Let's start with its grocery and housewares departments. And let's observe the sublime use of color here. Coordinated color. Products chosen for display based on the similarity or compatibility of their packaging colors.
The effect is compelling. Simple tubes of lotion or bottles of oil take on a whole new level of interest when arranged in a color coordinated manner on these rounders. And a strikingly similar result is achieved when the same selection process is applied to detergents and dishwashing powders.
Think of any current grocer or big box store you shop frequently. Then compare the in-aisle arrangements of packaged goods to what has been artfully achieved at Le Bon Marche.
Even the vegetables get this treatment. Carefully arranged to make a colorful, sculptural impression, these onions cry out for attention and your consideration. When was the last time you experienced that at an American grocery chain?
The same result is achieved with the green beans shown below-- scattered in profusion but highlighted with just a few well-placed and contrasting mushrooms that draw the eye in.
These simple details-- color coordination, minimal color contrast, considered arrangement of commodity products-- go a long way toward making the experience of shopping Le Bon Marche a noteworthy one. But these practices do more than just look nice. Every one of them reinforces the brand's upscale position, even in categories as lowly and non-upscale, and generally disregarded as brand vehicles, as string beans and dishwashing liquid. This is a retailer that understands the importance of expressing its brand in every item that it sells, and acts on it.
--Timothy Cohrs
