Retail stores are an important tool for promoting retail brands to consumers. It is necessary to attract consumers into retail stores from the outside to the inside, so as to effectively create an experience that can resonate with consumers and induce them to buy more goods, and further achieve deeper brand loyalty. Integrating technology into the design of a retail store can strengthen design elements while at the same time taking the customer experience to a new level as they explore the retail space. Technology integration also helps to achieve a closed loop of the omnichannel ecosystem.
Main goals of retail design
The concept of retail design begins with the realization of the main goal of the brand. Although specific goals vary from brand to brand, retailers should keep in mind four key design goals, including:
• Technology integration
• Brand story
• Attractive retail window display
•Retail experience
When combined with retail design, achievement enables retailers to successfully increase brand awareness and sales.
Connected retail experience
Technology has become an indispensable part of daily life, especially in the retail sector. For brands, it is very important to use consumers’ daily dependence as a way to establish a deeper connection with the brand as a whole. Technology integration can be used in many ways, including more powerful dynamic displays, interactive store elements, and eye-catching movable design elements. Designers can integrate technology to attract consumers’ attention and better promote the brand and its story.
Other key points of technology integration are more obvious and can be more closely linked with new retail design. This integration of technology enhances the overall retail experience of consumers and also allows them to understand the brand story in a more unique way.
American footwear brand Nike is a good example. From retail stores to comprehensive omnichannel experiences, the brand has a strong influence on a global scale, and customers will experience a complete brand journey regardless of the market. Today, we focus on one of their latest and most innovative retail design concepts, focusing on new retail strategies. Nike’s “Innovation House” is their latest concept, with three branches in New York, Shanghai, and Paris.
Image source: Frame
Nike’s “Innovation House” started in 2018, opening their new flagship store in New York, and at the same time launching their “Innovation 000 House”, which marks that it is the first in the world to follow their new retail model The place. This large flagship store features the latest products and a customizable experience area and has a unique Nike “Speed Shop”, which, based on its data sources, stocks products that are in greater demand in the region.
Image source: Nike
The seamless connection with Nike’s mobile app allows customers to scan mannequins, view products, and product dimensions, try on them in a reserved fitting room, and even buy online for later shipment. Instant checkout stations are spread throughout the store, allowing customers to purchase more quickly.
Image source: Frame
Their second innovation house opened in Shanghai last year. The setting of this three-story flagship store is very similar to its “Innovation 000 Home”.
Image source: 5 Star Plus Retail Design
The adaptable display allows them to adjust the design style according to product promotion. As of October 2020, the focus of Nike’s Shanghai store is to promote the shoe series worn by the famous basketball player LeBron James.
Image source: 5 Star Plus Retail Design
Many displays will break down the physical composition of each material to make the shoe perfect. Other displays have created exciting effects by linking it to LeBron James. The central experience point integrates technology into the mixed experience by allowing customers to try on a pair of shoes of the right size and accept the challenge on the LED-enhanced basketball court. If the customer successfully completes the challenge, their statistics will be regularly displayed on the screen between promotional videos and can be seen from every floor of the store.
Image source: 5 Star Plus Retail Design
Other technically enhanced points include dynamic lighting elements added to the mannequin platform, shelves, mirrors, and the store map itself. When shopping in the store, you can access other interactive features by using the Nike app.
2020 will put pressure on many industries, including retail. This has not stopped Nike from opening its Innovation House 002 in Paris in July this year. Although the way of shopping in stores has changed, Nike’s retail strategy has unknowingly made such a change. The technical interaction point allows customers to control how much physical interaction they have with the store clerk. Products enable customers to control their shopping environment while also complying with new security measures required after the pandemic.
Image source: Nike
In general, Nike’s “Innovation House” concept design is just one of many concepts they have launched in recent years to better meet the needs of consumers in the new retail era.
Review of excellent retail design
Throughout the series, we inspected four retailers with a presence in the global market to understand how they successfully achieved the four key goals of excellent retail design.
• Adidas: An attractive window display is an important factor in attracting consumers’ attention, allowing them to enter the door to experience, understand the brand and purchase products.
• Hermès: Providing consumers with a tailored, memorable, and unique experience is an important part of building a strong consumer brand loyalty.
• Tim Bailan: Expressing the brand’s story can enable consumers to better understand the quality of the brand and its products.
• Nike: integrate technology into the retail design and combine the three to create the shopping experience consumers most desire.
The realization of key design goals has created success for the brand in the highly competitive global market.
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