On February 15th 2011, Paris School of Business students from Bachelor of Business Administration Level 100 Principles of Marketing class participated in a hands-on experience and evaluation of Leading retailers (Apple Store, Virgin Megastore, Nature et Découvertes…) at the prestigious shopping location associated with the Louvre Museum.
Our trip to Carrousel du Louvre was a great success, all of us students learned a lot. The stores based their marketing strategy on the people most likely to visit. Since Carrousel du Louvre is in a very high traffic location with many tourists most of the stores were designed to attract many different age groups, interests, and genders. We also noticed many stores offering interactive displays which we thought was clever since most people come to Carrousel du Louvre after spending hours in a museum where they cannot touch anything. For the excursion we split into groups and visited Nature and Découvertes, Virgin, Apple, and a couple of smaller stores. While we were in each store we took notes on the marketing strategy and here is a summary of what we found.
Nature and Découvertes was very family friendly, offering many unique toys and gifts. The store created a Zen atmosphere with relaxing smells, calming music, and tea. They offered a lot of fair trade and natural items as well as fun science things like telescopes and globes. This is smart because many kids get inspired by La Louvre and want to explore or discover something themselves; therefore things like a telescope are perfect for them.
Virgin greets guests with a large display of Paris Tourism books. Then beyond that they offer many different types of books, music, video games, and knick-knacks. The store has really high ceilings, bright colors, and is organized and labeled well. Because of those elements the store is very inviting. One of the problems we noticed was there was not anywhere to sit for tired parents or anyone wanting to read part of a book before buying it.
The Apple Store had by far the most unique marketing strategy. Inside the décor is very modern. They offer all their products for testing and place an ad by each one so the customer knows why it is worth as much money as Apple asks for. The atmosphere is very friendly. There is a specific place for kids and also free lessons for new Apple owners. There are also a lot of sales associates that offer one-on-one assistance and make the customer feel very valued. On the second level of the store is something called the Genius Bar where you can take your Apple device if something is wrong with it. Being an American company, Apple bases their store on customer service which is very unique.
Going to Carrousel de Louvre was a good learning experience and allowed us to apply what we learned in the classroom to real life. I definitely recommend having your future classes do this exercise as well.
More pics on flickr
Our trip to Carrousel du Louvre was a great success, all of us students learned a lot. The stores based their marketing strategy on the people most likely to visit. Since Carrousel du Louvre is in a very high traffic location with many tourists most of the stores were designed to attract many different age groups, interests, and genders. We also noticed many stores offering interactive displays which we thought was clever since most people come to Carrousel du Louvre after spending hours in a museum where they cannot touch anything. For the excursion we split into groups and visited Nature and Découvertes, Virgin, Apple, and a couple of smaller stores. While we were in each store we took notes on the marketing strategy and here is a summary of what we found.
Nature and Découvertes was very family friendly, offering many unique toys and gifts. The store created a Zen atmosphere with relaxing smells, calming music, and tea. They offered a lot of fair trade and natural items as well as fun science things like telescopes and globes. This is smart because many kids get inspired by La Louvre and want to explore or discover something themselves; therefore things like a telescope are perfect for them.
Virgin greets guests with a large display of Paris Tourism books. Then beyond that they offer many different types of books, music, video games, and knick-knacks. The store has really high ceilings, bright colors, and is organized and labeled well. Because of those elements the store is very inviting. One of the problems we noticed was there was not anywhere to sit for tired parents or anyone wanting to read part of a book before buying it.
The Apple Store had by far the most unique marketing strategy. Inside the décor is very modern. They offer all their products for testing and place an ad by each one so the customer knows why it is worth as much money as Apple asks for. The atmosphere is very friendly. There is a specific place for kids and also free lessons for new Apple owners. There are also a lot of sales associates that offer one-on-one assistance and make the customer feel very valued. On the second level of the store is something called the Genius Bar where you can take your Apple device if something is wrong with it. Being an American company, Apple bases their store on customer service which is very unique.
Going to Carrousel de Louvre was a good learning experience and allowed us to apply what we learned in the classroom to real life. I definitely recommend having your future classes do this exercise as well.
More pics on flickr
