In an age of digitisation, brick-and-mortar stores are taking on a new role where the customer experience is paramount. So how does this impact store design and shopfitting? Here, RLI takes a look at some of the emerging trends in the sector and uncovers what’s new in store.
In years gone by, shopfitting was much less important to businesses than it is today and consisted mainly of installing shelves, counters and other basic fixtures that were necessary to store and display the goods that retailers sold. In recent years, retailers have learnt to understand the importance of smart, modern and attractive presentation, and many change the style of their outlet on quite a regular basis just to keep it looking fresh and modern. The importance of good design has also been recognised by other types of business, including offices and even factories, while many organisations like museums, libraries and leisure centres have also adopted effective interior design.
So, what must the shops of the future do to lure customers from their sofas and into the city for shopping? Silvio Kirchmair, CEO of umdasch The Store Makers suggests the following: “Essentially, we see more investments in the strengths of brick-and-mortar retail in an effort to set it apart from online retail businesses – that means investing in the customer experience and consulting aspects of the business. This frees up more time for improved customer service, while employees become brand ambassadors. Shopfitting must provide a stage and create opportunities, with digital elements for example. Electronic shelf labels can simplify processes and expand capacities, allowing associates to focus their attention on customers and give a personalized customer experience. At any rate, stores must reinvent themselves on a regular basis, which is a result of ever-shortening renovation cycles. Flexible and modular shopfitting solutions can optimize long-term investments in this setting.”
In times of digitisation, brick and mortar stores take on a new role: The experience moves into the centre of its raison d’être. The biggest difference between online shopping and offline shopping is the sensual experience. Retailers will have to place increasing emphasis on this in the future. Says Jutta Blocher of architectural and interior design firm Blocher Partners from Stuttgart, Germany: “The most important trend is that with an increase in digitisation, the haptic experience is gaining in importance again because the store space is the only place where we can experience a product with all our senses.”
According to a design:retail article entitled Building Blocks, penned by Joann Plockova, a new experience trend popping-up in the industry is the use of shipping containers as one-of-a-kind shopping experiences that are appearing in cities from London to Prague to New York. Along with single store pop-ups, these sustainable modular building blocks are being stacked up to create entire marketplaces. Canada’s largest shipping container marketplace – “stackt” by LGA Architectural Partners, Toronto’s stackt spans two city blocks, making it Canada’s largest shipping container market. Looking into the future, Sam Langley Swain, Strategy Director at Green Room Design says that retail in 2025 will be all about multi-sensory social sanctuaries, whilst Lucy McLaren, Senior Strategist at Household Design says by 2025 people should expect retail to be more immersive, disruptive and personalised.
Bricks-and-Mortar Across the World
Led by a consortium of private and public entities and implemented by Adidas’ in-house agency Act3, the Knit For You pop-up experience by Adidas in Berlin, Germany explored the idea of localised production while empowering individuals with interactive technology to co-create bespoke garments. Created by the idea of always being in beta-mode, Knit For You offers people an opportunity to join the ongoing quest of Adidas to better understand, and improve upon, the processes that will shape the future. Owned by Buly owners Victoire de Taillac and her husband Ramdane Touhami, Buly has opened its first store in Tokyo. Located in Daikanyama, the cool, chic central Tokyo shopping neighbourhood, the 50sq m Buly store offers the brand’s rich array of some 750 products. The store design is itself a unique concoction – literally divided into two. One side, 19th century ornamentation – installed by French craftsmen and made of precious imported boiserie wood cabinets, containing hundreds of apothecary’s bottles. The opposite side, built by Japanese artisans, is made of waxed cement with illuminated lunettes highlighting Buly ideas.
Meanwhile in Sydney, Aesop’s latest store features a pinewood stud wall encloses this Aesop store in Sydney, which architects Mikk Studio has furnished with domestic items to evoke 1960s Australian homes. The store has been designed to reflect traditional domestic life and stir up a sense of déjà vu amongst locals. It’s fronted by a grid of pinewood planks and panels, intended to resemble the structural framework of post-war suburban homes in Australia. Another rich retail environment can be found in Dubai, where AWR Lifestyle has introduced Angels, a new concept store to ensure shopping with children is an enjoyable and fun experience. With the aid of Barber Design, the luxury childrenswear retailer has created an awesome interior. The entire outlet is ergonomically shaped to symbolise soft angelic attributes: a recurring feature throughout the store that has been designed to engage and delight Angels’ customers.
In San Francisco, Supreme has opened its eagerly anticipated second outpost on the US West Coast. Situated in a voluminous hangar-like building on Market Street, the retail space is 5,000sq ft and features an interior defined by large steel beams, exposed brick walls, a front wall plastered in artworks, concrete flooring, and a suspended wooden skate bowl as the ultimate prop. The store was the result of a collaboration between Supreme’s brand owner, London design studio Brinkworth and the Wilson Brothers. Renowned German footwear manufacturer Birkenstock has launched its inaugural US store in the SoHo area of New York. Implemented by TPG Architecture, the storefront retains the original brick façade emphasizing the quality and longevity of Birkenstock. A mixture of cork, mirrored cubes and light boxes are deftly arranged to display the iconic shoes and sandals within the double height foyer, creating a powerful first impression. Inside, leather chairs, stools and even a leather clad counter complete with stainless steel top feature strongly within this natural environment.
Back in Europe, Enfants Riches Déprimés has opened its first flagship boutique in Paris. The new store is situated at 79 Rue Charlot and was designed by Parisian architect, Didier Faustino, in close conceptualisation with Henri Alexander Levy, the Founder and Creative Director of the brand. The flagship was designed with three principles in mind: an homage to the brand itself, depravity and deconstructed opulence. Designed by Dalziel + Pow, the Spanish debut of Johnnie Walker is a beautiful and perfectly balanced store. The excellent experience has ample room to move around and the store fixtures and fittings are exceptionally well designed and finished. There is a real sense of luxury within this new concept store and there are many different elements that make up the retail display. For example, a bank of illuminated display cabinets, which appear to be recessed into the wall, encompasses wooden cupboards at the base for storage.
Also designed by Dalziel + Pow is the menswear tailor Skopes has launched a dramatically different, visionary new flagship at Westfield, White City. Along with the designers, Skopes applied its forward thinking culture to its distinguished heritage, whilst also expressing the creativity inherent in the brand to develop a radical store concept. From the striking entrance consisting of full height glass panels, enhanced with their trademark orange, factory inspired, framework the store is extremely unique.
Crossing the capital to Covent Garden, Milk Train has recently opened a fabulously cool ice cream parlour. The new store has a heavenly interior, the dreamlike quality of which both instantly relaxes you and conveys an air of nostalgia. It presents its followers with numerous Instagrammable moments. Designed by FormRoom, the entire store is railway themed and perfectly fuses traditional Art Deco and the age of steam; creating one of the coolest train stations imaginable.
New and Innovative Design Trends
When it comes to retail trends, it is now crystal clear online shopping is here to stay and it is only going to increase its market share in years to come. According to the ‘2019 Retail Industry Design Trends’ flooring article by luxury vinyl tile & plank flooring company Parterre, online shopping provides convenience, optimal pricing and oftentimes more selection and options than traditional retail stores. With such service at your fingertips, the design of a store is now more important than ever. Brick-and-mortar stores will never be without their perks no matter how far or how much technology tries to change the experience, or indeed take people away from the high street. People will continue to go for the shopping experience where they can try on apparel or see and touch something before purchasing, or speak to a real person to ask specific questions. To continue to give themselves opportunities in a changing market, companies and retailers must blend together the best of online and retail shopping that caters to every type of consumer.
Parterre’s report explains that innovation in design is a vital tool for retailers to set themselves apart and draw customers into their stores. Each retail space, regardless of industry – department store, supermarket, drug store, boutique etc. – should incorporate some of these emerging trends in retail store design into their spaces. Reinvent the Shopping Experience – To compete with the appeal of online shopping, retailers need to get creative with the physical design of their stores. It’s not just about the experience of going to a store in person, but the experiences had while inside the store. It’s no longer enough to have the items shoppers are looking for; retailers must cultivate an atmosphere and feeling that appeals to all customers. Many stores are including outside elements in their spaces that add to the experience of shopping in person. Some high-end department stores even offer various amenities within their retail spaces including restaurants and spas that enhance the overall shopping experience for the customer. Amenities aren’t the only retail trend in 2019. At New Balance’s flagship store in Brighton, Massachusetts in the US, customers can get a 3D scan of their foot, giving them the exact specifications and ideal fit for their shoe purchase. They then watch their shoes being made in the shoe manufacturing area.
Use the Force of Social Media – When companies design their physical locations, considering the design of an aesthetically pleasing space that shoppers will want to photograph or pose in front of is vital. This social media phenomenon not only makes the shopping experience interactive but is a great way for companies and businesses to get free marketing and further promote their brand. Opt for a Pop-Up Shop – Just as companies are designing stores with fun new accents for social media opportunities, they are also setting up pop-up stores with the same motivation. These unique, “for a limited time” experiences appeal to millennial consumers and provide ample opportunity to spread brand awareness. Pop-ups are spreading to ecommerce businesses, who are opening temporary stores to test out a neighbourhood and get a feel for the performance of their products or services in a real physical space.
Design for Your Demographics – When designing a retail space, considering your audience or target demographic is a foundational step in the process. Identifying that group or group(s) and then choosing design elements that appeal to that demographic is an easy way to draw people in to your stores. Walk This Way – Retail stores have long used flooring design to help shoppers navigate their way through different sections within the store. It’s also common in department stores and supermarkets to install flooring in a specific pattern that drives shopper traffic throughout the store. As it turns out, flooring design is both an art and a science.
Elements of this article taken from SDEA Retail Display Directory 2019-2020: Bringing out the best in retail
