Project Comparative Shopping in NEXT | Leeds


During this weekend I have been focusing on my Commercial designer project based on the shop 'Anthropologie' I have decided that I will be focusing and basing my project on the fabric for a cushion.  Taking in mind that the cushions I have seen on the anthropologie website are very layered up, They like to use more than one technique on their cushions. Keeping this in mind I went to NEXT in Leeds to have a look at their home section to compare the products. 







What I found from my comparative shop in NEXT is that as it is a high street store the cushions (and other products) have been produced by mass production which means the techniques are limited to keep production time quick. Cushions that are sold at anthropologie are more like pieces of art they are job production which means one off production or a small batch production in which they can spend more time layering up more techniques and control their production time better although this means the product will be a lot more expensive.

As anthropologie are well known for their amazing visual merchandising I took a few pictures of the set out in NEXT.



As all the seasonal product have come in stock, The shop is full of christmas decorations and colour's. The pictures above are of the 'living room' set up they have as soon as you walk through the door. As the shop is quite packed and crowded with products I almost felt like this set up had been knocked together as it was squeezed quite tightly to the entrance of the shop and wasn't much room to move around it. As anthropology is all about enjoying your visit to the shop and taking your time to look around - The feeling I got from visiting this shop was completely the opposite as I felt rushed to get out of the door as well as feeling like I could not really move around the shop properly due to the shop being set out so people are walking in every direction, It had no 'flow'.

Even though I went to leeds with the sole purpose to look for cushions (even though it started raining and put a stop to my comparative shop) I could not pass Harvey Nichols and take a look inside. The experience was so enjoyable. I felt like I was in a completely different country or even world! Walking in the entrance to the ground floor I was greeted by all the beauty counters and with a little will power I headed straight upstairs to the womenswear department to see the different in high street to high end fabrics. I was amazed. I felt like I had been living life blind and that I had suddenly put glasses on and could see in HD vision. The colours were so rich and the fabrics so 'high end.' I finally went up to the top floor to the food market where they had their own Yo Sushi inside the shop! Looking around the different food's and drinks everything seemed just that bit different, better. I felt like I was in a foreign country, Everything was recognisable but packaged different. I saw a lot of hyped food and drink and could have spent a fortune!



  
I really enjoyed my trip to Leeds and even though I did not find any similar cushions, I did get some idea's of what not to do for my project as anthropologie are more one off pieces not mass produced pieces that are quite 'boring and bland' 

Thank you for reading.

No comments