Lowe’s – A Shopping Study

I recently read a rather fascinating article by Malcolm Gladwell called The Science of Shopping. It talks about the research of an anthropologist by the name of Paco Underhill, on how the American shopper functions in particular retailers. Now, I, myself, had to go out to a store of my choice and make some observations of my own. The store I chose was Lowe’s in Wareham, Massachusetts. Lowe’s is a large style hardware store handling building materials, tools, home improvement items, electrical, plumbing, lawn/garden, and seasonal items. It seemed kind of weird at first, going to a store, just taking notes on the customers, staff members, and items. I was scared I would look like a stalker of some sort. However, after walking around the store for a while, snapping photos, and jotting some things down on my clipboard I grew comfortable in the role and it wasn’t that bad. Plus, my family and I love going to Lowe’s, so it is always fun to go there. During the multiple visits and observations at the store I saw that the Lowe’s location appears to be inconsistent in terms of following Paco Underhill’s theories and recommendations.

As the article states, “The best stores all have an image—or what retailers like to call ‘point of view'”(Gladwell). This refers to the atmosphere that a store creates for its customers. Lowe’s tends to create an atmosphere similar to that of a home improvement warehouse crossed with bazaar or market.  Upon entry the store appears to cry out to the shopper “come on in we have all the big building stuff you need to be your own contractor” but it also lets you know that it is going to tantalize you with the shiny items. It has extremely high ceilings, tall metal shelves for storage and standard displays to make items available for evaluation and purchase. There are forklifts roaming around with pallets of lumber and large items. It also has a lot of well lit, colorful and attractive displays, and what you could call “learning center” areas where shoppers are able examine the more stylish aspects of home improvement – flooring, carpeting, kitchen cabinetry, doors, etc. I guess you could say it is a warehouse you could buy products directly from. To my family and myself, Lowe’s seems to have a distinct scent to it. I believe that it is a combination of cleaning products, metal and wood, with a hint of oil. One part of the atmosphere that may be unintentional would be the birds!  There are always birds flying in from the garden section and they can be seen and heard all around the store.

Paco Underhill calls the area inside the door, about five to fifteen steps in, the Decompression Zone, and warns retail clients to never put anything valuable in that area (Gladwell). Well, Lowe’s didn’t seem to heed that warning, as they cut right to the chase of displaying a lot of valuable items before you could even get into the store. They put seasonal items not only in the Decompression Zone area (which also happens to be the area where the shopping carts are), but even outside the entry doors.I saw not just lawn chairs, plants, tiki torches and mulch but also Weber gas grills and large lawn tractors – fairly big ticket, expensive items. Clearly this is equipment meant for summertime and perhaps the idea is to make it clear to shoppers that they can buy all they need for fun in the sun without needing to enter the store.

Upon entry, on the left side, immediately is customer service, along with standard year round items. At the very front and at left of the store are all of the checkout registers, the tool section, the paint  station, and aisles with hardware and house electronics (middle), and building materials, such as roofing, drywall, lumber, etc (far left). About three quarters of the way in, or what Paco calls Zone 4 (Gladwell), is the appliance area for kitchens and laundry rooms, along with doors, and flooring. At the far right corner of the store, next to appliances, is the plumbing and electrical section. So, the majority of Lowe’s is set up on the left of the entry doors.

Paco Underhill has a theory known as the Invariant Right, which states that shoppers instinctively turn right (Gladwell).  The majority of shoppers that I saw walk through the door seemed to contradict this theory. I stood by the entrance for a period of time and observed the customers coming into Lowe’s and did some math.  More than half (60%) of the shoppers I observed turned left upon entering the store and clearing the Decompression Zone. The other 40% of shoppers went straight (13%) through toward the back of the store or turned right or diagonally right (27%).  I believe that the reason for the predominant left turns is that, with the outside lawn and garden area taken out of the equation, the majority of the store (lumber, building materials, electrical, hardware, tools) is setup to the left of the main entry which forces shoppers to turn left or go straight if they are interested in anything other than lawn & garden or seasonal items.  That said, Lowe’s does appear to take the Invariant Right theory to heart by setting up big ticket seasonal items (more lawn tractors, Weber grills, patio gazebos and furniture) diagonally to the right upon entry. Directly behind big ticket seasonal items are expensive outdoor power tools – generators, chainsaws, weed whackers, leaf blowers, power washers – all the engines you could possibly desire.  So anybody with a penchant for power tools (many of the guys and gals into the “do it yourself” scene) and who was wandering in without a strong desire to go immediately for item they wanted could find themselves in the midst of “engine heaven” if they strayed a little to the right.

During my observations of entering customers I saw that their attire could give a big clue as to which way they were going.  Men or women dressed in denim or Dickies and t-shirts – perhaps with work boots – were almost always a sure bet to head left.  When following some of them they invariably ended up in the lumber/building materials section or sometimes electrical. This appeared to stand solidly during my weekday observations.  These folks were heading for the more “no nonsense” area where the lumber is piled high on racks, rolls of cabling are on spools, sheetrock are stacked, and bags of concrete are lined up.  The majority of the flatbeds, hand trucks, and forklifts hang out here. It is louder. It is dustier. It is made for the people who are really getting their hands dirty. Somebody coming in wearing shorts, sandals, t-shirt or golf shirt was far more likely to go straight in (appliance land – refrigerators, washers, dryers, ranges) or venture off to the right diagonal or far right for lawn and garden shopping. One older lady went directly to the paint section – still to the left, NOT the invariant right!!

At some of the aisles on the left/main side of the store, you find some interactive demos of some house electronics. For example, I noticed a little boy, about age six or seven, at the demo for Nest products, such as their learning thermostat, and their security camera. The products themselves were displayed at the front of the aisle, and below it, was a touchscreen. The kid played around with the screen, and pulled up an information video on the security system. He stood, mesmerized, by the video playing. He probably learned a thing or two from his Lowe’s trip, that day. Moments later his mom kind of dragged him away.  “No, we don’t need one,” she said.

I took some time to observe the staff at Lowe’s. All of them had blue and red vests over their shirts, similar to one that a construction worker would wear. They looked pretty happy based on the smiles on their faces and were definitely courteous when approached. In really paying attention, I noticed they seemed to range in age from teenager to senior citizen.  There are definitely male workers who look as old as my grandfather and he’s seventy. Luckily when I went to make my first observations, my dad happened to have two empty propane tanks to exchange so I would see some live staff interaction. We went in, took the immediate left, and went to customer service. “How do we do the propane tank exchange?” he asked.

“We can get that set and paid for right here, no problem,” the young girl behind the counter answered cheerfully. She proceeded to process the order, hand us our receipt and direct us to the outside area to wait for the tank exchange. “Just head to the exit and right to the right of the door is the tank cage.  Someone will meet you there in a minute.” And she was right, within a minute or so another staff member came out to unlock the metal tank cabinet to make the exchange. To me he looked about 25, he quietly switched out the tanks for us and bid us “good day.” That went well, I thought to myself and jotted notes down quickly.

The following day I returned to my retail anthropologist position hoping to collect more data. I followed a couple that looked to be in their mid-40’s to the appliance section. They had their teenage son with them, he looked like he was my age. The wife had a print out in her hand and was talking to her husband in a firm voice.  “I already did the research, and this is the best one,” she said, pointing to the paper in her hand. “It’s a Frigidaire, it’s black like the stove and it will fit in the space we have. It even has an ice maker option.” He just looked at it and then looked at her. As they arrived at the refrigerator section, she looked at her partner and said, “Okay, we’re here. Go get the guy.”

The man in his tan pants and white t-shirt just stopped and looked at her.  “What? You did all the research, you go get him and tell him which one you want.”

“Um, no, I really don’t want to.That’s your department. I’m just going to go see if I can find it in here. Go ahead. Go get him, we’ll be over here.” And then she just rushed off with her son into the heap of refrigerators. The funny part is that her husband shrugged did a little laugh and went get the guy. I didn’t want to follow too closely but a bit later the family and the Lowe’s “guy”, as she called him,emerged from the refrigerator row and went to a register to pay for the appliance.  The mom was happy with a big smile on her face and as I walked away I heard her say, “Oh, wow that’s great…free delivery and free take away. I love Lowe’s.” She clearly illustrates Gladwell’s idea that “Women are still the shoppers in America, and the real money is to be made by making retail styles more female-friendly, not less”(Gladwell).

Overall, I think my observations prove that Lowe’s does not necessarily follow Underhill’s ideal store set up.  It clearly has an unmistakable Lowe’s atmosphere and its employees fit well within that. Even though Lowe’s may not heed the Decompression Zone rules and make full use of the Invariant Right theory, it is a great place to shop and I enjoy it!!

Works Cited

Gladwell, Malcolm. “The Science of Shopping.” The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 1996, pp. 66–75.