In the digital era, retail is undergoing deep changes. More than ever, the point of sale must reinvent itself and the complementarity of traditional shops and new technologies plays a key role. The consumer, constantly connected, now buys anywhere, any time and on any device.
In this context, which role can retail design play in the “store to web” and “web to store” convergence? Issues are crucial: avoiding breaks, facilitating customer route, making the act of buying easier and creating a physical and digital proximity… for a successful shopping experience!
Anne-Marie Sargueil, President of the French Institute of Design: « Architecture, scenography and sociology are the three fields of expertise of the designer’s team today. Staging the customer’s route, offering light, saving time and making it easier… Stores are becoming “chameleon shops” that must adapt to the “morning” customer who is different from the “evening” customer. From the screen to the layout, it is as important to say “hello” than to experiment the product. We need to touch, try, choose, and feel. Malls are taking over the convenience stores’ codes to attract brands and customers. E-commerce must also bring us to the points of sale, because the root of the word “commerce” is “to have relationship with” ».
To meet the needs and requirements of consumers who are looking for interactions, quickness and practicality while buying, the selling space currently needs to be redesigned. New concepts are immerging to gather the physical and digital stores and create a global trade connected to the world.
« It is essential to identify consumers’ expectations and understand the new emerging behaviors which are frequently linked to the new technologies: need for instant information and reactivity », says Lydie Morand (Academic supervisor of the “spatial and interior architecture” program in L’Ecole de Design de Nantes Atlantique). She specifies: “We must listen to the needs, evolutions and consumers’ types we talk to ».
The point of sale becomes a friendly place and a link builder through different tools, but also a place of dramatization of the products to create a specific atmosphere, unique and recognizable. The interest for brands is to establish a real contact - not only virtual - with the customer.
Lydie Morland specifies: “User-friendliness is one of today’s goal of point of sale to develop new links, allow exchanges and make the choice easier for the customer. For example, in a video game or telephony shop, the customer will find an area to test the product, speak with the sales assistants and other consumers and will so be waiting in a pleasing way. Many points of sale join with other brands or stores to create partnerships and offer a unique and sometimes surprising service to their customers: coffee break, relaxation break, beauty break… there are so many options!”
Shops are more and more integrating tactile technologies in their spaces: tablets, interactive terminals, smart furniture, interactive screens or QR codes to flash with a smartphone… Many devices that allow customers to keep in touch with brands and find instantly the information they need.
« Retail design is multidisciplinary and can be defined as a customer route with architecture, merchandising, packaging, information technologies and sensory experience. It is essential to create friendly, familiar and harmonious spaces inside which the consumer feels at ease. Lights, colors, sounds and perfumes must enhance the product and are very important to catch the attention of consumers and keep it”, says Sophie Lubet, Director of EQUIPMAG.
David Kepron, Creative Director of the American design agency Little, confirms this observation and gives optimistic perspectives about the development of physical trade: “As we speed towards a digitally driven retail future, the store will never go away - it has been embedded in our culture for too many years.
We are however, in the midst of a retail revolution. Digital technologies are changing the way brands and customers communicate as well as reshaping the customer’s brain.
This upheaval is reshaping the store, not just as a place to sell goods and services, but as a place to foster empathic relationships through ritual, story telling, play and embodied sensory experiences.”
DESIGN on EQUIPMAG 2014 trade show
For its 29th edition dedicated to Retail Innovation 360°, EQUIPMAG trade show honors the convergence shop-to-web/web-to-shop, the customer’s relationship, innovative concepts and design.
The Retail Consulting Project area: this area will bring together retailers and retail design, brand image, e-retail, web-marketing, merchandising, category management agencies...for a consistent and seamless brand experience on all points of contact. A dedicated program of conferences, which will be unveiled soon, will complete this friendly area organized around a reception area. ZAGASS, RESOLUTIONS, KALISTA SOLUTIONS, SOONSOONSOON and many others will be present.
My Retail 3D: Associating relaxation and discoveries around retail will be the objective of this area. Organized around the triptych representing the three dimensions of the "new trade", this rest area will allow visitors to watch, smell and taste thanks to EQUIPMAG 2014 partners: Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique, Sevessence and Lavazza.
The photo booth Studio Harcourt and a mood board will complete this area.
Club Enseigne & Innovation Village: EQUIPMAG and Club Enseigne & Innovation are reinventing the perpetual motion.
During the three days, a store of 30 sq. m. will be disassembled and reassembled continuously to demonstrate a methodology and know-how of implementation.
A series of conferences will provide an analysis and forecasts in retail design:
- New design for innovative and profitable stores (in English)
- The best store designs (in English)
- Gamification at the heart of retail strategies
- Connected points of sale: the central role of design…
Find all the latest news on www.retail360show.com
Source: COMEXPOSIUM
