Branding the Experiences Semiotic Exploration of Retail

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“Branding the Experiences: Semiotic Exploration of Retail Outlets”

Submitted to

ICRB organized by IMT, Ghaziabad on

November 19-22, 2008 at IMT, Ghaziabad.

Authors:

Dr. Mini Mathur, Assistant Professor, Retail

Dr. Manaswini Acharya, Assistant Professor, Marketing Communications.

Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA)

Shela, Ahmedabad - 380058

Gujarat . INDIA

Tel: 91 2717 237946 – 551



Abstract

Indian retail market is experiencing a hyper-competitive stage. It therefore becomes

important becomes the way the store exteriors and interiors are designed do that the

customer is emotionally bonded to the retail outlet. The visual codes in the store design

suggest many dimensions in the retail store designing. The designs give a meaning, like

that of a product and with this design; the stores have created what semioticians call an

‘emergent discourse’ in its way. It represents retail store designing in a more traditional

way. So while semiotic borrowing is apparent in the field, it is not used widely or in

extreme ways.

Each one of us is comfortable in our kind of store because there is a ‘fit’ in the store’s

environment and culture and that of our own. We get a sense of belonging to a store.

With new brands entering into the market everyday, product quality is inferred by the

brand image of the store/ retailer than the manufacturer. Shoppers attribute symbolic

meaning to the environment within the store, which in turn make up the brand

personality. Everything that shoppers experience within the store adds to the retail brand.

Semiotics analysis of it helps create the importance of context to the retailers.

Key words: Semiotics, Visual communication, Culture, Consumers, Atmospherics,

Retail Brands.



Introduction

The context of the study lies in retailing growth, the hyper competition and need to

differentiate, the need to attract customers foot-fall, and convert foot-fall in to patronage.

The visual codes in the store design suggest many dimensions in the retail store

designing. The designs give a meaning, like that of a product and with this design; the

stores have created what semioticians call an ‘emergent discourse’ in its way. Hence

retailing brand experience is important.

In the study, we used semiotic methods to examine social and psychological cues in-store

that shaped the consumer’s experience in the retail setting and affected product purchase

for a number of outlets, ranging from supermarkets, convenience stores, specialty stores

and department stores. The findings incorporated recommendations for redesigning a

more consumer friendly retail space consistent with overall brand communication.

A brand is a system of meanings that consumers integrate into their personal space to

satisfy unmet needs. As a branch of anthropology devoted to symbolic communication,

SEMIOTICS provides methods of articulating and codifying brand communication and

applying findings to marketing problems. Semiotics is a branch of anthropology focusing

on symbolic communication. Experts at Marketing Semiotics are trained to identify,

interpret, and leverage brand meanings for purposes of market segmentation, brand

positioning, and communication strategy for advertising, retailing, and packaging.

We are moving from an economy which was products driven towards services driven.

This has led to the development of the concept of branding the experiences within the

retail stores. Brand recall of the store is associated with aesthetics and interiors of the

store. According to Joseph Weisher, ambience, comfort and clarity go hand in hand. Hart

and Murphy (1998) insist that a brand is a “synthesis of all the elements, physical,

aesthetic, rational and emotional,” and that product attributes must be “coherent,

appropriate, distinctive and appealing to consumers.”



Objectives: In this paper we examine the static and dynamic elements of design within a

retail environment using a semiotic approach. We also examined that the role of

semiotics in much importance is given to elements of atmospherics in building a retail

brand and how does these elements influence shoppers in making a final buying decision

and creating an experiential image in their minds.

Methodology

The data source was an observation by researchers trained in semiotic analysis.

Individual in-depth interviews were conducted in the city of Ahmedabad with aconvenience sample of 25 people, divided approximately with same number of male and

females. Age of respondents varied from 20-40 years, including PG students, housewives

and working professionals. They were asked to recall their recent experience in a retail

outlet, asked about the various elements of atmosphere that they felt good and bad about,

what was it that they were most comfortable with. After probing on these lines, they were

asked to sum up their experiences in one word/ adjective and how it differed from a

similar store and the subjects preference of store.

We visited the different retail outlets to develop research protocols on lifestyles in

Ahmedabad. Field observation notes were of prime importance in this study as we

recorded the layouts and various elements within the stores. A number of photographs of

these stores taken from various parameters support our findings of the study.

We then designed a consumer study that provided insights into ways the retailers could

reposition their brand in the store to include user-friendly qualities such as warmth,

creativity, color, and ambience while drawing upon their own brand equities.

We then analyzed the interpretations of the store environment and its impact on building

a brand image for the retailer. Research methodology focused on qualitative tools,

including observation of 25 organized retail outlets in the city of Ahmedabad and in-



depth interview of 25 regular shoppers to these stores. Approach involved literature

review in the field of semiotics and retail branding. Issues discussed were how semiotic

cues are important in deciding on a store and influencing the purchase decision within the

store. Value of visual cues in a retail environment to its brand image was analyzed.

We further used secondary sources as well as observational research among heavy users

of the modern organized formats in different categories in several age segments in order

to gauge future trends in the retail outlet category. By comparing findings in the

Ahmedabad market with findings from secondary research, we tried to identify business

decisions that needed to be tailored by culturally determined values and attitudes towards

the target customers on the one hand and the retail outlets on the other. And the cultural

differences have been “determining variables”. This would lead to perceptions, attitudes

and beliefs get in to peoples’ head and thereby affecting their culture and surrounding.

Using Ethnography: Tracking Brand Awareness in Ahmedabad Retail Outlets

Aaker (1996) proposes that personality is concerned with consumers’ self-identity and as

such provides a metaphor to suggest the kind of relationship the consumer might enjoy

with the brand. Nevertheless Schmitt (1999a) argues that Aaker treats branding primarily

as identity, and misses out on the brand as a “rich source of sensory, affective and

cognitive associations that result in memorable and rewarding experiences”.

The concept of semiotics has been extended to include any instance in which

communication takes place including marketing activities as advertising, product design,

new product adoption and applied to retail in-store communications. Semiotics involves

“the exchange of any messages whatever and of the systems of signs which underlie

them” including the communication of a store’s image.

“Signs which stand for other things, or anything that can be made to stand for something

else” represents the key concept in semiotics. Consistent with the semiotic structure

presented by Saussure the sign (or cue) is thought to comprise of the signifier, pertains to

the concrete form of the component in question and the signified which involves two

levels of meaning which consumers can derive from the signifier - the denotative



meaning, which involves the component’s capability to satisfy the consumers’ physical

needs, and a connotative meaning, which involves non-material and imaginistic meanings

applied by the consumers which correspond to the consumers’ psychological needs.

Saussure suggests that the relationship between the signifier and the signified is

“arbitrary”, meaning that there is often no natural connection between them. Instead, the

relationship between the signifier and the signified is often determined or “learned”.

Within this context, therefore, communicators must be familiar with the relationships

between signifiers and the signified in the minds of their audience.

But when considering store image, consumers within a retail store may represent such an

audience. Consumers are faced with a myriad cues in a retail store as suggested by

Markin et al- cues which act as communicators of the store’s image. Since store layout

and merchandise selection and assortment are almost always included in “lists” of salient

attributes for the determination of a store’s image it is logical to assume that these

components of a retailer’s offerings are among the cues to which consumers are exposed.

One such cue within a warehouse grocery setting may be the power aisle (Smith & Burns,

1996). According to them, consumers’ process of encoding price information relies in

part on the environmental cues which may present themselves in association with the

product or products in question.

Experiencing the store

Researchers have studied the impact of displays and store design on the sale of products

in a supermarket (Wilkinson, Mason & Paksoy (1982); Gagon & Osterhaus (1985). Not

much has been studied on the semiotic analysis of store design. Store design is

interdisciplinary in nature. It is both an art as well as science. It derives its learnings

from psychology, marketing, geography, cultural and social context. Hirschman and

Holbrook (1982) state, "Hedonic consumption designates those facets of consumer

behavior that relate to the multi-sensory, fantasy and emotive aspects of one's experience

with products."



Store design works at subconscious levels. There are two aspects in store design –

marketing orientation and design orientation. While marketing orientation takes into

consideration functional aspects of elements, design orientation adds to aesthetic appeal

to the store. For eg. a high fixture might add to the aesthetic appeal of the store, it might

not be comfortable for an average height customer to get products from its top most shelf.

Store atmosphere has been found to influence different senses, predominantly visual, but

also sound, smell, touch and taste in that sequence. In-depth interactions with customers

revealed that they would be comfortable in a store which is as natural as possible and

gives a friendly look, rather than elegant or high end. Store design is thus moving from its

two dimensional approach of graphics, danglers, colors, name and logo to three

dimensional experiences at the point of purchase.



The table given below summarizes the experience of the customers in various outlets.

Brand Colors used Atmosphere/ ExperienceBandhej Earthy and warm Traditional/ Engaging/ Ethnicity

Flying Machine Black, White and Red Sexy / Elegant/ Powerful

Vimal Red , White and Black Elegant / Sophisticated

Fab India White, Beige and Brown Earthy / organic/ lots of wooden

interiors

Zapp Green / Pink and Orange Colorful, lively, Friendly

Lifestyle Pink and Blue,Predominantly white

interiors

Serene, cool and high end

Adidas Black and white Elegant , Morbid

More Orange and green Warmth, Sun

Reliance Fresh Green and red Appealing, comfortable, Fresh

Croma Grey and white Elegant, goes with the products

Mirch Masala Red and Green/ colorful

interiors

Bollywood theme/ enjoyment

Lootmart Brown and off white Discounted look

Vishal Megamart Fuschia, Pink Loud, uncomfortable

Westside Blue and green Comfortable, affordable

Next Orange and white Dull, mismatch with products

Enamor Shades of pink and red Beautiful and sensual

Honest Red, yellow Warm colors, inculcates hunger

Big Bazaar Blue Crowded, cluttered

Subhiksha Red and green Clumsy

Crossword Yellow and Grey Serious

Catmoss Predominantly red Fun-loving, Friendly

Levi’s Red Lively



Tanishq Maroon Elegant, Up-market

Spencers’ Orange Dull and boring

Pantaloon Light Green Freshness and soberness

Interpretation of Data:

Studies show that retailers appeal to multiple senses of sight, sound, scent, tactile and in

case of food, taste. (Langrehr, 1991). So a ‘theatre’ is the metaphor used to represent a

retail store. The observational study indicated that there is a brand experience represented

by the colors, design, logo, punch line that were used on the façade and interiors of the

retail store. The colors, marquee, windows represented on the exterior reflected in the

ambience or environment within the store, while there was a mismatch in the other.

Enamor , being a superspecialty store in lingerie, displays feminism to its core displaying

beauty and sensuality in every visual element present in the store. The red colored couch

inside the store added to the fantasy element of the merchandise. Analyzing semantically

the products gain credence and meaning in relation to the other signs in form of an

element inside the store. The signs communicate a feeling of sensuality.

An example that would elucidate the point further is in Croma and Next the stores

dealing in consumer durables, Croma’s exterior and interiors gel well with the

merchandise it carried as compared to ‘Next’ where a mismatch was observed in its

exterior and offerings inside the store. More is a supermarket for basic necessities of its

target customer. The layered presentation of merchandise using available shelves

indicates abundance. Orange color has been extensively used in the store on the fixtures

and even packaging of its private labels.



White and focused light in the fresh produce area add to the aesthetic sensitivities and

gives a visual incentive to the customer to buy more. Bulk merchandising was used off

the shelf and the wall mounted posters and danglers added to the vertical presentation in

the store. Overall ambience created feeling of warmth inside the store.

Similarly in supermarkets’, though ‘More’ and ‘Spencer s’ use orange color as their brand

identity , More was perceived to be more lively and friendly than Spencers’ due to the

brightness in the orange color which in the relation to the elements and store design

semiotically meant to bring liveliness inside the store. Similarly ‘FabIndia’ and ‘Bandhej’

being a concept / lifestyle store represent absolutely different images because of the

environment within the store. Bandhej gives a contemporary traditional cum modern,

right at the reception with the display of a picture which is relation to the meaning of the

cultural context in India. The signs that post modern Indian women along with the

traditionally aattire add to the meaning. The look due to the lights, music and props used

inside the store, also added symbolically to the meaning of the store. While FabIndia

gave a perception of organic and environment friendly store, with the natural elements,

like using Khadi and cotton as the basis of their clothes. The lights give a direction to the

eye movement within the store. Hidden lights behind the displays enable the customer

focus more on the merchandise itself. All the props used indicate ethnicity and are

available for sale. Dark mannequins add to the contemporariness and creates a visual

block with aesthetics of color blocking applied to the merchandise display, adding to the

high-end appeal. They offer presentation variation at an in-store display every week by

showcasing the work from different regions in India. The visual balance of space is

creatively designed to departmentalize different categories within the store. Raised floor

in some categories differentiate it from others.

Fig: 1 Entrance of Bandhej



Fig 2: The Reception: Contemporary blended with tradition



Fig 3: Ethinicity

Semiotics in shaping brand equity of a retail outlet:

A semiotic dimension of brands is instrumental in building “awareness, associations, and

long-term customer loyalty, and contributes to trademark ownership and operational

advantages such as channel and media clout”. Thus researchers have seen in the recent

past that, managing brand equity means managing brand semiotics. So a “brand can be

defined as a system of signs and symbols that engages the consumer in an

imaginary/symbolic process that contributes tangible value to a product offering”. This

process may include a vicarious experience, a relationship, or need fulfillment and may

operate at the levels of product, price, promotion, or placement. Semiotics is thus a

cornerstone of experiencing a brand , since symbolic communication ties consumption to

the form of brand communication in advertising, packaging, and brand logo. The above

study shows the importance of the in store lay out in the decision factor of the consumer

as to which store would he/she prefer according to the “feelings”, at a retail outlet.

Consumer Attitude in shaping the behavior in a store:

Semiotic theories and methods can be used to identify trends in popular culture, to

understand how consumer attitudes and behavior are formed in relation to popular

culture, including brands, and how marketing and advertising programs can best meet the

needs of consumers by improving communication with the end user. Communicating a



brand plays a significant role in building a relationship with the consumer, a relationship

that should be developed and sustained across other points of contact with the brand. And

thus affecting that the communicative intentional action of the addresser is left for the

consumer to brand the experience across in the surroundings and the way the brand is

placed in the store. The link between the semiotic variables and shopper behavior is the

result of his/her demonstrative reaction to elements in the retail environment. Though

analysis of brands in print and television advertising is the most obvious application of

semiotics, this methodology makes a science out of integrating brand communication

across other marketing “occasions,” such as packaging, retail display, media choices, and

even sponsored events.

Great experience brands generate customer excitement by offering their customer more

than a mundane experience. (Ko Floor, 2007). According to Berry, customer excitement

means experiencing genuine pleasure in interacting with the retailer as a result of

freshness and creativity of the store, merchandise and/or employees. It’s a coordinated

effort of different elements within the store that contribute to the overall brand

experiences. These brand experiences are recalled by the customer and s/he patronizes

the store. Thus helps in retaining customers.

Pine and Gulmore (1999) point out two elements in a retail environment – Static and

dynamic. Static refers to the stationery element in the store affecting the senses of the

shoppers, dynamic refers to the customers’ involvement/ interaction with different



elements. Having a clean and pleasant looking trial room in a department store is static

element while the comfort and convenience elements added in the trial room for

customers’ usage in terms of his/her interaction would be dynamic.

Semiotics and Retailing:

Information overload abounds, as designing retail outlets. People, who are the receivers

of the information forced upon them from all quarters, are the reason for the existence of

the in store layout design of a retail mall that persuade them to take certain actions. In

other words, the attention-grabbing interiors must have or do something that

differentiates it from other discourses; it must arrest the eye of the receiver.

This objective can be achieved in various ways, either by shocking the receiver or being

unconventional or unpredictable. But it can be said that people are more prone to react

and respond to situations and ideas that fall within their frames of reference, in other

words their cultural orientation. Culture has the most impact on their receivers,

irrespective of whether these markers have positive or negative meanings or value.

As seen in the study and shown in detail the sign, object, and interpretant (or

interpretation) must be manipulated in such a way that the receiver immediately

recognizes the logo of an outlet either through a uniformity in colour as in case of the

Aditya Birla groups outlet “more” or brand to generate a specific meaning and thus a

message. This is especially applicable to outlets aimed at a young market; the savvy

generation as in case of the local retail outlets “ Bandhej” are streetwise about what

colour, design is about and what it does; therefore this market has to be coaxed and

challenged in another way to buy the product through the retail design.



The assumption is that culture is all of one piece. There is a cultural system -- a common

set of assumptions, beliefs and symbols called “codes” -- which marks all the products of

the culture: fashion, food, music, advertising, movies, and television shows. The codes

are taken for granted and embedded in man’s behavior that s/he does not realise.

Semioticians drag the unconscious messages being transmitted into consciousness by

isolating and identifying the signs to constitute the message. The translator has a double

role: as semiotician and as transference agent or translator. The translator must create a

similar effect on the receivers in the target language.

Semiotics gives the translator of a retail outlet a better understanding of the intrinsic

appeal of designing the retail outlet, in other words how the different elements and parts

work together as a discourse to perform a certain function, and thus a message and effect.

Furthermore, the translator gets additional insight into the receivers who might respond to

the advertisements, go to the outlet and buy the product, and make an estimate of the

bond the consumer will form with the outlet that he would associate with most of the

times.

While the above variables were quite feasible in most of the cases in Ahmedabad. A

shortcoming of this approach was that advertisements, as a discourse, are dynamic. It

might not always be obvious that a specific discourse is an advertisement. Thus the

translator might not treat that particular discourse as such. Another problem is that the

translator might not be fully adapted to deal with cultural nuances in the target language,

and may consequently use signs that have an adverse effect on the target receivers by not

generating an equivalent message (of the source message).

Although only a few examples of retail outlets were analysed, it can be said that Semiotic

Interpretaion can (and should be) translated in terms of semiotic guidelines, if cultural

codes are at work and as such evident. Some outlets strive towards a state of non-cultural

categorisation: in other words the interiors, light, colour, music focuses on emotions

rather than objects or ideas.



In the case of retail advertisements (which could border on informative advertisements

rather than persuasive) cultural signs or markers are not always that apparent: the

language used can be plain and without idiomatic expressions or figures of speech. (This

applies to all media forms in which the advertisements appear, including in-store

advertisements.) In that case a semiotic analysis would yield fewer results and the

translator could rely more readily on other translation methods.

In cases where cultural elements play an important role in persuasive advertisements,

semiotics acts as a tool or measure to gauge the cultural elements, their signification and

meaning. This information provides the translator with added insights that might not

always be apparent at first sight or intuitively.

The Retail Players in the Ahmedabad Market:

Big Baazar quote “Isse sasta Isse acha aur kahan”, Vishal Megamart quotes “sabse

sasta, sabse achcha” advertising flyers are distinctive. They emphasize low prices, not

sales. Unlike competitive flyers, which use professional models, they present "plain

folks," apparently ordinary people "associates," spouses, children, parents, suppliers and

customers. They also devote an inordinate amount of space to community-oriented and

patriotic topics, according to the need of the season depending on the traditional and

cultural festivities. The best example is Big Bazaar’s “ Sabse saste teen din” during

republic day. This draws our attention to the importance of retail image and retail

symbolism. It is a familiar tool in advertising, services marketing and consumer research.

Semiotics and In-Store Communication:

The effect of semiotics on in-store communication can be clearly illustrated by the

example of a warehouse grocery store. A warehouse grocery store, whose primary

competitive advantage over conventional supermarkets is lower prices, will logically seek

to convey that image to its customers. Since a store’s image is based only in part on the

functional cues of the store, the mere establishment of a lower pricing structure will



typically be insufficient to convey effectively this image to consumers. Instead, a retailer

may need to structure the overall store environment to convey that image.

Although price is unquestionably an important cue, it has been observed that

environmental cues will affect consumers’ price perceptions. The existence of cues which

act as “value signals”, or attributes apart from the merchandise or the pricing alone which

can affect consumers’ perception of value - attributes which can logically include the

layout and display encountered in a retail store.

The existence of “value signals” is of special interest in the grocery industry since the

majority of supermarket shoppers lack knowledge of actual product prices. Instead, these

consumers appear to encode price information in ways which provide meaning for them.

This encoding process may be based on information in addition to the actual product

price itself - information which may logically be expected to include a number of

environmental cues which may be encountered in the retail shopping experience. It

appears, therefore, that environment cues other than actual product price may have the

potential to affect the price perceived by consumers significantly. A power aisle in a

warehouse grocery store may be one such attribute or cue which may affect one’s price

perceptions.

The power aisle may act as an environmental cue by presenting a “massed out” look. The

power aisle provides for the display of large quantities of a relatively small number of

SKUs with the goal of creating an impression that the products are available at very low

prices. Indeed, the power aisle has since become synonymous with several areas of

discount retailing. This identification in turn may provide consumers with a visual cue

which may aid them in assigning an image to a store by providing them with a method of

store categorization..

Conclusions and Implications:



Results suggest that non-verbal cues used in the in-store communications influence the

decision to purchase from a particular store. This also supports the fact that about 70-75%

of the purchase decisions are taken inside the store. Our analysis is based on the theories

of semiotics and visual rhetoric. We examined the interaction of customers with the

elements, which make up an experience, systematically and holistically.

Although semiotic analysis of a retail outlet is not initially based on work with

consumers, findings can be tested and refined in research (using specially designed

stimulus material).In this respect semiotics can be highly reassuring—setting a

framework, a discipline, a structured environment for discussion, negotiation and

decision making. This environment, moreover, is very much in touch with the way the

world is heading— towards ever greater sophistication and discrimination in relation to

communications and culture.

Store design is contextual in nature, what might be successful in a space and time context

might not work in another. Total experience of a retail brand is formed by a number of

elements, including location, size, merchandise, services and the staff in the store. Once

retailers have devised the value proposition and personality of a brand, they must give it

visibility (Hendirson & Mihas, 2000) Customers are looking for a good experience in

each of their visits and thus it requires flexibility and innovation in design. The mood of

the customers change with the time of the day and the season, as a lot of factors interplay

with each other. Gardner (1985) posits that shoppers probably select stores that induce

positive moods and avoid those that create negative ones. Sherman and Smith (1986)

found in a survey of shoppers that a more positive mood resulted in purchasing more

items and spending more money in a store.

It is important to recognize the importance of elements of store design in the cultural and

social context in which they operate and customize their offerings accordingly. Though

elements might change, a consistency in the shopping environment would create an

universal experience across different stores from the same retailer. An integrated study of

marketing, ethnography, and semiotics together would help in retail strategic decisions.

As retailers offer products in a social and cultural context, importance of semiotics in the



field of retail marketing is well established. Understanding their stores semiotically

would give them an edge over their competitors. Decoding the competitive propositions

would be a semiotic alternative to traditional designing in the retail outlets.

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Branding the Experiences Semiotic Exploration of Retail