I seldom shop at CVS. The only time I do is when I need to fill a prescription and if and when I do, I drive through. I never took the time to understand why I was so turned off my CVS until I did an observational study on the shopping experience there. I concluded that this pharmacy retailer needs to seriously step up its game if it wants to stay competitive in the user-focused retail business. Among many things, spatial arrangement within the store is worth critiquing because it shows how design can help the customers find what they are looking and how it can cause a major inconvenience at the check out counter.
The first thing I noticed at my local CVS is that it has many aisle numbers for such a small location. The reason for this is: aisles are numbered by product categories— not physical aisles. Furthermore, each aisle is assigned an “a” and “b” side to correspond to the left and right of the aisle. The product subcategories are labeled on the ceiling drop-down display. To help break up product rows, there is a passageway half way through the aisel. There is a benefit to this: multiple entry and exit points from one aisle to the next. If I find myself in the wrong aisle, I can quickly hop over to the next aisle and continue my scavenger hunt. This way there is less foot traffic in the aisles, which makes it more enjoyable if you don’t like the pushing and shoving. Because there are more product aisles, the categorization of products is more concise, which makes it more intuitive to find things — a huge plus for customers and CVS employees. Within each aisle, there are color-coded labels sticking out where the products are displayed to help the customer zoom in on the target product.
To bring this 3-level organizational scheme home, let’s follow Bob as he’s looking for an Icy Hot tube (he was spending too much time hunched over at his desk learning HTML/CSS). He goes on a limb and asks for direction from an associate. Bob is really lucky to get an associate who knows his stuff. He is told to specifically check out 15b. Not 15a! He gets to aisle 15 (level 1) and on the right(15b) (level 2), he sees a vibrant green circular popping out from the shelf (level 3) that reads “muscle rub”. He’s never felt so accomplished!
While finding things is relatively painless, paying for them is not a very pleasant experience. There is too much chaos at the front of the store because of a very simple reason. There is not enough space between the cash registers and the aisles where people line up. Instead of forming vertical lines, people are cued to the side parallel to the cash register. It’s a problem because the person at the back of the line can’t see what is going on at the registers, how many registers are open, what is holding up the line, etc. All these thought bubbles tend to lead to anxiety and frustration for the customer. The most pronounced problem is the lack of space for new customers to walk/get in line after factoring in the end-of-aisle stockpiles, photo printers, and a cash wrap of clearance items. Not to mention random placements of random items everywhere in the front. As a person who is visually sensitive, I was traumatized.
Let’s switch our attention to the back of the store — the pharmacy. Side note: if pharmacy is their bread and butter, why is it in the back? Still on line formation — the situation in the back room is the complete opposite. There is NO space in between the pharmacy counters and the aisels so the horizontal check-out line we see at the front is impossible. The result? People line the aisle. Wait a minute — what does that mean? That means you won’t have access to your floss because the aisle is blocked off by people who need to pick up their medicine during the flu season. What a mess!
Room for Improvement
Not all CVS’s are created equal. Some have more square footage and thus, feel less cluttered and inviting. However, as a brand they need to give all customers a similar shopping experience regardless of where they live. The check out experience can be improved by having more space at the front and have one visible cash wrap instead of a million items surrounding the check-out area (perhaps the reason they want the clutter is to distract the customers — here, play with this and forget you’re agitated). If space is nonnegotiable then improve the area visually. Tone down the loudness with more subtle clearance signs or simply have fewer items at the front (or fewer items altogether). Less is more. Also, isn’t medications their meat and potato? Last on the visual, don’t place random things everywhere! External chaos translates to inner feelings of anxiety and restlessness for the customers.
