Abstract
As a result of the restrictions caused by the pandemic, education has moved to another space. Online conditions largely override all the methods that can be applied offline. The online interface, as an educational platform, requires a different kind of competence. The extent to which heuristic, Socratic methods can be put into practice in online education depends primarily on the creativity of those working on the front lines. The aim of this study is to illustrate how fiction can be applied — in this case, Émile Zola’s novel The Ladies’ Delight, primarily in the teaching of commercial marketing — in order for students to be emotionally involved in the educational process and to be part of the experiential learning during a pandemic.
The growth of the twenty-first-century world’s complexity, with its challenges and intense dynamism, has created the need for a paradigm shift within the economic education system earlier, before the current crisis. More creative students who are open to changes and cope efficiently with uncertainty, who are proactive and problem-solving, are desiderata in a new global economy. Thus, the issue regarding academics adapting their teaching styles to the diverse generation of students has been debated and promoted by researchers for many years (Becker & Watts, 2001; van Wyk, 2015). Even so, few steps have been taken in this regard, and small achievements have been reported in the last five years, before 2020 (Caviglia-Harris, 2020). The pandemic situation disrupted the current educational environment and forced teachers, educators and academics to reconsider their teaching process and integrate innovative solutions.
As a consequence of the online communication system during the pandemic crisis, the use of technology-integrated teaching and learning of economic and business subjects (van Wyk, 2015), which has arisen since early the 2000s, was strengthened in these times. Many research studies have demonstrated that the use of technologies in education leads to better attitudes towards the learning process and achievements. Undoubtedly, technology today plays an essential role in education. This was strengthened more during the pandemic crisis, when the entire education system moved remotely. Despite many advantages, ICT development and integration in the learning system resulted in a lack of writing skills for students. The students’ comfort to receive a quick reply with short commands and explanations suppresses writing skills and deteriorates their communication skills. When educators talk about what to promote in economic and business education, very often, they point to writing. Writing represents an essential skill for students in business education, to understand the theory and to identify its specific concepts in the real context (Crowe & Youga, 1986; Field et al., 1985; West, 2006). According to Smith et al. (2005), good economic and business writing reflects solid economic thinking, a strong understanding of concepts and the ability to use language as an instrument of economic thoughts.
In this context, a productive alternative in teaching and learning processes seems to be the use of fiction and literary passages. Despite considerable merits, business students are rarely exposed to literature in a business context (Genson, 1992). Thus, the article aims to present how literature can be used in teaching marketing concepts, based on the specific case study of Émile Zola’s novel The Ladies’ Delight, written in 1883, which reveals all the areas of market influences that still play a significant role in commerce nowadays. At the same time, this case study exposes how this approach can improve students’ business thinking and communication, as a general benefit. This approach exemplifies the feature of experiential learning that can be brought into marketing classes due to which the students’ ability to absorb knowledge accordingly with their goals concerning personal skills development could be enhanced even in a remote system.
Literature review
In business education, and especially in marketing, storytelling can be an effective device because stories help to explain multidimensional concepts in a concise manner (Whitney, 2000). Also, storytelling stimulates the creativity of students and improves their communication skills, which represent an important asset for a marketing expert. Since 1973, literary passages have been considered useful in providing vibrant examples of economic concepts, and more instructors insert them in their teaching work (Cotti & Johnson, 2012). Watts and Smith (1989) stated that the main objectives for this approach are to capture the attention of students, enrich the materials needed for study and help instructors with additional examples. Classical literature, like Homer, Plato, Thoreau, Shakespeare, can illustrate principles of delegation, authority and salesforce management, and represent an alternative to teach leadership and management principles (Bumpus, 2000; Clemens & Mayer, 1987). Aesop’s Fables may be used to illustrate and teach several key principles of strategic management (Short & Ketchen, 2005). To explain today’s competitive landscape, Barnett and Hansen (1996) proposed the concept of the Red Queen from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.
The remote or online education system during the pandemic crisis limited more the communication process, reducing interaction with professors and peers during classes. Very often educators cannot interact and observe if the learning objectives were met. Many studies revealed that a big challenge for professors was to maintain the students’ attention during online classes. This generated difficulties of assimilation and understanding of information. That’s why fiction seems to be an effective alternative for teaching economic concepts. Teaching abstract concepts requests, even more than other storytelling, creating the context for subjects to come alive. In this way, Boettke (2005) argued that Atlas Shrugged is the most economically literate work by a major novelist, the main focus of which is telling the story of the consequences of bad economic policies and the moral of bankruptcy, the ideology of egalitarianism and envy. Important economic principles are transferred to students, like the rewards for productive efficiency and innovation, benefits of trade, and production destruction that results from governmental intervention in the economy (Boettke, 2005). In the same manner, Cotti and Johnson (2012) argued that historical novels (The Lost Painting in their case study) create opportunities to introduce students to an economic way of thinking. Moreover, they considered that this practice enriches the students’ learning process, due to connecting them to the economic concepts differently, seeing more value for economics in their daily lives.
Also, according to Nissen et al. (2021), literature can be used as a source of knowledge. This refers to situations in which teachers imply that literary works include content knowledge that may be conveyed to readers. Literary books are sometimes used to teach students about different cultures, people’s lives and/or ethical dilemmas. In such occasions, they convey information about the outside world.
Self-awareness, adaptability, logical judgement, creative problem-solving and learning agility are among the most valued abilities today, according to many corporate executives and managers. Some of them also advocated the importance of reading. Entrepreneurs such as Mark Cuban and Elon Musk have stated that they are book connoisseurs. Of course, the majority of them recommended nonfiction books. However, a growing number of researchers and practitioners have discovered that, unlike business books, which by their very nature spot issues down to a binary of right versus wrong, fictional reading is an efficient technique to improve the brain’s capacity to maintain an open mind while processing information, which is required for good decision-making (Seifert, 2020).
Despite all the advantages of this practice, few studies have been carried out to analyse how novels can contribute to business education, and even fewer which investigate the contribution of fiction to teaching and learning marketing principles. An important footstep in this regard was done by Menon et al. (1988), illustrating how marketing principles in selling can be learnt based on Shakespearean plays, specifically the well-known play Julius Caesar. In their analysis, all steps of the sales process were highlighted, from prospecting and sales presentation to closing the sales. Moreover, different types of approaches from persuasive talk to selling techniques are revealed.
Fiction represents a real treasure chest in terms of marketing. For example, the product life cycle concept can be illustrated with historical cases, like the rise and fall of ancient civilizations and empires. The Emperor’s New Clothes can illustrate social peer pressure on consumer behaviour (Menon et al., 1988). In Agatha Christie’s crime novels, ideas that fundamentally define marketing were formulated. At the same time, in her novel At Bertram’s Hotel (Christie, 1965), she describes all the factors that form the foundation of service marketing and whose existence was disputed by professionals more than fifteen years later as well. Agatha Christie also pointed out the fact that an examination of consumer behaviour is necessary, since seniors’ expectations regarding hotel services are different from the needs of guests at other stages of their lives. The writer’s opinion, meaning that anyone can be an ‘expert’, was passed on by the consulting firm BrainReserve (Kulcsár, 2020).
The use of literature in the teaching process brings simultaneously two other important benefits for students, their reading skills improvement together with writing skills (Arora & Stoner, 1992; Kolb, 2014). Also, considering the remote teaching context, use of literature can create a common perspective for all students, having the same virtual surrounding and script, which can reduce their feeling of isolation that is representative of online education. In the current marketing education literature, there are examples of both the need to incorporate written assignments into the marketing curriculum and examples of these assignments (West, 2006). Many students write occasionally, and very often they do not understand exactly how to connect their ideas to provide a cohesive point of view. Once they have exposure to literature, their adding will help them to understand better the flow of phrasing and their discourse can be enhanced. Furthermore, the purpose of this article is to describe a possible process of teaching commercial marketing concepts using Émile Zola’s novel The Ladies’ Delight. A solid content analysis of the novel in the context of marketing theory is exposed at the beginning of the article. This part reveals that the brand identity concept, customer orientation and effective segmentation already existed at the end of the nineteenth century, and that these are not abstract concepts but an integral part of real economic life. The article also presents a guideline of the teaching process in which students develop their economic thinking based on the novel, which can be used to generate further discussions in the marketing classroom and critical thinking or engage students in written assignments.
Commercial marketing concepts
The role of commerce, however, is becoming more and more important in today’s economy, as a result of which marketing work has become more valuable and the areas that require a special decision are becoming more and more certain. These areas include premises issues, strategic alliances, market information systems, marketing-mix decisions (Törőcsik, 1998). The importance and study of commercial marketing are also necessary because retail is the endpoint where the buyer/consumer can buy the product they need (Vincze, 2010), but they also decide on the choice of the store (Veres, 2005).
However, commercial marketing is one of the categories of services marketing, since commerce is a service itself. Commercial service provides the customer with the opportunity to purchase the demanded products when and where the customer wants them to be purchased (Veres, 2005). Consequently, in the case of commercial marketing, not only is the classical marketing mix — product, price, distribution, promotion (van Waterschoot & Van den Bulte, 1992) — important but also the extended marketing mix: physical evidence, participants (personnel, customer, other customers), process (Rafiq & Ahmed, 1995). Dann (2010) explained that the definitions of both the AMA (American Marketing Association) and CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) represent different functional applications, covering the key issues of commercial marketing, meaning the need for a customer-oriented approach to value generation, and the fulfilment of the long-term goals of the organization through cost recovery and profit. If we start from the premise that commercial marketing is a sub-area of services marketing, then it can be stated that commercial marketing is based on communication and inadequate communication may lead to the appearance of service gap(s), which later may result in customer dissatisfaction (Parasuraman et al., 1985).
At the same time, the tools of marketing communication in commercial marketing consist of business atmosphere, advertising, personal sales, sales incentives and sales promotion services (Törőcsik, 1998). According to this list, it is clear that physical evidence and employees are both important factors in communication.
Physical evidence, and implicitly the importance of the business atmosphere as a market-influencing component, has not faded over time because several customers believe that online shopping is a waste of money and time (Kulcsár et al., 2020).
Customers can perceive a particular commercial unit via its employees. The role of staff is more than significant in the processes, since three of the five elements of the service system — the background institutions of the service company, the front line, service goods, the consumer, other consumers (Srinivasan, 2014) — assume the presence of employees. Consequently, in the service sector — and implicitly also in commercial units — the employees come first (Olins, 2004), otherwise the given unit has to reckon with the growing number of dissatisfied customers. The ‘caring attitude of employees, paying attention to consumers’ problems and solving them also adds value to a brand’ (Kulcsár et al., 2020, p. 91).
Furthermore, it should be noted that:
the role of commercial marketing is indisputable in our society, not only from an economic but also from a social point of view, as several studies have been published examining the relationship between commercial marketing and social marketing and their positive impact on society (Kraak et al., 2009; Lahtinen et al., 2020; Lough & Pharr, 2010; Nowak et al., 2015). Moreover, according to Anker and Kappel (2011, p. 284) ‘a new marketing hybrid — commercial social marketing — has arrived’;
commercial marketing involves measures by which commercial units develop their current and potential business relationships or assume that the needs of customers are met in a way that proves to be better than that of the competitors (Müller-Hagedorn, 1995).
Starting from the above, teaching these main concepts for marketing classes can be facilitated by Émile Zola’s novel The Ladies’ Delight, which could be considered a basic book of commercial marketing due to its strong examples in this regard.
Use of The Ladies’ Delight to teach commercial marketing concepts
An important issue in today’s teaching practice is to stimulate real learning through the implementation of the experiential style of teaching instead of the traditional one. According to experiential learning promoters, students remember only a small part of what they listen to, but they will remember a large part of what they are actively engaged in (Hawtrey, 2007). Experiential learning includes students’ active participation in learning by doing as well as reflection on those activities, allowing them to apply their theoretical knowledge to practical actions in a variety of contexts both within and outside the classroom (Kolb, 2014). In conclusion, it is more efficient to get them involved, and in this way, learning will be connected to a practical or lived experience. Among a wide range of experimental learning models, several are relevant in business education, like workshops, problem-based learning, case-based learning and inquiry-based learning. Active experimentation, physical experience, reflective observation and abstract conceptualization are the four stages of Kolb’s (2014) experiential learning paradigm. Therefore, in the case-based learning model, very popular in business education, the process implies — among many aspects — telling a story, focusing on an interest-arousing issue, creating empathy with central characters and provoking a conflict. Considering all of these, in the following, we illustrate how Émile Zola’s novel The Ladies’ Delight can be used as an instrument to implement experiential learning during marketing classes. This case study encourages real learning according to which students develop analytical thinking and reflective judgement skills by reading and discussing complex real-life scenarios, in the same manner as case-based learning.
The entire approach was developed during the first semester (2020–21 academic year) of online teaching at the bachelor level of Economy of Commerce, Tourism and Service Specialization (Babes,-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Business Administration Department), in the commercial marketing course (language of instruction: Hungarian).
To achieve the final result of this new approach, the following tools were used:
Moodle platform: students were given a total of 14 assignments for each chapter of the novel. The tasks were designed with the primary objective of developing the creativity of the university students, since the role of creative skills is significant in the field of marketing;
the evaluation system of the university: the undergraduate students evaluate the courses at the end of each semester via an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of rating scale questions and open-ended questions. The open-ended questions allow students to formulate which factors have led to satisfaction and which factors have led to dissatisfaction. It should be noted that the assessment takes place before the exam period, and teachers get the results of the evaluations only after the exam period. The completed questionnaires are anonymous.
Based on such experience in using the novel, we acknowledged that the attitude and interest of the students towards marketing topics were improved significantly. At the same time, their writing and communication skills were slightly enhanced. To accomplish the goal of this study, we continue with a content analysis regarding the most important commercial marketing concepts as we had identified in the novel. Three important themes regarding commercial marketing can be emphasized based on Mouret’s case (Mouret being the central character of the novel): target market, an essential step for any company in the development of a marketing plan, customer management process, which plays today a central role in building trusting relations with customers, and promotion activities. The analysis gives us the possibility to come to the end of this part with the innovative teaching activities and assignments implemented or suggested to be followed using The Ladies’ Delight.
Learning about the world from fictional literature can be achieved using analogical reasoning (Todd, 2019) specifically. This is the method proposed in the case of Emile Zola’s novel. If we want to know whether we can gain justified true beliefs by reasoning analogically from fiction, we must consider how probable an analogical argument based on parallels between fictional and actual situations is to offer us justified views about the world. In the case of the novel The Ladies’ Delight, the design of the experiential learning model focuses more on the practices and functions that can be identified in the commercial sector in the nineteenth century, providing an accurate, detailed comprehension of some marketing concepts.
The tasks inspired by the novel can be designed in a way to contribute to the students’ creative development. Consequently, the novel, through the tasks formulated (by the teacher), can make an important contribution towards enhancing the emotional sensitivity of students. This aspect is more than significant if one considers that in the field of marketing rational knowledge represents a solid, necessary basis, but emotional sensitivity offers the possibility of differentiation, which serves a substantial added value.
Target market and consumer behaviour
Consumer markets can be segmented according to several criteria as well. The literature notes the following segmentation variables: geographical, demographic, psychographic and behavioural. Demographic variables are one of the most popular types of segmentation, since consumer needs, brand preferences and product use range are very often related to demographic variables. Age and life cycle, life circumstances, gender, income, generation and social classes form the best-known demographic variables.
Regarding the group of customers of the 1880s, two basic segments can be distinguished in the novel: (1) the passionate customer: who loves to shop, who is excited about shopping, who makes a purchase even if it is not necessary, for whom shopping is a pleasant pastime, who is attracted by every department, who enjoys the hassle of shopping, who waits for the delivery of goods, who is sensitive to sales, who mainly likes to buy clothes, who likes to shop with others; (2) the conscious customer: for whom exceptional cheapness is attractive only if it is associated with the right quality, who recognizes the reasons for the placement of departments and products.
The literature defines the two categories of customers identified above as new and old consumers since one of the best-known characteristics of the new consumer is that they buy smartly and think in terms of value for money, and the old consumer is a social customer looking for price reduction and experience (Törőcsik, 2006).
However, important characteristics from a consumer behaviour point of view are revealed in the novel for Mouret’s customer base:
direct mail order is not attractive to everyone, since there are buyers who like to touch/feel the goods, because it is a pleasure for them;
the fight between competitors is attractive to customers, as they receive a gift/the parties seek their favours;
the buyer may abuse the return option: they return the ordered clothes after making a copy or wearing them at a ball, saving the rental fee for the ball gown;
customers may also abuse tired sellers;
some customers can be characterized by dominant behaviour.
Grounded on these aspects, concepts like hedonistic consumer and consumerism can be debated with students. Zola captures the importance of temperament in the buying process with remarkable accuracy. For example:
Madame Marty, carried away by her rage for spending, took everything at The Ladies’ Delight, without choosing, just as the articles appeared; Madame Guibal walked about the shop for hours without ever buying anything, happy and satisfied to simply feast her eyes; Madame de Boves, short of money, always tortured by some immoderate wish, nourished a feeling of rancour against the goods she could not carry away; Madame Bourdelais, with the sharp eye of a careful practical housewife, made straight for the bargains, using the big establishments with such a clever housewife’s skill that she saved a heap of money; and lastly, Henriette, who, very elegant, only procured certain articles there, such as gloves, hosiery, and her coarser linen. (Zola, 1883, p. 47)
The main objective of this exercise is to familiarise students with one of the primary data collection methods used in commercial marketing. Observation, as a method of quantitative research, has always played an important role in customer profiling.
Customer service management process
Today’s business environment is characterized by fierce competition; the customer service management process represents a key element to deal with fragile situations before harming customers’ satisfaction (Bolumole et al., 2003). Thus, the novel highlights the management involvement in developing this process and the benefits of it. Mouret recognized that the behaviour of salespeople in a given store location contributed greatly to quality assessment of the service and that they are the most important communicators in the business, so he paid close attention to their selection. Concerning those working on the front lines, The Ladies’ Delight management set expectations such as:
product knowledge: applicants had to have one year of internship, since selling is a complex and delicate craft that cannot be learned overnight. In addition to guidance, the seller had to provide advice to the buyer, so it was preferred that the potential employee had experience with a reputable company;
relationship-building skills: constant gentleness, friendliness, calm courtesy, making a good impression on the customer, attentiveness;
external appearance: beauty was not a selection criterion; however, pleasant facial features were important because of the public. Some also wore jewelry, but their hair was the distinguishing feature (use of hair extensions). The company provided uniforms to its employees (e.g., in the clothing department, it was a black silk dress) to identify them with the departments;
change of purchase desires: the seller could express their own opinion about a particular product in case the buyer was unsure or could not find the right item: some women were affected by the seller’s opinion and this provided security. Furthermore, some female customers assumed that they were served better by men and preferred them, since they knew their needs better than female servers.
To increase customer satisfaction, the following measures were introduced:
sales training: evening courses were organized in the store; English and German, grammar, arithmetic, geography were taught;
female auxiliary staff were entrusted with carrying the goods, which reduced the fatigue of salespeople;
customers were accompanied by employees from one department to another.
His primary goal was to keep his employees fully in line with customer expectations while maximizing the benefits for the department store.
Mouret knew that a satisfied employee would result in a satisfied customer. Therefore:
they had medical care, a library, a hairdresser’s and a games room. However, riding and fencing lessons were also held;
if turnover increased, salespeople were promoted and their wages doubled;
they could enjoy small attentions such as free coffee;
subcontractors were not involved in supply/catering to increasing employee satisfaction.
Market manipulation areas
The novel also presents the role of the store environment in manipulating the customer’s attitudes and buying behaviours — a principle which was noted in the literature more than 100 years later (Bost, 1987). Thus, one can see Mouret’s ability to use as marketing means, contributing to the atmosphere of the business: (a) the environment of the store; (b) its portal; (c) the shop window; (d) the atmosphere of the sales area; and (e) the presentation of the goods.
(a) The store environment is noted in the literature as the first element of the business atmosphere. Émile Zola also introduced this element as the first step in his novel: The Ladies’ Delight store is located in a very frequented place in the city centre.
(b) The store is a large building with abundant gilding and a monumental façade: placed on it is the Woman, surrounded by an army of laughing little Cupids. The flags placed on the façade serve not only as a decorative but also as a communication element. The materials used (mosaic, tile and terracotta) and the lights (light bulbs) appear as components of the portal. The main gate most closely resembles an arch of triumph, and the department store is a dominant, multicoloured palace whose shadows have enveloped and dominated the entire area.
(c) The protagonist of Émile Zola provided an insight into the world of the store with his shop windows and mirrors. It provided a kind of transparency, since this kind of display of the department store allowed the customer not only to get a taste of the selection in the store but also to gain an insight into the entire inner life of the store. Furthermore, it should be noted that Mouret was a revolutionary window dresser, creating a school of brute, amazing power. He recognized that using one colour has a much greater impact on his customer base than a cavalcade of different colours. It is also a fact that he mixed different shades of the chosen colour: the effect was indisputable.
(d) The atmosphere of the sales area was highlighted by the boundless attention. Mouret was convinced that no corner of the store should be neglected; there should be noise and crowds everywhere — full of life. Large spaces dominated, where the air and light flowed freely through the windows. The importance of the interior décor of the room is also confirmed by the following: (1) the use of rare Middle Eastern rugs as decorations in order to attract an upscale, art-savvy target audience that has already been amazed and surprised at the gate; (2) a huge hall with lavish luxuries where picture exhibitions were organized; (3) a mosaic-paved hall with bright mirrors; (4) a cavalcade of colours/furnishings (sea-green marble foundation walls, black marble corner columns, support pillars, mirrored windows in iron frames, sculptures, names of goods engraved in marble tiles); (5) variety of material used (enamel-brick base wall, mosaics, tiles, terracotta decorations, iron, marble, mirrors).
(e) Mannequins and creativity also played an important role in the presentation of the goods: an exhibition organized of umbrellas and a house built of gloves. Two products that played a significant role in women’s wardrobes at the time. Mouret recognized that the way prices were displayed had an impact on the mood of purchase: he placed large price posters on the departments, with huge numbers that sparked sharply from the mass of the goods.
It was evident to Mouret that advertising is one of the most important means of communication in commerce, since consumers need to be informed about the offer and the company itself, and consequently, Mouret seized every opportunity as far as advertising was concerned:
he spent a lot on newspaper ads, posters. However, he also resorted to surreptitious advertising known in the literature: newspapers (voluntarily) wrote that the department store had its band to organize a concert and ball;
the motion advertisement was directed by Mouret as follows: (1) handing out balloons among the children — with the inscription The Ladies’ Delight; (2) displaying the name of the store on all four sides of the vehicles and with a poster on top advertising the day’s bargain; (3) horse-drawn carriages advertising the gold-and-purple coat of arms of the store.
All of Mouret’s efforts were to get his target segment to buy more and more in his store. He was able to achieve this goal through sales incentives, giving his consumers the feeling that they were getting some (financial) benefits. Based on the novel, students can identify different incentives applied by The Ladies’ Delight store:
distributing lists with a sample of materials in the store;
introduction of the return method: the employee must take back the goods in all cases, even when used;
refunds (in the form of discounts for dissatisfied customers);
organizing events (fashion show, concert);
gifts: handing out sweets to children if they openly protest, if their parents do not buy the product they want, or offering violets to ladies (when buying any trifles);
promotional actions: the result of the price reduction is nothing more than a fight between buyers for a given product (even today it could be observed that buyers are deeply involved, sometimes with big sacrifices, in acquiring a specific product or brand [McEwen, 2008]).
Important observations regarding these actions are that repeated price reductions are a temptation that the (vast) majority of women cannot resist, and end-of-season price reductions also awaken (for women) the hunter’s instinct. Sales and result-oriented shopping are the bargain category. In this case, the buyer ‘hunted down’ the selected goods in a more favourable way than the ‘crowd’ did (Törőcsik, 2007).
The incentive effect of the services offered by The Ladies’ Delight was indisputable, but they also included the possibility of differentiation from the competition. It was clear to Mouret that,
knowledge of foreign languages (now almost every second salesperson speaks German or English);
home delivery of purchased goods; and
opening hours can significantly increase the volume of goods sold.
After content analysis of the novel, the following conclusions can be drawn and discussed with students during classes:
the first player to appear on the market wins because they already have a relevant public;
reality is what consumers perceive. According to the literature, it is not appropriate to say that consumers’ beliefs do not correspond to reality: ‘these are their beliefs, and that’s all that matters’ (Randall, 2000, p. 65);
Mouret’s customer is also the customer of the present age, since the customer living in the modern age also exhibits either classic consumer behaviour or new consumer behaviour, and moreover, the characteristics of both segments can be discovered in some customers;
the principles formulated by Mouret are still valid today. Their existence is indisputable, since they are available on a day-to-day basis regarding commercial units.
Experiential learning activities imply among others to raise students’ inner motivation towards a topic and help them learn informally about different theoretical aspects during discussions and debates with others. Literature can create this context for discussions, and in our case, studying the novel The Ladies’ Delight was embraced by students. According to new study from the field of neuroscience, reading literary fiction can help people develop empathy, theory of mind and critical thinking skills. While reading nonfiction is beneficial for gaining knowledge, it does nothing to enhance emotional intelligence, which is a far more difficult aim to achieve. Reading fiction, on the other hand, is associated with enhanced social awareness and a better understanding of other people’s motivations (Djikic et al., 2013; Seifert, 2020).
Given the larger number of learning objectives that can be achieved based on reading and discussing the novel The Ladies’ Delight, we propose two pedagogical strategies to be developed. On the one hand, quantitative outcomes point out the identification of different concepts emphasized previously in this article. Instead of a simple quiz, after reading the novel, students are given writing assignments, i.e., summaries, essays and presentations, which facilitate a more emotional connection with the novel and a stronger inner motivation of the students.
An efficient type of assignment to master the promotional mix was to write a summary, which presented all those aspects related to marketing communication. The summary focused on some of the following set of issues:
presentation of the promotional activities carried out inside and outside of the store presented in the novel;
classification of the captured actions according to the promotional mix;
identification of those promotional actions which are considered not to be lost over time but which are valid at any time in any type of company;
comparing the promotional mix of the period where the plot takes place with today’s promotional mix.
As presented earlier, several fragments capturing the buying and consumer behaviour in Zola’s vision can be identified in the novel. These passages can be distributed to students in order to perform content analysis. Based on what they find in the passage, the assignment requires them to write an article that deals with the type of buyers specific to the era in which the action of the novel takes place. In this case, students would perform a detailed analysis of the purpose of the purchase, as well as the consumption needs and typology of buyers, respectively. On the basis of the achieved results, students can carry out an analysis comparing consumer behaviour of previous times with consumer behaviour of today, taking into account social, economic and political differences.
To become aware of the importance of human resources and implicitly of the relationship between management and employees, students wrote an essay focusing on the organizational culture of the department store described in The Ladies’ Delight. In this way, students performed a detailed analysis of the following cultural dimensions:
process orientation compared to results orientation;
employee orientation compared to work orientation;
open-system orientation compared to closed-system orientation;
the orientation towards a reduced control compared to the one towards an intense control;
pragmatic orientation compared to normative orientation.
Using these assignments, an additional objective was attained, that is, improving the students’ communication skills, especially writing skills. Today it has become an essential professional skill to possess good writing skills. Especially for business students, it plays a fundamental role in their career to be able to transmit their opinions, to explain complex situations or strategies, to justify their future decisions or to describe marketing tactics and policies in a report. Therefore, these written assignments allow students to develop their analytical and critical skills and their ability to think independently and more creatively. Whenever they have to illustrate a marketing concept, they use their understanding, knowledge and practice to justify their ideas properly. Choosing the appropriate words, syntax and phrases represent important tools and strategies to reveal their thoughts. In comparison with other practices, this teaching approach generates higher results in this regard, especially in today’s context of the online education system when students perceive a lack of support from teachers in the learning process. Regarding the qualitative approach strategy, we suggest that an experiential learning process can be added.
Based on what is presented in the third chapter of the novel, students should write a story. In fact, they have to create an (imaginary) product. They need to write a tale which ends with the moral of the story. The purpose of this task is to (a) develop imagination, (b) teach how to articulate consequences and (c) raise awareness of the fact that children form the most critical target segment. Dealing with children as a target segment is more than necessary, since their role is increasingly important in families’ purchasing decisions. At the same time, the third part of the novel also looked at an issue that employs more and more professionals today, despite the fact that ‘the theoretical and practical debate regarding commercial marketing to promote sufficiency is in its early days’ (Gossen et al., 2019, p. 15). As a result, students gain insight into an issue that is noted in the literature as an emerging research question. In this case, the following topic of discussion is suggested: What can trade do to increase sustainability?
Another innovative teaching method based on the novel is conducting an imaginary interview with Mouret or with Manuel Arroyo or Oliviero Toscani. Students should construct an imaginary interview based on Chapter 12 of the novel. The interview relies on the parts of the aforementioned chapter which describe commercial marketing. Consequently, the following five basic pillars provide the basis for the imaginary interview:
internationalization of a given brand;
advertising-related activities;
children as a target segment;
the issue of seasonality in trade;
further training of employees.
The aim is to practise the application of qualitative research methods that can be used to obtain primary information in an innovative approach. As a result of conducting the (in-depth) interviews, students can develop their research skills. During these assignments, the students use their perceptions, knowledge and creativity to apply some of the commercial marketing concepts in practice. In this way, students will gain not only knowledge about commercial marketing but the ability to apply the knowledge gained. The teaching style enables students to solve real-life problems by integrating marketing theory and practice.
The use of The Ladies’ Delight in the educational process resulted in the following:
students perceived the learning process not as a task but as an experience: they scored higher on solving the tasks and scored higher on the exam;
students’ involvement and interest in the subject was more intense: uploading weekly assignments to the Moodle platform was more frequent than in the case of another subject with the lecturer where the lecturer used a different pedagogical method;
students highlighted a larger number of factors affecting satisfaction compared to the other subject, in which the same lecturer used the literature in its classical sense during teaching.
Consequently, the use of fiction, as illustrated in the matrix below (Figure 1), creates value/opportunity in the educational process.
The Ladies’ Delight matrix.
In view of the above, Émile Zola’s novel The Ladies’ Delight can make a major contribution to the educational process because: (1) students can acquire those concepts that define the discipline of marketing of commerce in a less formal way; and (2) assignments can be created in order to contribute to the development of individual creativity in a personalised way.
Conclusions
The story of The Ladies’ Delight by Émile Zola illustrates how commercial marketing principles and strategies can be developed and sustained in the real activity of a store. The novel thoroughly conveys that Émile Zola writes about truths not necessarily flattering but still valid and related to today’s market and customers:
department stores compete for women, they speculate on their emotions, they are impact hunters;
it is essential to ‘disassemble’ the meaningful order that has served the purpose of informing customers on their own. The point is to make the customer get lost because (1) it multiplies the customers, (2) it triples the size of the store, (3) customers are forced to go through departments they would not have gone into otherwise.. and there is the temptation they cannot resist;
stores can steal ideas from other commercial units, innovation and copy strategy can be fruitful successfully;
the impact of front-line workers on purchases is significant, especially if they can offer the goods persistently: ‘this is the last piece’, ‘they will raise the price’, ‘the factory has gone bankrupt’, ‘such an opportunity will not happen again’;
the business consumes all salespeople before the age of 40;
the very wide product range will make most women dizzy and they will throw their money around.
These observations are important insights in teaching marketing concepts in a more experiential style.
Based on the above, we argued that The Ladies’ Delight is a useful instrument for introducing marketing commercial principles to business students and advancing modern concepts related to today’s market reality like consumerism, consumer psychology, integrated marketing, branding, globalization and seasonal selling strategies.
Although several strategies can be captured in the novel regarding the classic marketing mix (product, price, distribution, promotion) and the extended marketing mix (people, processes, physical evidence, consumers, complementary services), it should not be forgotten that these must be dealt with in detail, depending on the historical period in which the fiction takes place. Consequently, it is necessary to reformulate them in the light of changes in the demographic, economic, socio-cultural, political-legal, natural and technological environment. There may also be differences in task design depending on the year of study and the study programme itself, where the subject marketing of commerce is taught.
To develop critical thinking, we also recommend watching the film directed by Mark Jobs (based on the novel), since the director places the relationship between management and employees in another dimension. In this case, the following marketing discussion is suggested: Are commercial units focused on clients or employees? According to some opinions, the client is always right and it is not worth proving the opposite, since the reality is what customers perceive. Others dispute this claim and believe that employees are the most valuable asset of brands. It is the job of students to take a position: the employee is the key to success, or the employee is rarely able to create useful marketing value. The use of marketing debates contributes significantly to the development of students’ communication and argumentation skills.
The use of literature in teaching economics and business subjects represents an opportunity to increase and maintain the attention of students even in the online education system because the story creates a common base for discussions and an appealing virtual surrounding. Reading the same novel facilitates students to share perceptions, attitudes and emotions, not only during classes and in this way reducing their feeling of isolation characteristic in the remote education system. Through the fiction, students became more easily involved in the learning process, because they gradually discover some examples in the story which afterwards can be associated with appropriate concepts.
The success of this teaching activity depends a lot on the quality of topics discussed, assignments advanced and instructions given. A central role will be played by instructors; they must lead the class discussion carefully in such a way as to encourage participation and creativity in identifying the marketing concepts and transferring the right conclusions regarding the application of them in real life.
The approach developed in the case study of Émile Zola’s novel could be replicated in many others. The learning strategies adopted represent important ways to help students connect with business and marketing subjects. Also, they can perceive their implications in their daily lives.