VMSD - January 2013 - (Page 54)

A D V E R T I S E M E N T ANDREAS KUESSNER President From your perspective, what’s been the biggest change over the last year in how retailers are designing their stores? With growing competition in the perception battle over new customers, retail focuses on two main directions: a price-driven and an experience-driven approach. The former, we know, is a one-way track. Experience shopping is a binding tool to counter growing brand disloyalty. A shrinking brand connection is always due to a bad brand experience and an enormous volume of choice. Positive emotions connect us with a place, a shop, a brand. One solution is the growing tendency to tell a story within the store (staging). The store ambience allows a 3-D translation of the brand’s genetic code. The downside is the expiration date. The more punctuated a story is, the shorter the half-value time. The solution is to ask a retail architect to create an exciting ambience, differentiate yourself, have something unexpected and make sure that your visual merchandising team is given enough flexibility in the basic fixturing system to extrapolate the story in the future. What products and services are you seeing a demand for in 2013? I expect to see more interactive connection with the customer at the POS. Staff numbers will decrease even further and some products would like to (or need to) tell a story. The use of electronic gadgets will rise, which will lead to a demand in added power requirements. Visplay has developed several systems with integrated power (high/low voltage) for added flexibility. Your visual team will love it. What's the one thing you want clients to know in order to build a successful working relationship with their vendors? The earlier you start gathering professionals around you, the quicker the results are on the table. Rely on companies and products that have proven results. Don’t just compare spreadsheets, take the whole process into consideration (from delivery to installation, down to repeat orders) and also keep the lifecycle in mind (quality will pay off). A product might look exclusive to you in a price list, but may prove to be the opposite if you consider the abovementioned parameters. As retail building activity picks up, how is your relationship with clients evolving? Retailers and architects trust in our basic systems. The more we are in direct contact with steering parties, the more they realize that we are much more than a basic system distributer. A significant portion of our business is customization and who could be more suited to such a task than a young, eager team of German engineers with a backpack full of 80 years of retail experience. We guarantee the customer the best possible solution within their budget, with no need for complicated tender processes. When you look to the coming year of retail design, what excites you the most? I’m curious to see how continued cost reduction on the retailer’s side will interact with growing customer demand for sustainability, quality and ethical values. I’m convinced that the longer a fitout lasts, the more economically effective it will be. A good functional system does not impair the design aspect since a creative visual merchandising team can play around with it for several years. SERVICES Modular fixturing systems for commercial interiors ADDRESS 7528 Walker Way Allentown, PA 18106 CONTACT p: 610 366 1658 f: 610 366 1932 e: visplay-usa@visplay.com www.visplay.com http://www.visplay.com http://www.visplay.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of VMSD - January 2013

VMSD - January 2013
Contents
From the Editor
VMSD Editorial Advisory Board
Props + Decoratives
OK Works’ Michael Killeen
Lighting
Mannequins + Forms
Fusion Specialties’ Stacie White
Materials + Wallcoverings
Furniture
Fixtures
Chandler Inc.’s James Voigt
Flooring
Signage + Graphics
Best of the Rest
Ad Index
Lasting Impression

VMSD - January 2013