An article in Retail Week by George MacDonald grabbed my attention last week - ‘Curation, destination, imagination – the new department store foundations. How can the retail format be revived to resonate with contemporary and future shoppers?’
Retail research is one of Directions specialisms, and I was both pleased and reassured that these were the same themes that we have uncovered when canvassing the views of shoppers both before and during the pandemic.
Indeed, in 2016 we conducted our own proprietary research to better understand what shoppers expect from fashion retailers, what inspires them, and more importantly what drives loyalty. Our study uncovered 5 drivers to success, which closely link to the mantra of ‘curation, destination and imagination’:
1. Curation: the ability to visualize complete outfits and assistance in pairing products.
2. Personalisation: a shopping experience tailored to the customer’s individual needs delivered by personal customer service and communications (instore and online).
3. Product as Hero: simple, uncluttered visual merchandising to allow the product to speak for itself and shine through.
4. Unique Experience: a unique experience that conveys an inspiring brand story and delivers destination status.
5. Community: shoppers want to feel that they belong and increasingly want to have a conversation with their favourite retail brands.
The pandemic has led to even higher expectations from bricks and mortar retail. After months of lockdown and as restrictions are eased, shoppers are looking for an antidote from online shopping. More than ever before, they expect stores to deliver an imaginative experience, personal curation, and elevated customer service.
Indeed, we have observed retailers employ strategies aligned to these drivers in recent months – here are just a few examples that have captured our attention:
Marks & Spencer announcing its partnership with Go Instore to offer customers enhanced shopping experiences and curation through a new Video Expert service.
John Lewis planning to open new-format, smaller neighbourhood stores to showcase “the very best of John Lewis” and better serve local communities. John Lewis’ Edinburgh flagship store including a variety of new services and experiences including personal styling and home-design inspiration and advice.
Selfridges announcing earlier this year that it will offer non-traditional ceremonies after obtaining a wedding licence at its Oxford Street store, and launching garden centres across its London, Manchester and Birmingham stores to further deliver destination status.
Next pioneering their Home & Beauty hybrid concept stores; both are categories that people traditionally prefer to shop for in person.
Fenwick creating alfresco dining experiences and launching a vegan restaurant by a Michelin-starred chef in one of its stores to deliver a greater sense of destination. Recently initiating the Dropit service in its Bond Street store, a digital store delivery service that provides elevated customer service and greater convenience.
We definitely do not envisage a demise of bricks and mortar in future. Quite the opposite in fact, as we firmly believe that stores (both smaller formats and department stores) are best positioned to deliver to these five drivers. Indeed, we are even seeing brands that were formerly purely digital players (e.g. Glossier) investing in permanent physical retail space post pandemic. It will be interesting to see how retailers develop their store offerings in the coming months – we’ll definitely be watching this space!
Photo: Mike Petrucci, Unsplash