Essay Sample on IKEA Utrecht Design: Investigating Improvements for a Better Design

Introduction

To give possible solutions for a better design of IKEA, the problem of the current design of the establishment should be investigated. The place where the good is obtained from matters (Hightower, Brady, & Baker, 2002). Therefore, it is vital to examine improvements for the current design of IKEA Utrecht. The contemporary design does not fully achieve the core goals of IKEA. The self-survive warehouse and the showroom of the company do not meet the requirements of the expected plan. For instance, the showroom lacks a clear direction to customers resulting in disappointment. The lack of guidelines and arrangements of different goods can change the perception of different customers. Remember, some buyers are in a hurry. Similar paths without direction indication, with various products scattered everywhere, can be tiresome for customer's navigation.

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Various aspects determine the layout of a retail store(Proud et al., 2012). From building design, the pattern of customer arrival, adjacency requirements desired service level, and merchandised-mix, among others. Attributes such as music, air conditioning lighting, color, elevators, and washrooms influence assessment by customers.fro the external qualities, car wash, parking as well as pictures of the goods sold can bring a good picture. Since most of the most convenient way of carrying the goods is by vehicle, a section of a decent car park and car wash can create a good picture. The accessibility of the building by a vehicle can also be a good factor of consideration.each item requires a section. This means that the store will be divided into three parts; kitchen appliances, house appliances, and easy-to-assemble appliances. This should be accompanied by straight forward navigation paths leading to each of the three segments. The divided portions should be aligned based on demand and complexity in carrying. High- demand items should be closer to the entrance while hard to move items should be closer to exit. A customer care section at the entrance of the store is of great importance. This can act as the first inquiry point customers to customers who may not be careful enough to read the directions. As Moseley puts it, the way people respond to the environment is quite different. Noticing is not easy, and mental consciousness varies from one person to another. It is the care desk where customers get to their values as buyers (Moseley et al., 2012)

Color is psychological (Mohan et al., 2013). Color can achieve a successful store if the integration of the colors works out well and corresponds to the elements on sale. The beauty of the shop is not the aspect of play but consistency. Color can determine how individuals react. For a fact, it is through our eye where 80% of the information in our brain passes.

Consequently, it is quite easy to infer that what we see affects our decision-making process. The section of the kitchen appliances is decorated with orange and red color with the relevant tools, supplemented by the associated food. The two colors depict the sweetness of food. The color used to divide the three sections-kitchen appliances, ready to assemble furniture and home accessories, need to differ. From the entrance, there can be carpet to determine patterns of navigation from one point to another. It's about dividing the lines of the items as well as using color to convey the brand and different designs.

Lighting is a crucial tool in changing the way people perceive the environment (Schielke et al., 2015). Light works along with other elements of design in creating a convincing retail environment. Accent lighting can work pretty out well in identifying a particular item. Proper lighting can facilitate better movement of customers in the store, making them spend even more (Anteblian et al., 2013). Different lights in different routes in the store can entice buyers. A brighter light close to the goods can make visibility clear, enabling individuals to spot their target goods from a distance. The introduction of elevators to reduce the time used in walking in stairs pleases the buyers. This will grant buyers some convenience by giving them energy and create more time to walk around the store. Due to privacy, washrooms need to be in a very alienated place, far from the store.

Assessment Report

Retailing of IKEA is growing drastically. Similarly, the consumers of the organization are becoming more and more careful o the quality of goods produced by the company. The success of IKEA lies in its ability to deliver better services and products to consumers. Dabholkar, Thorpe, and Rentz's (1996) is used to explain the relationship between what customers expect and the quality of services in India. In this context, Dabholkar, Thorpe, and Rentz's(1996) quality scale is used to measure the difference in IKEA's quality of retail stores and the customer's expectations.dabholkar.(1996) Noted that there is a rapid change in the retail environment day by day. Different consumption experiences by customers prompt them to acquire new expectations. The RSQS has been embraced by various scholars resulting in missed success. To a customer, there are two categories of retail experiences; encounters associated with merchandise and in-store exposure. (Hackett et al., 2013) .in-store experiences entail the easy and comfort of moving around the store as well as the relationship between store employees (Frontoni et al., 2013). Contrary, merchandise involves the availability of desired merchandise and quality. However, the overlap between the two categories has occurred over time. For instance, merchandise displays can be perceived as an experience affiliated to merchandise as well as employees of the store. Based on the past literature, it is inferred that looking service quality from an integrated level perspective does not necessarily depict the divided and critical directions of service quality that can benefit retailers and scholars (Van et al., 2012).

Merchandise quality and store layout has been highlighted as the facilitators of retail service quality experience based on attributes (Gutman & Alden 1985, Hummel & Savitt 1988, Mazursky & Jacoby 1985, Oliver 1981) .in retailing, there is a need to examine the quality from the service and proper perspective and come up with items that can estimate the construct. (Tantanatewin et al., 2016). As a result, (Dabholkar et al., 1996) coiled and empirically developed the Retail Service Quality Scale 9RSQS). Using three differing methodologies-explanatory depth, phenomenological interview, and tracking the customer through the interview- qualitative research was conducted. The consolidation of the trio findings with the current information and SERVQUAL concluded that RSQS has a factor structure, hierarchical. It consists of problem-solving, reliability, physical aspect, personal interaction, and policy.

In this context of IKEA, physical aspects entail convenience and appearance. The appearance of the company involved the integration of colors, lights, the division, and the position of different segments within the store, among others (Frontoni et al., 2013). Convenience explains tFrontonihe effects of a new design concerning the customers' satisfaction. Personal interaction reflects the introduction of the customer care desk to enable buyers to seek help when necessary. Reliability is promising solemnly and keeping the promise. The goal of IKEA was to attain convenience and efficiency in the form of time. The divisions of sections per the items, the introduction of elevators, proper direction within th store are some of the changes that achieve convenience and efficiency In time management.IKEA solved several problems, among them confusing, embarrassing, consuming time, and reducing tiresome among buyers(Dabholkar et al., 1996).

This prime purpose of this project is to provide a piece of empirical evidence on the validity and reliability of RSQS in IKEA. The study uses Dabholkar, Thorpe, and Rentz's (1996) standard questionnaire. The scale makes use of 5 elements- policymaking reliability, physical aspect, and personal interaction - to explain service quality experience.

Conclusion and Discussion

Service quality has been the subject of debate due to the lack of a common consensus in explaining both its meaning measuring it (Hoelzer et al., 2011). Organizations with excellent service quality achieve customer intimacy. The retail environment has a significant effect on store convenience. Service quality measurement has substantial results in the context of retailing. The emergence of reliable and valid RSQS will act as a stepping stone for retailers working across different formats. This study ascertains the validity and reliability of four RSQS model constructs- personal interaction, problem-solving, reliability, and physical aspects. Efforts to establish the reliability and validity dimension of policy in being part of the RSQS model in IKEA went unrewarded.

Prevalent retail activities emphasize on coming up with an exciting buying encounter in anticipation of achieving excellent customer service. RSQS has significantly benefited retail managers (Hoblit et al., 2015). RSQS has granted managers with the ability to estimate customers' feelings and general perception .it can play the role of responding to retailing service struggles towards reliability, physical aspects, and personal interaction. This project justifies the RSQS within structured retail stores in IKEA retail environment (Anteblian et al., 2013). Past study indicates that the policy dimension has strategic importance for the retailers. Thus future research should include policy dimensions among the four RSQS models.

References

Anteblian, B., Filser, M., & Roederer, C. (2013). Consumption experience in retail environments: A literature review. Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition), 28(3), 82-109.

Dabholkar, P. A., Thorpe, D. I., & Rentz, J. O. (1996). A measure of service quality for retail stores: scale development and validation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24(1), 3.

Frontoni, E., Raspa, P., Mancini, A., Zingaretti, P., & Placidi, V. (2013, September). Customers' activity recognition in intelligent retail environments. In International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing (pp. 509-516). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Hackett, P. M., Foxall, G. R., & Van Raaij, W. F. (1993). Consumers in retail environments. In Advances in psychology (Vol. 96, pp. 378-399). North-Holland.

Hoblit, T. D., & Haber, R. C. (2015). U.S. Patent Application No. 14/520,835.

Hoelzer, K., Sauders, B. D., Sanchez, M. D., Olsen, P. T., Pickett, M. M., Mangione, K., J., ... & Roof, S. E. (2011). Prevalence, distribution, and diversity of Listeria monocytogenes in retail environments, focusing on small establishments and establishments with a history of failed inspections. Journal of food protection, 74(7), 1083-1095.

Kim, J. E., & Kim, J. (2012). Human factors in retail environments: a review. International journal of retail & distribution management, 40(11), 818-841.

Mohan, G., Sivakumaran, B., & Sharma, P. (2013). Impact of store environment on impulse buying behavior. European Journal of Marketing, 47(10), 1711-1732.

Moseley, D. A. (2012). U.S. Patent No. 8,248,214. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Inkarojrit Tantanatewin, W., &, V. (2016). Effects of color and lighting on retail impression and identity. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 46, 197-205.

Petermans, A., Janssens, W., & Van Cleempoel, K. (2013). A holistic framework for conceptualizing customer experiences in retail environments. International Journal of Design, 7(2).

Proud, B., Aldomar, J. M., Hanna, R., & Fitzgerald, J. (2012). U.S. Patent No. 8,328,094. Was...