15
PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT,
1998
| Editorial
PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINTWe can assert that the
act of consumption has achieved omnipresence, to the point that it defines our
contemporary society. From the impact of the Industrial Revolution to the
development of mass communication media and new commercial spaces, a new
situation is progressively being created which will bring about certain social
changes and the adoption of new outlines linked to consumption practice. But
there will always be a strong correlation between social dynamics and the
different commercial offers proposed for consumers. However, it has been in the
last few years that a clear trend towards emphasis in contextualisation of
products in strategically projected commercial spaces arises.
Nowadays, consumers are placed in and exposed to highly persuasive surroundings full of elaborate information, which seek to stimulate their sensitivity and promote the consumption of specific products, all within a consumption system which moves and displaces meaning —from goods to their consumers— by means of the sales point. The theme we have wished to raise in this number of Temes de Disseny is the importance of the sales point project as a product to be designed, due to the growing relevance it has achieved during the last few years. In this sense, we must stress the important contribution made by the seminar carried out by the Elisava School «Product, consumption, and communication: designing the sales point», in which several international and national specialists participated. They are from different disciplines, and most of them appear in this volume. The reflection about the sales point project arose in embrio during this seminar, and has been enriched by participation from other specialists and professionals contacted later. The ensemble of articles we present respond to the intention of presenting design of the sales point in all its complexity, that is, taking into account all the historical, sociological, strategic, and project aspects. The first part shows the several developments of commercial spaces, from their importance as elements for socialisation to the current trends to link shopping and consumption as true forms of leisure. It is certainly within this dimension that we can speak of commercial proposals as cultural structures which integrate and focus cultural, economic, and social aspects in any community whatsoever. From this logic, we analyse the several commercial types which have sprung up around consumption from an increasing need for difference: supply is increasingly defined from the design of over-all strategies which have brought about the establishing of different commercial formulas (from the monoproduct point of view, to that of theme specialisation), winning the field and relevance from the product and its traditional centrality, and placing the sales point as an extremely important mediation element. The birth of a new distribution culture is raised in the second part; the emphasis of the reflections is framed much more in the strategic aspects of projecting the sales point, in systematisation and creation of agreed commercial formulas. Thus, we are given the current stress on over-all service, that is, it centres on the way we are offered the product. The commercial space is analysed as a basic instrument —a communications platform— which has to obey commercial aims, beginning with a previous marketing strategy, and taking into account a series of variable behaviours which, as is evidenced in the ensemble of contributions, is increasingly more placed in the cultural dimension. A trend towards culturalisation shows up clearly as a basic component in different commercial formulas integrated into a series of services, cultural events, and entertainment which surround the act of shopping. It is precisely in this sense that new communication and on-line proposals are noted as an important service complement for the consumer, reinforcing but not eliminating the «physical» space of the sales point. In the third part, and taking up the nature of mediation for the consumer, we present a series of projects which, because of their innovating strategics and proposals, have become strong protagonists within current commercial supply in the international context. The projects chosen answer to different commercial types, so as to illustrate the possibility of the coexistence of distinct commercial response in regard to several products and services and according to certain strategic options. As a complement we offer a few brief answers to a questionnaire faxed to some of the most prominent commercial brands on the national and international market. I hope the ensemble of contributions we present can be useful for a reflection about the complexity of the challenge of the sales point as a basic platform, not only in the approach to the product and the consumet or customer faithfulness to the product company. I would like the series of reflections we present to show the true socio-cultural dimension which exists in commercial spaces as relation and interaction spaces increasingly present in our everyday life. It will not be by disparaging their role and omnipresence or rending to banalise them categorically that we can understand the leading role they have achieved as a true cultural expression of our society. Joan Vinyets i Rejon |
Contents
15
PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT,
1998
SERGIO CORREA DE JESÚS The mega-movie: a new American phenomenon 15 PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT, 1998 FRANCESCO MORACE Hyperspecialised or interactive, the sales point is changing 15 PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT, 1998 CONRADO LLORENS The creation of the brand image for Pans & Company 15 PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT, 1998 JOAN VINYETS I REJÓN Product decentralisation: from product to system (sales point) 15 PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT, 1998 ADELAIDA BOLEA New strategies at the sales point: design in franchises 15 PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT, 1998 DON SLATER Shopping spaces 15 PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT, 1998 JOSÉ MARIA COBOS A new offer for a new market 15 PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT, 1998 MARCO GIACHETTI Beyond the display window. The non-existent shop 15 PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT, 1998 GIULIO CEPPI New trends in sales points. Business as second production place 15 PRODUCT, CONSUMPTION, COMMUNICATION: THE NEW SALES POINT, 1998 LLUÍS MARTÍNEZ RIBES Marketing strategies and design requisites for sales points |