Traditional brick and mortar retail outlets are often complemented by a click and mortar counterpart. Rather than competing with each other, these two channels can work together within a company to increase sales. For example, a visitor to a store may be interested in an item, but defer the purchase for an unknown reason. On the way out of the store, a large sign promoting the URL of the store’s website allows the visitor to see the item again from the comfort of their home, without pressure, and possibly complete the sale. A web surfer abandons a cart, but notices on the website that there is a retail outlet nearby. A desire to actually see and handle the item prior to purchase is easily fulfilled, and the sale is made. A well-designed website should either leverage an online consumer’s prior knowledge to facilitate a choice process, or improve the consumer’s mental model to increase the chance of a later sale in a physical store.
Nordstrom is a high-end retailer with two stores in Massachusetts. The stores are not conveniently located for all Massachusetts residents, nor are they open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If a customer does venture into a store, they may or may not find an associate to help them, but they will certainly be able to create or enhance a mental model of the store, with various schemata for items of special interest. Once at home, can these mental models be activated via the always-on internet? A visit to the Nordstrom.com website presents us with images of mannequin-like models wearing the latest fashions…these stylized poses could trigger memories of similar poses seen in the in-store displays. A prominent “free shipping” banner anticipates the online shopper’s concern that shipping charges will raise the true price of their potential purchases, and make the online browser comfortable enough to be a potential online shopper. A large array of shopping categories is evident, including men’s suits. Can we use prior knowledge to convince someone to purchase a suit online? Surely the fitting process is a time-honored part of purchasing a garment? If we browse for men’s suits, we soon see images of trim, young men wearing elegant suits. These models often have a body shape that enhances the appearance of the clothing. The selection process dictates that we use existing mental models of ourselves to encode these images into memory, possibly selecting details regarding the age, hairline, and physique of the models that may confirm an idealized self-image. The images are then abstracted, further reducing the fidelity of the percept as it is encoded, and then interpreted by using general schematic information, presumably about ourselves in this case, to compensate for the reduction. Finally, the image is integrated into our memory store by modifying our existing schema of ourselves. It has been proposed that ego plays a major role in the acquisition and organization of knowledge. This process could theoretically cause the online shopper to encode a mental model of themselves wearing a Nordstrom suit, possibly even adopting some of the physical characteristics of the models to result in an idealized version of the self. This would perhaps fulfill the personal fitting process to some extent, and may create a positive affective response within the consumer towards the purchase.
Other possibilities for combining the best qualities of the online and in-store experiences include the activation of a “purchase” schema through a well-worded “Add to Shopping Bag” link. A “shopping bag” in the context of Nordstrom could suggest a completed sale, which (in the store) is placed into a bag, further influencing the choice process. The more familiar “Shopping Cart” text used by most websites would potentially invoke a “supermarket” shopping schema, which would be a poor fit with the Nordstrom brand. The next screen reverts to using the expected online language for completing the sale, “Proceed to Checkout”. Many adult users, who may not be accustomed to spending $1000 on a garment sight-unseen, will likely be accustomed to obeying the instruction to “Proceed to Checkout” on other websites and will therefore possess an “online purchase” schema. This familiar term may help them to invoke this schema, overcome any remaining reluctance, and complete the purchase.
Schemata allow humans to operate with high efficiency. However, schema creation and invocation is not an exercise in high-fidelity recording and storing of experiences, but is a highly processed method of internalizing information. Understanding these processes can help predict user behavior and allow us to design for better performance.
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