Science Of ShoppingBy: Sydney Frazier, Michael Hutchinson, Nick Wright, Cookie Burrus, Ethan Shinn, Dave McGrath, Matt Moulton, Luis Zhu, Trang Le, Claudia Marti and Connor Slover ( senior leader)

What is the Science of Shopping?

THE QUESTIONS WE HAD: • Why do you spend money? • Why do you buy a mutual fund from one agency

rather than another? • Why does the inside of a store look the way it does?• Who is influencing our decisions?• How does the recession affect sales?• Why do you follow a trend? • Would you shop by brand or price?

NATIXIS is a Mutual Fund distribution cooperation that runs worldwide; they are basically a wholesale seller of investments. Between funds and revenues they operate a budget of approximately $900 Billion per year. We spoke with Dan Lynch, Senior Vice President of Distribution; Chris Hunter, Vice President of the Boston branch; Susannah Wardly, and Leslie Walstrom, both Senior Vice Presidents of Marketing, International and Domestic, respectively.

TO LEARN MORE: http://ga.natixis.com/global/1250194644819/Home

AFTER OUR MEETING AT NATIXIS WITH DANNY LYNCH AND ANOTHER EMPLOYEE

TJXThe TJX Partnership:

Based on the TJX website, “TJX is the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the United States and worldwide.” TJX’s exact mission in their words is, “to deliver a rapidly changing assortment of quality, brand name merchandise at prices that are 20%-60% less than department and specialty store regular prices, everyday.” In other words TJX buys the overstock of known department stores and sells those items in their stores at discount prices.

LEARN MORE AT: http://www.tjx.com/about.asp

Our meeting and tour at TJX corporation in Framingham Massachusetts!

AS A GROUP WE DID: The first company we visited was NATIXS; their corporations built off of mutual bonds that many

people invest in. We entered an enormous building with elevators and a man at the front desk to give us nametags. We waited for the SVP (senior Vice President) to come down to meet us and then went up to the 9th level to meet with them. At first our group was a little intimidated from the huge boardroom table, attended by the top four executives in the company. After having an introduction from each of them and introducing ourselves, however, it was a lot better. The company had very interesting people who ran it, who were just everyday people like us. They admitted that every person does not have to be a genius to succeed; rather, common sense, street smarts, and a good attitude are indicative of a good employee. After the Hour Board meeting with NATIXS, our JUA group met at the TJX distribution center and met with one of the head-marketing managers again in another boardroom. When arriving to the distribution center, we had to go through security because of the high risk factor the company has. TJX is a billion-dollar company and we actually needed to get our own id cards printed with a picture of ourselves on them to get in and out of the building. The Lady talked about how they market through TV shows, newspaper ads, and lots of other ways. She explained that Macys and Marshalls and home goods all have good products and are not defective and that they are bought at a lower price from overstock of the companies. After the meeting we left to go to a Marshalls store and to interview people on the company. We got lots of replies from the customers that walked by.

ADVENTURES

In the lobby of the hotel before going off on our first quest to NATIXIS

DINNER AND SHOPPING AT THE COPLEY CENTERTHE SCIENCE OF

SHOPPING

WE LEARNED: JUA was a huge learning experience for us- from learning about how the executives at NATIXIS came into the business in a

way we wouldn’t have thought, to how TJX markets and makes money off overstock from manufacturers. When we arrived at our meeting with NATIXIS we were told how they got into the business, some of them not even knowing much about what the company or what a mutual fund was. They told us how they make sales, such as adding a personal touch such as an interest they have in common to help make the deal: Dan Lynch told us about how he mentioned his newborn son to a potential client that he was unable to get through to previously. NATIXIS is a mutual fund distribution company, and uses the methods and tips they taught us to sell the mutual funds or to get new clients. After our visit at NATIXIS we went to the TJX headquarters in Framingham to learn about how off-price retailers work. We met with Marshalls Marketing Director Elyse Slayton to learn about how TJX operates. TJX has stores in Ireland, The United Kingdom, Poland and Germany. The three main stores they have are Marshalls, HomeGoods and T.J. Maxx. What they do is buy overstock merchandise from manufacturers who make too much of a certain product, allowing TJX to take the certain product off their hands for a discount, therefore making in-store prices less expensive. They get these deals on overstocked items because the companies’ buyers are on the job 52 weeks a year, always looking for a deal with major companies. They don’t spend as much as other companies on the product, and so they can sell goods for less. TJX cannot advertise for the brand because the prices are so much lower that such an advertisement would divert consumers from the manufacturer; they can’t start advertising the product they are selling until in the store. Instead, TJX advertises the shopping experience, like how it is an adventure finding a deal on your favorite brand. They use this tactic to make people aware of the TJX brands and convince them to try the shopping experience. They use almost every kind of advertising such as T.V., magazines, digital, direct mail and newspapers. TJX likes to make sure everything in the store feels “Marshalls”, feels “HomeGoods, or feels “T.J. Maxx”. The company’s concept of “seasonal planning” looks at financial changes in the world in order to create a more targeted advertisement. They also look at categories like the sales numbers from last year and designer and consumer input. An interesting fact is that they do better in financially challenging years for the economy because they have lower prices and are good at advertising that. In 2009-10 TJX reported some of their best numbers. These are some of the ideas and concepts we learned from these two very different companies over the past two days.

DOING WORK ON

OUR SURVEY AT

THE BOSTON PUBLIC

LIBRARY!

HOW WE FEEL ABOUT OUR TOPIC: After speaking to both overseers at NATIXIS and TJX and the consumers their advertisements try to influence,

our group drew many conclusions about the world of advertising, and the affect advertising has on those it reaches. One of the common factors between the advertising of NATIXIS and TJX is the duality of factual information and emotional appeal. In order to create an effective advertisement, both companies had to use the two in tandem. NATIXIS’ ads focused more heavily on data, given the expertise of their target demographic, whereas TJX’s played more to the perception of the consumer. In creating an advertisement, or for that matter, any argument or appeal, our group has learned the importance of balancing both concepts. Senior Vice President Chris Hunter at NATIXIS spoke well to the concept: he detailed the importance of “knowing your audience” with regards to advertising; the more educated and involved the target demographic, the more factually focused the campaign should be. The concept of an “advertisement” is not restricted, however, to a TV spot or even a physicality; the success of NATIXIS relies heavily upon the personalities of its employees to create an advertisement all of their own. The salespeople utilize everything they can in order to convince their buyers: knowing this, our group can both draw a bit of friendly skepticism about the personal touches those in business may use, and realize how beneficial to one’s success a personal touch can be. As TJX sells to far too exoteric a market to use such a personal flair, they must rely on different methods in order to create a relationship with their buyers. After interviewing some Marshall’s shoppers, we discovered that among most buyers, the ads told them things they already knew about the company: our group could draw from this that static advertisements become redundant very quickly. That’s not to say though that the company’s ads are bad in any way: their consumers were very well informed and enthusiastic about shopping at TJX stores. Overall, our JUA trip informed us extensively about the methods and influence of advertising, both in its inception and its effect. An effective advertisement must appeal to its demographic, balance information and emotion effectively, and if possible, to carry a personalized touch.

STREET SURVEY

We asked people on Boylston street in Boston three Questions:

1. Yes/No – Items in Marshalls/T.J.Maxx have low prices because they are defective?

2. Has the recession changed your views on shopping?

3. Would you prefer Marshalls, T.J.Maxx or HomeGoods over a department store?

THE RESPONSES WE GOT WERE:

DOING SURVEYS ON BOYLSTON STREET IN BOSTON IS NOT AS EASY AS IT MAY SEEM!

Yes/No – Items in Marshalls/T.J.Maxx have low prices because they are defective?

10%

90%

People Answered…

YesNo

Has the Recession changed your views on shopping?

33%

67%

People Answered...

YESNO

Would You Prefer Marshalls,T.J.Maxx or HomeGoods over a department store?

87%

13%

People Answered…

Yes No

A BIG THANKS TO:

• Mack Willingham for all his hard work to create video and help with blogging for our group, and also for attending our meetings with us!

• Elyse Slayton the Marketing of Marshalls at TJX, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to teach about TJX in a fun and exciting way!

• Danny Lynch and the NATIXIS group for taking time to meet with us and teach us about their field of finance.

Bibliography

• www.homegoods.com• www.tjmaxx.com• ga.natixis.com/global/1250194644819/Home• www.marshallsonline.com