Free Secret Shopper

Retailtainment: the future of shopping?

A little French girl tugs at her friend's sleeve, sheer excitement pulsing through her body, her eyes gleaming. "Viens voir c'est trop rigolo!" she shouts ("Come see. It's too funny!") and drags a small boy across a blue pixie dust trail to the windows of a 28ft-tall castle. The pair find themselves standing next to a large duck and a mouse dressed in soldiers' uniforms. The children giggle together while posing for photos with the footmen. The location of this hullabaloo is not inside the pages of a fairytale book, or even a theme park – although it could be – it is, in fact, the new Disney Store on London's Oxford Street, the largest of all of the House of Mouse's European retail branches. Opened last month, the huge shop, which spans two floors, houses animated trees, cartoons whizzing across the walls and mood music all adjusted by a click on an iPod Touch operated by a member of staff.

The idea behind this store is to change a dull retail shopping trip into an interactive, cheerful experience.

An extension of previous high-concept Disney Stores, customers here don't have to endure messy fixtures, grey lighting and staff who are uninterested in helping you. These concept stores provide the kind of entertainment designed to make you – or at least your children – leave the premises grinning from ear-to-ear as you reel from your experiential day out. This is Retailtainment.

On Monday, clothes chain Jane Norman became the latest high street casualty of the recession, as it moved into administration. And as the internet threatens to guzzle up the profits of remaining high street retailers, perhaps it may take an outstanding shopping experience to stir droves of people from their chairs and into the shops. Various phrases have been used over the years to describe the enhancing of shopping stores: "retailtainment" and "entertailment" are obvious word plays.

First coined by American sociologist George Ritzer in his 1999 book, Enchanting a Disenchanted World, Revolutionising The Means of Consumption, "retailtainment" was defined as "the use of sound, ambience, emotion and activity to get customers interested in the merchandise and in the mood to buy". He argued it was all about allure; the dilemma of attracting more customers "while remaining highly rationalised".

Around this time, one of the first successful concept stores in the UK opened in London's Oxford Circus. Since the inception of Nike Town, there has been an explosion of similar outlets in London and around the globe.

HHS cans 'secret shopper' survey - McConnell appreciates Coburn ...

CANCELED— The Obama administration dumped plans yesterday for the so-called secret shopper survey that would have cold-called thousands of doctors to determine the scope of the doctor shortage and find out just how hard it would be to get an appointment – both with government insurance programs and private insurance programs. The program was announced in the federal register two months ago and reported widely after a weekend New York Times article. “After reviewing feedback received during the public comment period, we have determined that now is not the time to move forward with this research project. Instead, we will pursue other initiatives that build on our efforts to increase access to health care providers nationwide,” an HHS official said in a statement yesterday. --The abrupt cancellation came the same day as Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk began to circulate a letter he planned to send HHS. He questioned whether the survey was really the best way to be spending taxpayer money — considering there has already been several studies on the topic. Kirk applauded the program’s cancellation in a statement last night after PULSE broke the news to his office: “I spoke against this misallocation of taxpayer dollars today on the Senate floor because the survey is duplicative of what we already know and funding should be spent solving problems, not studying them.” The POLITICO story: http://politi.co/k6rs3l *** ARE YOU GETTING THE MOST OUT OF PRO? Our Health Care Whiteboard alerts give you short blasts of breaking health care news throughout the day – but you don't get them if you don't sign up. Go to your Manage Alerts page ( http://politico.pro/lvfnLQ ) and click the box for Whiteboards. And while you're there, check out our other alert options – including custom alerts that get you the news you need most, the minute we publish it. Haven’t subscribed to Pro yet? Email subscribe@politicopro.com for more information. *** MCCONNELL APPLAUDS ‘GANG OF TWO’— Sens. Joe Lieberman and Tom Coburn introduced a Medicare plan yesterday, and they both acknowledge neither side will like it too much.

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