Apple Store Ethnography

I chose to go to Westfield for my field ship. I looked at five different stores and finally I chose three stores to talk about. They are Hollister, Urban Outfitters and Apple Store. I will be looking at them through different theories. I used sensory ethnography and visual method to understand and evaluate those store. Sensory ethnography is a re thinking of ethnography methods and process with attention to sensory perception and experience. It is suitable for social research and interventions that want to understand place in other people’s worlds by our own experience and that are similar to the places and the ways of knowing others, which means that it is informed by an understanding of the interconnected senses. In contrast to other forms …show more content…
They have a really big Apple icon as signboard. It looks so smart which means that people can find out the Apple Store easily and everyone will know this is apple store. The atmosphere was good. It was bright and clean. The space has been organized so well and they put some artworks and photographic of their product on their walls. Products were neatly on the wood table with technical specifications and price details. Shop assistants were always smiling to customers. They also have uniform to wear which makes them look professional and it creates a very good brand image to customers. Apple also really cares about customer service. They have a counter in each store to help customers sorting out problems. Music was playing but it wasn’t loud. The shop just looked like a business area and lots of customers dressed up nicely with suit. I think that Apple is more likely a lifestyle now instead of a brand. Marx’s commodity fetishism is a very good theory to describe the relation between Apple and their customers. Fetishism can be traced back to primitive society. Primitive society had low levels of productivity. People could not understand the natural phenomena scientifically, so they adore natural phenomena, which could have significant impact on people's life and production. Marx's analyzed commodity theory and found that there is a mystique, which is hidden in commodities. Marx thinks that commodity seems to be a simple and ordinary thing at first look, but he used the metaphysical way and religious language to describe the theory of commodity fetishism. Apple has a big amount of customers. Most people's buying behavior on buying apple product is insensibly, even they have no need on buying them but they still buy it. Apple products are considered to be a symbol of identity and status. Apple fans think that having an apple product, which is a type of identification and recognition. The relationship between money and