1 of 3 main customer personas is forming step by step.. curve after curve :)

Customer persona: Fitness, gym, sports, heathy lifestyle, trendy youngish feeling people

Target group: 4-5 fitness centers near Dept store customers

Customer group needs and interests include:

- Fashion trends, branded and noticeable products, high visual importance, colors, own style and uniqueness but still tribal, wants to belong to group

- Smile, happiness, good mood, value for money and looking for high energy, high motivation and result oriented in general, efficient and targeted needs

- Health, fitness, beauty, body, good look and popularity, will copy styles and seek role models

- Need for recognition, appreciation, look for success, immediate rewards, quick decissions of 24/7 activity in ubique global society, wikieconomy model, peering and sharing of ideas and emotional virtual sharing also

- Need for special things, experience new things, travel and be frontrunner, will change styles regularly, style seekers, follow fashion trends and buy according to their budget.

- Cozy, comfortable, balance, trendy living room feeling, relaxing, life and all things are designed, tech devices and friendliness with smile, sensing and emotional, even higher values becoming important

- Clean, locality, fresh, organic, ecology, vegetarian and nature friendly - these are increasing and coming a future need norm..

Problem solutions (several ways, not just one or two to improve attractiveness performance):

Organizing mainly and these special offers mainly to test the concept first. Low cost, easy to try, focusing on easy to access customer solutions. But few general changes should be taken into action according to our research:

- Distinguish floors by focusing ground for women and 2nd floor for men with more masculine look
This includes getting rid of sales and discounted clothes corner in ground floor (it increases negative feeling and has got negative feedback most compared to other areas) and putting ladies jackets and coats in the front, near entrances in ground floor to promote dept store as a true women and ladies clothes world. More trendiness to all floors to attract young trendy consumers. In shoes more brand marketing and shop in shop style brand world approach to upgrade quality related trend image. Maybe not tattoo shop in shops though, eventhogh they are getting popular and tattoo parlours are opening..

- Special offers linked to fitness center and gym membership, but all can buy the Theme days products. Tattoo pop up stores might not be such a bad idea after all, but let's see later on :)

- More morning coffees (now 2,5 eur offer but not visible and marketing done), power smoothies, vitamin shakes and for example healthy rye bread products. Evenings you can add a whisky sip to boost the taste:)

- Sports salad for lunch, protein evening meal to boost, highly organic snacks to increase GOOD MOOD and freshen up the brainwork. Big portions and very good looking design style salad bar!

- Theme days like: Monday coffees 2 eur, Tuesday Smoothies 3 eur, Wednesday shakes 3 eur, Thursday fitness dept sales for sports people with extra 10 % discounts for shopping, Meet friends Fridays 3+1 drinks with special price, Luxus Saturday sparkling wines and all healthy dinks for 2 at price of 1. Endulge Sunday brunch at 12 eur in 2^nd floor restaurant with A LOT OF FRUITS, VEGGIES AND DRINKS. Fitness salad 7 eur everyday, including weekends in every floor.  Any coffee to go with fresh chosen fruit 3 eur every day. Theme offers can change often, keeping always the most popular going and valid for longer time and there should be many different ones, promoting chosen brands also.

Smoothies with rashberries to pump up the energy levels and keep the Christmas bunnies rocking!

- Visual update to 2^nd floor with more organic, sustainable produced, trendy looking goods and pop up stores, not just clothes but also lifestyle goods. Deeper blue, creamier warm white and wood color.

- Happenings weekly to gather the customer groups, photo competitions and photo gallery, create a lobby nature gallery to old book area, that is beautiful outside towards market square, inform visibly and offer special goods at the same time in several departments inside the shop. Theme costumes.

- Sports goods and clothes area needs an update as it is not very special and not raise strong positive emotions yet, but there is potential to increase it's value with more specialisation and excellent customer and fitness professional personnel. Look and sportiness are assets in that customer personnel and service area.

- Free, clean, modern, elegant and big enough toilets in every floor for customers to use & choose

- Maximize the high in each floor, now part of floor height is not used to bring space, freshen up the colourworld and bring natural OR warm light. Artificial cold lights are not attractive, it increases the customer versus shop distance and is mentally negative. So, more warmth and dept to lightning.

 Proposed funels for marketing:

-          Social media, flyers, word of mouth (viral and peer marketing), posters and wall papers in the entrance area, fitness blogs (maybe not only PAKKOTOISTO.COM though), gyms and fitness centers. Get the tribal leaders in fitness, beauty, sports and health, so called young, trendy, handsome and beautiful come to the dept store and their tribe will follow and then swallow the SHOP TO FIT - MODERN FITNESS LIFESTYLE concept with scandinavian twist. Inspirational leadership with smile and exceptional warmth in customer service ways will create ab extra luxury shopping experience with sustainable, designed and energizing atmosphere and feeling .

 Benefits of the solutions:

-          Dept store becomes a fitness and health oriented lifestyle personas gathering and melting point. It becomes an essential element in the lifestyle, place where to be, where to meet similar persons and sports friends.There are already Turn on factors and benefit points such as good cosmetics area (excellent feedbacks) , pharmacy, fitness products on sale, restaurant in the 2^nd floor, popular corner entrance cafebar and beauty center (good to excellent feedback) in the 2^nd floor. All those could make visual update to meet the needs of this customer and lifestyle group to increase all over attractiveness.

Starbucks to the 2nd floor, it does not affect negatively to the 2nd floor old restaurant, but is customer volume, trendy and young customers adding element?

Would it add value to this creamy look that nowadays dominates? Yep, it would, but other visual solutions could do the same, like a  green ECOLOUNGE by WIKLUND, sports cafe with a modern vibe..

This is the current kind of view - why not sip your fresh morning brew in the exotic new cafe, name could be something really special, but to choose that, it could be worthwhile to ask that from customers? Make it a questionary like: Which one you want to refresh the style and look: JUNGLE BAR, ECOLOUNGE, SPORTSBAR, W-BAR, W-CAFE, W-LUX, MODEL ROOM or CITYLOUNGE?

 How are the competitiors satisfying these customer needs?

- Not much direct competition, except there are many coffee places in downtown compared to the customer volumes. New fitness shops also. Fitness centers are offering ready to made, not made in the spot, food and drink products. There are not many veggie and fitness food restaurants around. Substitutive ways to consume naturally exist.

To be continued and updated during the coming days and still before Wednesday when we finalize our presentation with Otto:)

Saki