Time: 12:30PM
On 10th September, one of our group member Sin Yen went to VivoCity for the first time in her life. We wanted to observe how a shopper would navigate around the mall on his/her first visit, hence we decided to make Sin Yen our subject of observation.
Here's a breakdown on her navigation through VivoCity:
*Areas highlighted in Red = Areas Not Navigated*
Basement 2: She didn't explore the entire level, hence missing out on the VivoMart as well as the chain of light-food stalls. Generally first-time visitors would miss out on VivoMart, as its location is at the extreme end of the floor and is not visible at all to visitors, unless they chose to explore the entire level.
Level 1: She headed straight for the store directory and map right away. But on first look she gave up on the directory right away because it was "too confusing".
In the end she decided to explore the level on her own, and walked towards the right of the level. As she walked, she window-shopped rather aimlessly, not knowing where she would be heading towards. Then, she found this sleek computer which serves as a "Shop Finder Service".
But LOOK AT THE KEYBOARD. So filthy! No wonder we did not see anyone using the shop finder service. There was another computer with a cleaner keyboard, so Sin Yen used that computer instead. However it remains puzzling why the filthy keyboard was left in that state and not cleaned up, especially when VivoCity is so reputable and frequented by many tourists?
So Sin Yen attempted to find her directions using the service, but in the end she gave up too. "How can I use this service when it's my first time here and I don't know what shops are there here?"
It's believed that this service is for shoppers who came to VivoCity with a shop to frequent in mind, but not sure of its location. As this machine was situated near the back corner of the first floor, perhaps it was meant to help shoppers who were lost in their way as well and had just chanced upon this machine.
Level 2: After shopping for around half of the first floor, Sin Yen proceeded to the 2nd storey. She started to window-shop as she found stores that caught her attention. Most of the stores she visited were gift shops, which were clustered on the same side on Level 2.
Level 3: After walking through half of level 2, Sin Yen decided to go up to Level 3 and have lunch at Food Republic. Then, she walked across the Sky Park and reached Daiso. She continued to spend time shopping within Daiso.
Then it was back to Level 2! However Sin Yen realised that she ended up walking back to the same places that she had already walked through previously, and in the end she gave up exploring and decided to go back to Level 1.
Soon after, she stopped and decided that she had seen enough of VivoCity. She was aware that she had not completed walking through the mall, but she gave up exploring as she didn't know where else she could walk towards.
Conclusion:
First-time visitors may feel lost as there are no clear directions, nor were the directory/shop finder service helpful at all. The layout of the mall also proved to be difficult to understand for first-time visitors, as very often they will walk back to the same spot that they had already walked past previously. Much could be improved on their direction-aids.
Read post below for Sin Yen's personal recount of her first shopping experience in VivoCity!
By Chun Kiat
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