VMSD - June 2012 - (Page 4)

FE FROM THE EDITOR Make a Point Are you using the right tools and suppliers to set your brand apart? 11262 Cornell Park Drive Cincinnati, OH 45242 P: 513.421.2050 | F: 513.421.5144 vmsd@stmediagroup.com | VMSD.com There’s a line in this month’s “Next Store” column by Jim Crawford that makes me pause every time I read it: “For years, retailers have depended on products to differentiate, but the reality is that products have been largely commoditized.” So it won’t be that pair of shoes, that t-shirt or those organic bell peppers that bring shoppers flocking to your store. Rather, as the article goes on to say, the key to survival in the 21st Century will come down to differentiation – based on expertise, content and experience. These are the elements that will make your brand stand apart. Without them, you’re just like your retail neighbor down the street. The same is true for the manufacturers and providers working to create those one-of-a-kind spaces. Pre-recession, a fixture supplier was there to deliver retailers and design firms quality systems for displaying products. But one of the fallouts of the economic downturn was a loss of jobs in this industry. Reduced staffs mean retailers don’t have those designers on hand to brainstorm, design and deliver those in-store elements. Today’s manufacturers are filling those shoes with an array of design and consulting services, as well as production offerings. But it’s not just the services that have changed. Looking for more than a display tool, today’s brands are also demanding custom fixture systems that assist in building a brand’s image in the eyes of their consumers and make a statement in the retail setting. The companies that are succeeding today are the ones that have adapted to this expanded calling. (For more on the state of the store fixtures industry, see this month’s special report on page 28.) It’s how this year’s A.R.E. Store Fixture of the Year was created – a collaboration between the designer Yi Rook Kim of Unspace (New York) and supplier Grand + Benedicts (Portland, Ore.). Together they turned a hand-drawn sketch into a freestanding digital tower for My.Suit that shows off the latest options in men’s custom-suit making via a high-tech screen system. (See page 34 for more.) It’s a representation of fixturing in its most modernistic sense – in terms of both design process and finished product. “It’s not a mannequin or a hanger holding a suit. It’s proclaiming the idea of the suit, the idea that you can make that custom suit whatever you want it to be,” says Sherif Ayad of ID&Design (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). It’s also a point of differentiation. EDITORIAL Editor Anne DiNardo anne.dinardo@stmediagroup.com Senior Art Director Kimberly Pegram kim.pegram@stmediagroup.com Associate Editor Robin Donovan robin.donovan@stmediagroup.com Editor at Large Steve Kaufman steve.kaufman@stmediagroup.com New York Editor Eric Feigenbaum European Editor John Ryan, London SALES Publisher U.S. / Canada Murray Kasmenn murray.kasmenn@stmediagroup.com P: 770.578.2577 Business Development Manager International Patricia Iannelli patricia.iannelli@stmediagroup.com Via G. Rossini 16, 21100 Varese, Italy P: +39.0332.240285 C O R P O R AT E President Tedd Swormstedt Design Group Editorial Director Kristin D. Zeit Audience Development Director Christine Baloga Production Coordinator Keri Harper WHITN EY HA RROD, CIN CINN ATI Book Division Director Mark Kissling Reprint Information 800-925-1110, ext. 399 SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES P.O. Box 1060 / Skokie, IL 60076 P: (847) 763-4938 / F: (847) 763-9030 VMSD@halldata.com 4 JUNE 2012 | vmsd.com http://www.VMSD.com http://www.vmsd.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of VMSD - June 2012

VMSD - June 2012
Contents
From the Editor
VMSD Editorial Advisory Board
The Goods
Next Store
Zara goes Global in Manhattan
Problem Solved
The Walking Mannequin Man
Changing Gears
Showroom
Ad Index
Checking Out

VMSD - June 2012