Buying art in TK Maxx

Yesterday in TK Maxx, I watched a lady browsing art. The art, in this case, consisted of a selection of framed prints, limited editions and a number of original canvases. As one expects in TK Maxx, the subject matter, style and quality of art on offer was much more diverse than would be normal in other art shops or departments.

The shopper in question seemed really attracted by a Thomas Kinkade style oil original (unnamed artist) in a realistic landscape tradition. But suddenly she put that down and switched her interest to a signed limited edition print by a known contemporary artist which was semi-abstract and modern in style. As far as I could see, the two pictures had absolutely nothing in common (see above) apart from sharing roughly similar prices (~£25). The shopper happily placed the semi-abstract work in her wire trolley and moved on.

I was left wondering – had she come to TK Maxx to look for art? Did she know the kind of art she liked or was looking for? Did she have both kinds of art in her home already? Was she maybe swung by the fact that she could acquire a signed limited edition for a mere £25? – in terms of the art world, this certainly represents extraordinary value.

The research we have done suggests that consumers typically enter a shop (or website) and rapidly scan the range of products on display in order to locate “the kind of stuff they like” (be that art, furniture or clothes). They then ignore the majority of products on offer and concentrate their attention on that much reduced search space which matches their taste. This obviously minimises the cognitive load of shopping – especially for items which need to appeal to one’s aesthetic taste. But TK Maxx doesn’t enable you to do that. The store provides no grouping of the clothes, home furnishings or art by style, label, fashion or taste – only by functional category and size. Given the diversity of their sources and the rapidity of their turnover, it’s difficult to see how else they could operate.

So, I’m left puzzling over the following questions…

Do TK Maxx’s regular customers have a very different cognitive ‘sorting’ strategy when it comes to shopping for aesthetic items like clothes or art? or

Do they have or a much greater tolerance for large and complex search spaces? or

Do they possess a much more eclectic (or at least less rigid) set of aesthetic tastes? or

Are they more confident (than the rest of the population) in constructing their own unique taste combinations, i.e. their own personal ‘brand’?

I don’t know.

Maybe, it’s simply that TK Maxx actually reflects the essence of retail therapy – i.e. the goal is to browse, find and acquire “a bargain” – the nature of the product itself is not the goal.

I hope there may be a chance to explore this at some point and find out.