design:retail - March 2018 - 34

the visual eye

034

Experiential Retail: What
Are You Looking At?

PETER-TOLIN BAKER
VISUAL MERCHANDISING SPECIALIST
P-T B DESIGN SERVICES

ptb@ptbdesignservices.com

HE PRODUCT IS the

hero. At least that has
been a golden rule
for retail design and
visual merchandising for some time. Yet
these days, it would seem as though
retail experience is the new hero and
the driving force behind today's most
successful stores. Experience has even
been dubbed today's "new product."
But what does this "experience"
really mean? Haven't we been designing and incorporating engaging
experiences into retail environments all along? Perhaps it is just the next trend
or buzzword that eventually loses its potency
with overuse and bad imitations (like luxury,
hi-tech or artisanal).
Experience is defined as the "knowledge or skill
from doing, seeing or feeling things" (Cambridge).
It is the "direct observation of, or participation in
events as a basis of knowledge" (Merriam-Webster).
This hands-on, interactive learning-this affordance
between customer, product and service-is exactly
the touchpoint that today's retailers are most keen
on creating throughout the store environment.
Fortunately, retail designers and visual merchandisers have been effectively creating a range of
experiences into branded retail environments for
some time, and are well equipped to respond to today's evolving retail landscape. From ancient trade
markets and agoras to 19th-century department
stores and 20th-century malls, retail environments
have consistently been designed and constructed
to feature the latest in architecture, materials,
finishes and technology. Storytelling, change and
experimentation are part of our collective DNA as
a creative industry.
To the experienced retail designers and merchandisers, several aspects of today's most touted

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new experiential retail environments represent the
basic building blocks of any well-designed store-
albeit reworked or expanded for today's market.
This includes such timeless essentials as creating
dynamic storefronts and entrances, providing
thoughtful customer service areas, flexible store
fixtures, gracious dressing rooms, efficient POS
and informative wayfinding.
The new twist is in the proportion and use of
retail space, coupled with the increased emphasis
placed on experience within the overall planning
and operations of a store, as well as the expanded
scope and integration of seemingly endless new
technology. Product is still a hero, but so too is the
store experience; one that seamlessly blends the
various interactive sales and communication
platforms that are essential to today's retailers-
including online sales, social media, and brick and
mortar-with direct and personalized customer
contact being the goal to better ensure positive sales
results and repeat business.
It's providing a curated, well-edited product assortment to customers grappling with the
overwhelming amount of choices that today's retail
world offers. This, in its way, is allowing less space for
product in brick-and-mortar stores and more space

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for other experiential zones or engaging customer touchpoints, such as the
growing interest in augmented reality
(AR) and virtual reality (VR).
It's the Internet of Things (IoT) and
Wi-Fi, beacons and mobile phones.
It's the synthesis of online sales and
internet marketing with shopping in
a three-dimensional space. It's allowing room in the store to stage a broader
range of customer activities and interactions with the product-as well
as increase awareness of the retailer's
services and brand story. Examples include creative in-store customer events
and interactive product demonstrations, providing food and drinks, and even guest DJs. It's having
a convenient location for returns and pick-ups of
online orders. It's where you meet your friends for
socializing. It's creating the Town Square, as Apple
recently described their latest store design vision.
The boundaries are being pushed and blurred
between a more traditional interaction with the
retail space and that of a more dynamic, collaborative and immersive brand journey. Both traditional
and new store formats solicit customer reactions-
be it an emotion, idea or even a memory-thereby,
potentially increasing interest in that particular
store brand, product or service.
The key is in creating something more than a gimmick and beyond a mundane contact with a product
or brand-and doing so over and over.
AS OWNER OF PTB DESIGN SERVICES, PETER-TOLIN BAKER IS ACTIVELY
INVOLVED WITH DESIGN AND CONTENT SOLUTIONS FOR A RANGE OF
RETAILERS, BRANDED EVENTS AND EXPERIENTIAL ENVIRONMENTS,
INCLUDING STELLA ARTOIS, MATTEL, ASPREY AND CALVIN KLEIN.
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE INCLUDES SCENIC DESIGN FOR MORE THAN
50 THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS, OVERSEEING VISUAL MERCHANDISING
FOR TIFFANY & CO. AND HENRI BENDEL NEW YORK, AS WELL AS
TEACHING AT THE FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY/SUNY.

Photo by BEROS919/SHUTTERSTOCK

http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM http://www.GLOBALSHOP.ORG

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