trial-and-error

デパートでは、売り上げをあげるために様々な試みをしているようです。

Well-established department store chains have been drastically rearranging the layouts of their sales floors.
The focus of the changes is the tendency for certain goods--clothes, foods, juice and miscellaneous items--to always be sold in the same corners.
While online shopping is on the rise, department stores are getting competitive by making sales floors places where customers can enjoy shopping while also strolling for fun.
But some customers have complained that they are confused by the changes, and so department stores have continued the trial-and-error process.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000191444

今回、取り上げたい表現はtrial-and-errorです。trialは、「裁判、試み、試練」などの意味がありますが、trial-and-errorで「試行錯誤」という意味になります。(『ジーニアス英和辞典 第４版』大修館) これは日本語にも入っていますね。

念のため、The Free Dictionaryでも確認してみますと"A method of reaching a correct solution or satisfactory result by trying out various means or theories until error is sufficiently reduced or eliminated." とありました。

ショッピングモールなど、気軽に家族で行くことのできる施設が増えている一方で、デパートも生き残るために必死なのですね。(Nat)