Old Navy Shoppers
…the various groups of shoppers at Old Navy.
After working in retail for about four years, I am able to categorize our clientele at Old Navy into specific categories, depending on special characteristics and traits.Here is a small sample of the various groups of customers I have identified:
The Discount Lady:
She wants a discount on everything. No discount = no purchase.Generally she will not spend more than $2.97 on one single item.
The Stay at home mom:
Generally in her late 20’s or early 30’s, this woman shops between 9 and 11 am on weekday mornings.Frequently, she can be found wearing a carefully coordinated work out outfit, carrying a starbucks latte, and pushing a baby stroller.She is stylist and making sure she and her children are dressed in style is high on her priority list.
Complaint Lady:
This one is pretty self explanatory.She will complain about anything and everything – the current styles, the cluttered fitting room, the hanger that fell on the ground, the music being too loud/quite/popular/old/etc., the temperature, the sales associates.You name it and she’ll find a reason to hate it.
The Return Lady:
Usually on the weekday mornings, this woman comes in with a giant bag of items to return.It seems as though she purchased one of every article of clothing in the store and changed her mind on each purchase.
The problem child:
To make life difficult, this customer wishes to purchase every single item in the store without a tag.This person usually only appears when the checkout line is about a mile long and there is only one cashier to serve the 5 million impatient customers in line.
The messy customer:
This customer has to take every hung item off the hanger and feel the inclination to unfold every folded shirt in the store.He/she also picks up an item and walks it around the store until he/she reaches the farthest spot in the store where the item belongs and then leaves the item there.Frequently, this person also decides to fill his/her cart with various items from all departments of the store, then decides he/she does not want 90% of the items upon arrival to the checkout counter.
The cell phone talker:
This person is on the phone when entering the store, while shopping, standing in line, and best of all, checking out.Because this person is distracted by their phone conversation, he/she does not read sale signs properly.While on the phone, he/she tries to argue with you that an item is on sale when it clearly is not.However, this person is continuously chatting on his/her phone and trying to get a word in edgewise to explain the error is like trying to…teach a dog to tap dance?Let’s just say it’s not easy.
The person who has never set foot in Old Navy:
Occasionally we have clients who has never hear of the name “Old Navy” before they somehow wandered into the store that day.These people can be identified when they ask where they can find the Levis or the Dungarees.
College Girl:
Spends all her parents’ money/financial aid on clothing.She doesn’t read sale signs very well and frequently purchases full price items.
The 411 lady:
By the end of this person’s transactions, I know her complete history, names and ages of her children, most recent vacation, weekend plans, dinner plans, favorite dessert and his/her stance on fiscal conservation.Of course, all of this information was volunteered as the I asked no questions to warrant the plethora of information.
Doodles
According to Wikipedia…
A doodle can be defined as:
1: a mindless sketch or an aimless drawing while a person’s attention is occupied
2: random thoughts placed upon a paper
3: just sketches
“Doodling is mainly made by young people around the world, notably students. This activity is normally made during long or boring classes as the students begin daydreaming or losing interest. They do it mainly on the notebook margins or in the back pages starting as random lines and sketches and then becoming more elaborated.”
I can relate.
Following are my doodles. I call them: “Winter Term 2008: 10 weeks of idea vomit”
Bracketing Isn’t Just For Basketball
This past term in my advertising class, we were introduced to the concept of bracketing. Our class began naming things that are influential to or that affected our generation: Google, Oprah, iTunes, iPods, cell phones, Princess Diana’s death, Britney, text messaging, etc. From this, we paired every two words and went through the list, choosing one of the two that we felt were more influential than the other. After each round, 1/2 of the options were eliminated and the exercise was repeated until we reached a single answer.
Taking this a step further, my advertising team used the same exercise when choosing tag lines for our client. Here are the results:
Power of a Post-It
Apple pie, the Star Spangled Banner, N Sync, McDonalds, and…post-it notes?
I’ll admit it – like millions of my fellow comrades, I am stuck on post-it notes.Now, maybe it’s my attention to detail and overzealous urge to organize anything and everything that makes my love for post-it notes so profound.Or, maybe it’s because I am an extremely visually oriented person.However, honestly, who would have thought a small colored piece of paper with a strip of adhesive could evoke an almost unhealthy pleasure in so many people?
What originated as a bookmark replacement for a hymnal book, the post-it note has developed considerably since its 1968 birth.Today, post-it notes have a multitude of uses, which include but are not limited to: grocery lists, reminder notes, practical jokes, artwork, and personal bonding.Don’t worry – to adhere to the demands of the digital world, we even have digital post-it notes now (which yes, is case you were wonder, I do use religiously)!
Too much of a good thing?Have you met someone who is so organized that they might be – too organized.We all know that person who has stacks upon stacks of post-it notes in every size, shape and color, chomping at the bit to slap another post-it on his/her computer/desk/calendar/dashboard/refrigerator, or bathroom mirror?This raises the crucial point of effectiveness -is covering every square inch of empty space really effective?Does this seem somewhat counterproductive to anyone beside myself?At some point, these post-it obsessed individuals (myself included) use post-it notes SO much, that they need more post-it notes to organize the original post-it notes which seems to defeat the original purpose, does it not?
Post-its worldwide.They are everywhere!When I lived in México, I thought the post-it obsession was slightly more tamed –boy was I wrong!One afternoon as we casually strolled the streets of Morelia, México, we came across an SUV, completely covered in post-it notes, professions of love scrawled across each and every square.¡Qué loco!We just can’t get away.
First a hymnal bookmark, then a plethora of colorful adhesive clad squares of paper followed by digital post-its…what could be next in the world of post-it notes…