News

Digital channels could change the common cybernetics theory of retail store design

October 10, 2012

According to an article on ITbusiness.ca, cybernetics theory is a stimulus response model used to guide shoppers through a store. When applied to social sciences, retailers who design their store with the theory in mind lean on quantitative and qualitative research — for example, studies show that most people prefer to walk around a store counter-clockwise, the article reported.

Leaning on survey research provided by its online polling community AskingCanadians, the Toronto-based firm Delvinia aims to map the retail customer user experience across new digital channels, instead of relying on the cybernetics theory that has influenced the design of many modern retail stores.

During the strictly bricks-and-mortar era, grocery and retail stores could be viewed as a closed loop system, whereas now, shoppers are reaching outside that loop to get feedback on products and purchases. In order to stop the cybernetics theory from being rendered useless, retailers must keep the new digital channels in mind, according to the article.

Read more about store design and layout.