There's nothing like a memorable retail experience to ensure repeat business from customers. Erin O'Loughlin highlights strategies fashion retailers have unleashed locally to keep their stores front of mind.
The indie experience
Experiential retail need not be constrained by big budgets or the vast floor spaces found only in the largest of chain stores. The team behind Brisbane-based high-end label Subfusco, which creates both men’s and womenswear, is a case in point.
Designer Joshua Scacheri teamed up with nearby luxury bar Laruche for a two-week ‘window swap’ in July. Rather than showcase a traditional clothing display, the Subfusco front window was instead home to an opulent chair and cocktail set courtesy of the Ann Street drinking hole.
The retail installation broke the rules of traditional visual merchandising, and was geared at the young, affluent demographic both Subfusco and Laruche target.
The architectural experience
Sportsgirl’s 750sqm store at Chadstone opened in late 2009, and is 30 per cent larger than the retailer’s other key Melbourne store on Bourke St Mall. But it’s not the size of Chadstone that makes it a retail experience for consumers.
The store features purpose-built entertainment and installation areas, and in the past year has housed exhibitions showcasing everything from the work of upcoming fashion students to window displays celebrating fashion bloggers Fashion Hayley and Kat George.
It also has 12 different ‘fashion zones’ dedicated to the likes of global trends, vintage fashion and the ‘butterfly garden’, a space to try on fashion finds. So cutting edge is the colour-drenched, mirror-dotted store that it’s been nominated alongside the likes of Anthropologie London and Topshop New York for Oracle World Retail’s Store Design of the Year Award 2010.
The community experience
‘Why do you love to surf?’ That is the question Billabong poses to its millions of customers on its award-winning website, www.isurfbecause.com. Launched earlier this year, the satellite site collates responses from surfers dotted from Portugal to Canada, South Africa to Australia, and shares the submissions with the world.
Site users have the chance to create their own pictures and videos, win prizes, watch videos of surfing legends and view Billabong products. The whole package works to create a sense of community between a world of otherwise disparate surfwear shoppers.
The pop culture experience
There was no stock-standard product catalogue from Jay Jays this year. Instead the youthwear retailer capitalised on the popularity of 3D films and television program So You Think You Can Dance? with the release of its interactive online catalogue Dance Off (danceoff.jayjays.com.au).
Described by the retailer as “a mash-up of fashion, music and movement”, the catalogue features dancers in action while dressed in Jay Jays apparel. A single click displays product names and price points. Jay Jays customers can pick up a pair of free 3D glasses in any of the retailer’s nationwide stores to view the site in the extra dimension. The end result is a store network and online site that feeds customers back and forth between the respective portals.
The tailored experience
Supre is one retailer experimenting with the idea that it may create a better experience for customers if each of its 170 stores is not an exact replica of the other. In April this year, the fast fashion retailer revealed it was capitalising on Westfield’s categorisation of its own shopping centres as ‘value’, ‘aspirational’ or ‘premium’ locales, and would reconfigure its fashion offer in certain stores to match their classification.
‘Premium’ sites including Westfield Bondi Junction, Chadstone Shopping Centre and Westfield Doncaster now receive limited edition ‘high fashion’ drops, while other in-store elements including visual merchandising and music selection have also been tweaked to suit the local market. As Supre’s brand manager Catherine van der Muelen told Ragtrader on April 9, “...in other words, what we offer at Bondi will be very different to what we offer at say, an outer-suburban store.”
The installation experience
When Levi’s opened its flagship store in Chadstone, Melbourne, the denim specialist went the extra mile to create an installation that would distract consumers from the bevy of other retail experiences on offer.
The heritage brand installed Project Runway Australia 2009 contestant Anthony Capon in its front window, where he crafted custom denim pieces using the Levi’s range. Passing customers were encouraged to stop by and look.
Also installed in the store during the same period was a whole selection of denim creations Capon had crafted earlier. A low-cost exercise, the installation still managed to create noise, movement and product to intrigue customers.
The goodwill experience
Country Road created an opportunity to tout both its garment quality and its social conscience when it teamed up with Red Cross in July. The chain retailer joined forces with Red Cross’s retail arm to create Fashion Trade, a clothing donation program.
When customers donate resellable Country Road garments to participating Red Cross stores, they receive a $10 voucher to spend in Country Road stores. The campaign also aims to reduce the amount of clothing Red Cross sends to landfill on account of it not being fit for resale. Promoted widely in Country Road stores, Fashion Trade gifts consumers with a charitable and ‘green’ experience to feel good about.
The online shopping experience
Swimwear and lingerie e-tailer Trixan Body (www.trixanbody.com.au) overhauled its website earlier this year to create an online shopping experience memorable for its ease.
A spruiker of brands including 2 Chillies, Jets, Pleasure State, Jockey and Hotmilk, Trixan has eliminated fees on shipping and customer returns. Its customer service efforts include a 125 per cent price match guarantee and an online support centre, while product information extends beyond mere written descriptions to include catwalk footage of most garments.
Additional videos include a bra fitting guide and brand highlights. The end result is a local e-tail business that offers many of the same experiences pioneered by the likes of Zappos.com, with product that sells cheaper than the normal recommended retail price to boot.