design:retail - October 2015 - (Page 56)

056 RETAIL DESIGN INDUSTRY 2015 As 2015 comes to a close (my how time flies!), we wanted to find out how the retail design industry as a whole has fared this year. So, we reached out to you, dear readers, and picked your brains to see how you've been doing in 2015. You shared your successes and challenges, as well as your plans for 2016 and beyond. Curious to see what the industry is thinking and feeling? Read on... By JESSIE DOWD F or the seventh-annual Retail Design Industry survey, design:retail reached out to retail's CEOs, store planners, contract designers, visual merchandisers and other key players to find out how the industry is faring in 2015 and what we can expect to come in the near future. We've Come a Long Way, Baby Overall, the retail design industry has continued to see improvement over the last few years and is feeling upbeat about the current economic situation, with just under a third (32.7 percent) of companies responding that their situation is "Excellent" this year, an increase from 27.3 percent who said so last year (and a sizeable change from OCTOBER 2015 DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM 17.8 percent back in 2010). Another 42.77 percent responded that their situation is "Good," compared to 58.4 percent who said so last year. What's more, many retailers and design firms are planning for continued steady growth for their businesses, with more than half of respondents (54.12 percent) planning to increase capital spending in the next 12 months, a decent jump from 47.5 percent last year. Another 36.47 percent said their company is not planning on making significant changes in capital spending in the next 12 months, and just 9.4 percent expect to decrease capital spending in the next year. Backing that steady growth, more than half of survey respondents (57.14 percent) indicated that they opened one to 25 new stores in 2015. This stat is slightly down from last year's 59.4 percent, but that's because retailers opened even more new stores in 2015-9.52 percent opened 26-50 stores (versus 6 percent in 2014), 8.33 percent opened 51100 stores (versus 5.3 percent in 2014), 3.57 opened 101-250 stores (versus 3 percent in 2014) and 1.19 percent opened 251-500 stores (versus 0.8 percent in 2014). The growth looks like it will continue for 2016, with 48.78 percent of companies planning to open the same number of new stores as 2015, while 23.17 percent of respondents plan on opening more new stores in 2016. While negative headlines may be the ones we notice most, store closures are not increasing and have held steady, with 39.51 percent indicating they closed no stores in 2015, and another 39.51 percent http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - October 2015

design:retail - October 2015
Contents
Editor’s Note
Show Talk
On Trend
We Love This!
Designer Picks
Clicks & Mortar
Postcard
How’d They Do That?
Have You Heard?
Mingle
Perspectives
Visual Eye
Searching for Steve Jobs
Under Armour
John Varvatos
Retail Design Industry 2015
Backstory

design:retail - October 2015