the revival of retail.
the revival of retail.
Online shopping. We all do it. It’s just so fast, so convenient. These last few years specifically made us all switch to e-commerce, making sure we know our DHL or FedEx truck driver by name now.
That being said, now that we can all go back to our favourite shops, we all want more than your average shelf-shopping. Immersive retail experiences are a big deal right now. And the reason is quite simple. It increases sales. And that might sound quite ordinary, but there’s more to it.
Usually, when people get back from a store, they’ll tell their friends about what they bought. An immersive installation, for example, will change that conversation into what they experienced at the store. So, the retail experience lives on outside of the shop and brings more customers in.
Let me share a couple of brands that really take it seriously.
1. Nike
When we’re buying new running shoes, all we want to do is try them out, really. And let’s be honest, a quick run in the store just looks weird. Nike went all in on the running shoe buying experience and built an immersive experience people won’t forget soon. They built a 200m long-running track, next to the pop-up store. Even if you’re not a runner, you’ll still want to give it a go, right? This is retailtainment from 2017, attaching sensors to people’s shoes, etc. You can imagine these days, using Kinect motion technology for example how seamless the experience could be.
2. Lego
The new Lego NYC store experience puts all parents to the ultimate challenge. Bringing your kids here may make them never want to leave again. According to Lego, the goal of their new store design is to inspire innovation and creativity. (And sales, I presume). It will play a huge part in the brand’s strategy to innovate across all retail channels. Inside the store, there are multiple experiences, such as the Brick Lab, a virtual experience that brings the “walls, floors, and ceilings to life,” the Tree of Discovery, a massive tree in the centre of the store made of 880,000 LEGO pieces, and the Storytelling Table, designed for adult fans to get a peek into the development process of their favourite LEGO sets.
Another brand new section of the store is the Personalization Studio, which lets shoppers create and even buy their own creations.
3. Burberry
Burberry opened its first store in Shenzhen where experience and social media are at the heart of the shop. The WeChat Mini Program “Burberry Social Retail Store” forms the perfect synergy between the brand’s online and offline operations.
Entering the Mini Program, the user becomes a “parent” by virtually adopting a Burberry elf. Customers can also unlock exclusive content and personalised experiences and share them with their friends. Burberry also launched “social currency”, which rewards customer interaction by issuing social currency to unlock exclusive content and personalised experience.
4. Cartier
When people buy luxury items, such as a watch they really have high expectations of the shopping experience. For most people, it’s not an everyday buy, so luxury brands such as Cartier really dive into the buyer's journey and try to make the experience as memorable as possible. Byzance and Cartier collaborated beautifully here, for the launch of the new Pasha de Cartier watch, as they developed a maze mobile game to be played in-store.
People were invited to scan a QR code to start the game, taking control of the ball in the maze with a digital joystick on their smartphones.
The whole gaming experience unveils detailed features of the watch, as people play. Taking customers on the story, the technology and the details behind the watch.
We also included gaming, VR gaming to be specific for Benefit Cosmetics.
What if we could paint the world pink and get the world to smile. A pretty interesting challenge from the LVMH brand they asked us to solve.
Leaning on Beat Saber, the number one VR game in the world, we designed Benefit Cosmetics’ very own pink world putting their new products forward, creating a video game for initially 50 influencers to enjoy and later on all customers to have a go at in-store in true arcade game style.
Brands are really offering more than in-person shopping; they’re engaging with customers and forging interactive relationships at their flagships. Retail is betting that consumers will embrace the ability to connect with brands through exposure to products and familiarity through brand experiences. And I believe they’re betting right. After all, we can definitely say we’re living in an experience economy as we speak. And when those experiences are done right, brands become so much more than just a product people buy. They become a brand people relate to and engage with as an almost life companion they want to associate themselves with. So, retail had to close down for a bit - but it’s back and it brings a huge opportunity for brands.
