Saturday, February 2, 2008

Hello. Do you need any help?

Public image. After the turn of the 20th century department stores discovered that there was more to getting customers in the door than with signs, placards and name recognition. They realized that these signs and placards helped in obtaining a more important and more powerful goal. The idea of public image was a bi-product of service. Service was “a recognition by merchants that they had some obligation to care for and cater to the needs of customers as well as of workers” (Leach 122). Unlike Mr. Wanamaker’s definition of a ‘new kind of store’ which was based on principally for profit but also in response to the needs of the people, service became less about need and more about luxury and the completely unnecessary. Service became more about music, movies and paintings versus the initial customer service and return policies. “Service, then, along with other strategies of enticement, helped give to the sphere of consumption and independent character and a definite set of values” (Leach 147). In other words, it led to department stores establishing what we today know as a brand, trademark or franchise. The advertisements, the signs, the service all are pieces to a puzzle that the consumer is trying to put together. When finished, the consumer has an overall picture of what the company is about. It is this unique picture or image that is so powerful is allowed the consumer to care less about how things were made and who made them and more about where they were actually buying (Leach 150). In short, a department stores public image (reputation) became the keystone for their success. (Just letting you know, Destiny’s keystone is green)

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