With the growth of e-commerce, in-store visual merchandising has never been more important. Australian Retailers Association executive Sue Anderson offers practical tips for independents.
Contrary to the traditional view that assumes shoppers want to touch, feel and try on clothes and accessories before they buy, Australian consumers are increasingly ‘dot com-ing’ their way to new coats, sneakers, dresses and other fashion items online.
Whatever the driver of the consumer shift to online shopping – be it cost and the ability to compare prices with the click of a button, convenience or the lack of pushy sales people following their every move – one thing is for certain: now more than ever before, consumers need a compelling reason to visit a physical retail shop.
Notwithstanding the imperative for retailers to get online and communicate with their customers in an online forum, probably one of the most important steps bricks-and-mortar fashion retailers can take right now is to create spaces that visually and experientially connect customers to their brand.
The visual theatre and brand experiences formed in a retail store have the potential to create shopping havens and tactile experiences that forge long-lasting relationships between the brand and the consumer. Using the total in-store experience as a competitive advantage cements relationships for the future as customers will judge more about the experience than they will the price or product alone.
Consider the elements that make us stop and be drawn to a retail business as consumers:
• Unique features and off-beat installations
• Moving images
• Pure entertainment
• Alluring mood within the store
• Education and information through demonstration
• Accessibility to unique things
• The ability to discover through touch and trial.
Shopping can be like entering a wonderful world of novelty, variety and surprise. In a bricks-and-mortar space shopping doesn’t have to be a process but a journey to be enjoyed.
That is why 67 per cent of consumers say a pleasant shopping atmosphere is important in selecting a place to shop. Attractive displays, stimulating designs and an inspiring ambience are highly important for brands that are targeting shoppers with this mindset.
But in today’s retail environments consumers are demanding much more from the shopping experience than coming home with the things they went out to buy.
In an age of commoditisation, consumers shift their focus from product and service attributes to the memorable experience obtained while using the product or service. If customers are actively engaged and involved they build a relationship with the product, the brand, the company.
Three-dimensional shopping experiences filled with sights, colours, sounds, textures, movement and dwell spaces that tease the senses work to encourage consumers to stay longer, shop more, and leave with lasting memories about a brand.
Consumers are going in search of zones where they can experience the brand which has typically been the foundation of a flagship experience. A flagship store will include strategies to get customers interacting with the brand and stay in-store for longer periods.
These should include dwell zones to allow customers to appreciate and gain perspective of their environment; space dedicated to visual theatre and not just commercial outcomes; high-touch environments that keep shoppers in the store for longer; and educational tools to support the brand and the story.
Many of the above concepts are evident in strong international brands but are also directly applicable to smaller and more intimate retail environments. Increasingly, even smaller fashion stores are becoming more like galleries that are designed to lure without total concern for the bottom line result.
More and more it is about a ‘build the brand experience and they will come’ attitude, with retailers realising that satisfying the brand expectation and brand promise will lead to the sales – whether they are made in-store or online.