Adding diversity-friendly décor
If you retool the exterior and entryway of your establishment but don’t make any corresponding adjustments inside, your customers are likely to experi- ence a disconnect when they walk through your front door for the first time.
To establish a smooth transition from the parking lot into your store or office lobby, some adjustments to the interior décor may be in order. In the follow- ing sections, we offer some guidance.
Large retail stores around the world look very similar due to layout and visibil- ity restrictions. Your walls are probably already covered with merchandise, making it more difficult to add diversity-friendly décor. In most cases, you’re limited to adjusting the signage, product displays, and the products them- selves (we discuss these topics later in this chapter). With a bit of creativity, however, you can always find a way to add a touch of cultural flair.
Checking out your wall hangings
Walk the perimeter of your store or office and take note of what’s hanging on the walls. Are your walls packed with photos of yourself and your family, advertising images of Caucasians, your college diplomas and other certifications, religious icons, or racy calendar girls? You may be so accustomed to these displays that you don’t even realize that some people may find them offensive.
Invite a few people you know from the culture you want to appeal to into your store or office and ask them for a second opinion. If you have some- one on staff or a loyal customer with the cultural background of your target clientele, ask the person for feedback. If you’ve established a multicultural advisory board, as discussed in Chapter 2, ask members for their input. Then replace any wall hangings that could drive customers away with something more attractive. Here are some suggestions:
Be inclusive without being obvious. The pictures in your store or office shouldn’t pander to customers from other cultures, but they should reflect the type of customer you’d like to serve. Many cultures, for exam- ple, value family, so photos showing you with family and friends or with other happy customers in the community may be more appealing than photos of yourself accepting awards.
If you’re trying to attract new immigrants, make sure that any posters you hang on your walls are in their native language.
Many of your distributors probably already have bilingual or foreign lan- guage posters that speak directly to the multicultural customers you’re trying to attract, but they may not think to offer the materials to you.
You have to ask.
If you’re redesigning your office, work with a designer who’s sensitive to multicultural tastes, especially those of the customers you’re trying to serve. The right designer can suggest paintings, curios, and other knick- knacks that have a subtle cultural flavor.
Although decorating your walls with college diplomas and other certifica- tions is always a good way to show that you’re qualified to serve your
Coloring yourself multicultural
Whether you’re redesigning your window displays or giving your entire store or office a makeover, remain sensitive to how people from different cultures interpret various colors. Colors that Americans associate with celebrations may represent somber occasions in other cultures.
In the United States, for example, white symbolizes purity and a fresh begin- ning; brides get married in white dresses. In much of Asia, however, white symbolizes death; instead of getting married in white, you get buried in it.
Unless you’re in the business of selling caskets, decorating your store or office with bouquets of white chrysanthemums may be a big mistake.
Here’s another example: In Mexico, purple is the color of death, so if you’re trying to appeal to Hispanic clients, you probably want to steer clear of the local florists’ lavender collection. Likewise, you may want to avoid using too much purple in your office decor if you’re trying to attract Japanese custom- ers; purple is generally reserved for members of the royal family. Consult a culturally competent decorator about appropriate colors to use for your customers.
To find out more about using the right colors in your decorating scheme, check out Chapter 5.
Accounting for cultural numerology
Certain numbers carry a special significance in various cultures. In the United States, for example, many buildings skip the 13th floor, while lotteries around the country offer “Lucky Seven” lottery tickets. For many Asians, the number 4 represents death, while 8 is their “lucky seven.” Remember that the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, began at 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month, August.
Whether you’re stocking your store with products, setting prices, or arrang- ing tables in a dining area, do the math to find out whether it adds up to trou- ble. If you’re trying to appeal to Asians who think the number 4 is unlucky, for example, don’t pack products in sets of four, include the number 4 in the price, or even sell golf balls in packages of four. Consult your advisory board or others from the culture whose business you’re pursuing to identify any numerological superstitions.
A manager of a fast-food restaurant was trying to appeal to Asians, and she nearly made the mistake of installing 44 seats in the dining area, until she realized that the number 4 is as unlucky for Asians as the number 13 is for Americans. To avoid “double death,” she found room to add an extra seat to bring the restaurant’s total to 45.
For more about lucky and unlucky numbers in other cultures, see Chapter 5.
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Amending your signage
Signage is a fancy word that refers to all the signs you use in and around your business to communicate with customers. (Signage goes beyond décor in that it provides potentially valuable information to customers.) To ensure that your signs are communicating the right messages effectively, consider the following suggestions:
Form a focus group of target customers to walk around and through your store or office and evaluate your signage. Make sure signs are vis- ible, attractive, in the preferred language of the customers you want to attract, and are free of anything (including numbers or colors) that your target customers may find offensive. Even a clock with a logo behind it may turn customers away because of its association with death for many Asians.
Don’t forget to include directional signs from your parking lot or garage to your establishment and directions within your place of business to restrooms, smoking and nonsmoking areas, customer service stations, exits, and safety zones.
Place multilingual signs, as well as maps, in high traffic areas in the target language. (Make sure the signs are in the correct language for the customers you serve — for example, the Spanish spoken in Spain is quite a bit different from the Spanish spoken in Mexico.)
To reduce the cost of adding multilingual signage, place separate signs below your existing signs instead of having your old signs redone.
Adjusting the height of shelves
In the old days, items were shelved so they were convenient for shoppers.
Nowadays, retailers shelve items to boost sales and profits. One of their strategies is to place the items they want to sell the most at the customer’s eye level. Multicultural customers complicate this strategy in two ways:
What’s at eye level for the average American may not be at eye level for Hispanic, Black, or Asian shoppers.
The products that average Americans are likely to buy may not be popular with customers from other cultures.
The most effective way to overcome these challenges is to make slight adjust- ments to accommodate the “average” shopper. Raising or lowering the shelves by a few inches can make a big impact. Moving a few items that are popular with your multicultural customers from the bottom shelves up one or
Establishing a dress code for employees
Have you ever wandered around an entire store without running into one staff person who could help you? A salesclerk may have been right in front of you, but the person was dressed in such nondescript attire that you had no way of distinguishing her from the patrons. Imagine how confusing this must be for people from outside the United States.
As a service to your customers, have your frontline employees and others with whom customers are likely to interact wear similar clothing so they can be readily identifiable as staff. The clothing need not be an obvious uniform — just something that helps customers spot the people who can assist them without guessing. Having everyone wear tan pants and a white shirt or simply a shirt with a logo and nametag may be sufficient.
It’s amazing how many times I (Michael) have been mistaken for an employee in an office supply or electronics store simply because I’m more professionally dressed than the employees (or perhaps customers just expect an Asian to be high tech). Sometimes I’ll just go along with the gag and help the customer to see how long I can maintain the charade. I also love to see the look on the per- son’s face when he sees me in the checkout line right in front of him.
When you’re a service provider (not a retailer), you’re the product, and how you dress is the packaging. Wear clothing that’s appropriate to the customers you’re serving. In some cases, a polo shirt and khaki pants are appropriate, whereas in other situations, a suit may be required. Studies show that if you dress just a bit more formally than your customers, you convey credibility and authority. Just don’t overdo it.
Setting culturally friendly hours of operation
If you’ve been knocking yourself out to build a multicultural marketing cam- paign and give your establishment a major makeover but still aren’t seeing multicultural customers streaming through your doors, perhaps it’s because your business is open only when these customers are at work.
New immigrants to America may work different hours than longtime citizens. If you want their business, you’d better be open when they have time to do busi- ness. The old banker’s hours of Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
have gone the way of the horse and buggy, especially if you want to do business with people who generally work from early morning to late into the evening.
Find out what hours your customers work and keep your store open during the hours that they’re available to shop. (You can gather this information through
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your own observations or by including a question on a survey, as explained in Chapter 2.) Many businesses that cater to ethnic populations are now open on Saturdays and even Sundays.
If your products and services can be obtained outside of normal retail hours over the Internet, let customers know. Many are Internet savvy and often prefer to shop electronically from the comfort of their own homes after normal business hours.
Adapting Packaging and Pricing for Diverse Clientele
Retailers, including mom-and-pop operations and folks who list items for sale online, are tuned in to the sensibilities of the American consumer. They know how to package items and bundle products in ways to make them most attractive to the masses and how to set price points that are not only com- petitive but also convey a sense of value.
Unfortunately, the same packaging and pricing models and methodologies don’t always have the same effect on customers from other cultures, so you probably need to make some adjustments. In the following sections, we pro- vide the guidance you need.
Repackaging your goods
In the United States, packaging is almost as important (and costly) as the product itself, because manufacturers and retailers are well aware of the need to make a good first impression.
Packaging products so they’re attractive to you or your traditional custom- ers, however, isn’t necessarily going to make them attractive to shoppers from other cultures. In fact, what you consider attractive, they may consider repulsive. In the following sections, we offer some guidance on how to pack- age goods for various cultures. We start with color, the most important ele- ment, followed by shape, graphics, numbers, and (finally) words.
Unfortunately, the manufacturer or supplier usually has more control (in many cases full control) over packaging. Contact your suppliers and ask whether they have different packaging options for different markets (some do). You may also have some control over packaging if you buy in bulk and package items yourself. As a last resort, you can explore obtaining your prod-
If you’re importing products from your customers’ home country (as we describe later in this chapter), the packaging is very likely to follow all the rules we describe in the following sections, in addition to being labeled in the customers’ native tongue. The only adjustment you may need to make is to add an English translation if you’re trying to sell the product to native English speakers, too. (Refer to Chapter 5 for more about translations.)
Coordinating colors with cultures
Picking the right colors is a key first step in wrapping your products in the right packaging, because color grabs the shopper’s attention. Because we cover the general importance of color earlier in this chapter in the section
“Coloring yourself multicultural,” here we provide you with a quick reference guide to the significance of colors for different cultures (see Table 7-1).
Table 7-1 A Guide to Colors in Different Cultures
Culture Positive Colors Negative Colors
Asian Indians red, maroon, yellow, dark green, dark yellow
white, black Asians gold, red*, green, yellow white, purple, black,
pink Hispanics green, red, white, yellow,
brown, orange
blue Middle Easterners blue (Iran), yellow (Saudi
Arabia), green (Middle East, but because it’s holy, avoid using it in advertising)
black
Native Americans earth tones, red, blue, green, yellow
varies according to tribe (ask your customers)
African Americans bright colors black
Americans red, white, blue, green, yellow black
* Japanese customers may perceive red negatively, because in their home country red is used for price tags on deeply discounted products. Red also has negative connotations for Buddhists because it’s associated with death.
Reshaping your containers
Although the color of your packaging is most important, shape runs a close second. Should you put your product in a cardboard package, a bottle, tube, or can? Of course, what you’re selling heavily influences the package you choose, so you have to find out, through market research, how certain prod- ucts you sell are typically packaged in other countries.
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If you’re a retailer, packaging will also influence the very products you order.
Find out from existing customers what kind of packaging they’re used to in their home country. When ordering toothpaste, for example, do your custom- ers prefer it in tubes or pumps?
Being careful with pictures
Packaging often includes images, because we all know that “A picture is worth a thousand words.” But the message communicated by a picture on a package may be offensive to certain members of a particular culture. Here are some recommendations for using images and other graphics wisely if you’re design- ing your own packaging or for ordering goods appropriately:
Avoid images of scantily clad women. Yes, even on bikini packages.
Showing models in skimpy outfits can be extremely offensive to some cultures such as those from the Middle East.
Use fewer words when trying to appeal to high-context cultures. High- context cultures rely more on imagery and symbols rather than words.
Work with a graphic designer who knows how to design packaging for your target group. She should be familiar with the difference between high-context and low-context advertising as well as other cultural nuances. (For more about high- and low-context cultures, visit Chapter 3.) Avoid certain hot-button images and select positive images instead. As
discussed in Chapter 5, some images that Americans don’t think twice about have a powerfully negative association in other cultures. Clocks and watches, for example, generally symbolize death throughout most of Asia. To many Japanese, doves symbolize death (not world peace).
Although dogs are a popular pet in the United States, Muslims believe they’re unclean, so including an image of a dog on food packaging would probably be a bad idea — unless, of course, you’re selling dog food.
When you choose images that your customers feel favorably toward, you silently reinforce your commitment to their culture.
• Southeast Asian Indians like to see mango leaf designs, conch shells, peacocks, and the lotus flower, which are positive sym- bols. The half moon with stars, however, is specific to the Muslim religion and wouldn’t be viewed favorably by Hindus. Many Asian Indians also believe owls and cats to be unlucky.
• For Asians, pictures of tigers, dragons, bamboo, fish, and flowers are viewed positively, while snakes are generally avoided.
• For Native Americans, the moon, the sun, eagles, horses, and buffaloes are very positive, while you should avoid pictures of tomahawks, arrows, and feather headdresses, which tend to stereotype members of this group.
• African Americans are often drawn to religious Christian images such as crosses, church steeples, and African ceremonial masks, as well as pictures of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other famous black leaders. Avoid anything having to do with the Civil War and pictures of Confederate flags and plantations.
Promote family values. Many high-context cultures value family even more than people in the United States do, so images of family are usually a plus, particularly if the images include people from the culture you’re trying to appeal to.
Avoid stereotypes. When including images of people from other cul- tures, avoid stereotypes. For instance, while using pictures of Mexican Americans when targeting that group is good, showing them wearing serapes or sombreros and taking a siesta beneath a tree is bad.
Keeping numbers in mind
Who would think that a baker’s dozen (13 rather than 12) would be popular in the United States, where high-rises often skip the 13th floor to avoid bad luck? Well, we guess nobody’s going to complain when they’re getting an extra doughnut.
However, items packaged in certain taboo numbers may turn away some of your multicultural shoppers, so you may want to avoid packaging items in groups of four for Asian customers or three for Filipinos. (We discuss cultural numerology in more detail earlier in this chapter.)
If you do happen to get a shipment of products in that are packaged in a taboo quantity, consider repackaging them for your multicultural clientele and ordering a little more carefully in the future.
Labeling your packages in the right language
When selling products to customers who speak a different native language, consider making your packaging bilingual. You can place a label in the other language right next to English label or on the sides of packages so it’s readily visible to the customer.
Have the translation done by someone who’s familiar not only with the language but also with the culture and the product. You may also need to convert weights and measures, dates, and times; legal text; safety warnings; nutritional facts; and regulatory wording into your target audience’s language. If you import products, remember to translate the label into English for customers who prefer English.
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