their employees a moving target. Those bright red shirts are very easy to spot and they contrast well against things that are white, which pretty much everything else in the store is,” said Johnson.
Having designated helpers who can be quickly sorted thanks to the bright shade of their uniform may not seem unique to Target, but Johnson says it certainly does provide another layer of unconscious bliss to the “Target Effect.”
“If you can take away any frustration or anything that makes people have to strain themselves, you’ll have return customers,” said Johnson. “You’re not going to the store to use a lot of brain power — you’re going for convenience. So having employees everywhere, having price checkers, having easy-to-understand aisles, it eliminates that frustration and creates a more pleasant shopping experience.”
Having a shopping experience that makes you want to come back for more has a lot to do with how the retailer makes you feel internally. Johnson says many of Target’s collaborations with other large corporations, as well as those with entrepreneurs and creatives, offer customers exclusive items that aren’t readily accessible at every other chain store across the country. She says doing so ties really heavily to their brand persona, which was designed to help every shopper feel special.
"Finding unique products while you shop for other mundane items can cause customers to feel exclusive,” said Johnson. “While you might be able to get this type of product anywhere else, if you can get a specific product that feels a little more like it speaks to who you are, that builds a whole other relationship level to the bond you have with Target.”
Emulating the “Target Effect” in a way that’s unique to your brand will take serious skill and clear brand direction, but this post is designed to offer you inspiration as you embark on your journey. What psychological principles will you include in your brand strategy?
