THE FUTURE OF STORE DESIGN: AN INTERIOR DESIGNER’S PERSPECTIVE

It can’t be denied – the future of retail, and shopping centres is one that is rapidly changing, or more importantly - evolving.  But the most interesting aspect of this is how and what this looks like.

We are all influenced by technology in so many ways, and how technology influences our shopping habits, to date, is enormous.  As purchasers, we now have the power to compare costs, and read reviews before making any major purchase decisions – whilst we are still in store.  In addition to this, technology also allows us to do all of this from the comfort of our own homes, without even leaving the couch.

The question this brings us to is – how can retailers fight back?... Retailers with bricks and mortar stores need to look at customer experiences beyond just the purchase.  We are now seeing so many retailers incorporating experiences as part of the customer journey – for example, instore fitness classes, food and beverage offerings combined within traditional retail outlets, to name a few.  We love the innovation behind these directions, but we do believe there can be more.

Having worked in the commercial interior design sector for well over a decade, we have certainly witnessed and experienced changes in the industry.  In terms of traditional fashion retailers, and looking at how they have evolved, we have seen budgets get tighter, and more recently – store footprints reduce, likely due to high rental costs.  Now we are seeing retailers get more experimental – testing other markets overseas, where they have traditionally been a predominantly AU based brand.  Interestingly enough – one way that retailers are testing overseas markets is in a very small format manner, utilising space within department stores, and rolling out concession stores across the world.  It’s a very interesting concept, as it allows them to test the market without the commitment of a full store lease & fit-out.

Beyond fashion brands - we are now seeing some different types of retail emerging, and these are not based on tangible objects, but service based.  In particular, we have seen a spike in clients from the health & beauty industries – who offer services that cannot be purchased online, the only way to purchase (and experience) is in store.  We believe that this is an area of growth in the industry that will continue to grow. 

Perhaps this is also an area of opportunity for retailers that sell tangible objects – if they can offer a service that is related and connected to the product they sell in store, it firstly gives the customer a reason to come in store – for the specific service, but secondly, if items are then for sale within the same location, they are already in store to make the purchase of the item.  Therefore, the two functions work together cohesively.  To add to this point, all of the service and beauty-based clients we have worked with throughout 2019, have opened their stores with a focus on a service offering, but with a retail component connected with this, so the client can experience the product / service in store, but they can also take the product home for continued use.  They also gain an understanding of the product before they make the purchase.

In addition to health & beauty industries, we are seeing retail businesses with food offerings doing well.  These business work in conjunction with food delivery services – offering this, as well as the in-store experience.  The in store experiences in these industries will remain, people go out to eat to meet with friends, so the eatery/café/restaurant is itself the destination – again, giving customers a reason to leave the house.

Beyond the retail aspect, we are also seeing increased use of digital screens in store – integrated within the store fit-out, the use of digital screens allows every brand/retailer to easily update and control their advertising, without the need to continuously update physical graphics.

Visual Merchandising still has a place, store design still has a place, as does exceptional customer service and experiences, but with increasing competition, retailers should consider collaborating with service based business, perhaps something can be taken from the ‘shop in shop’ / concession store format – for example, with larger format traditional retail store housing a service-based supplier within its doors.  There are likely many, many ways this type of format could be implemented, the only limit really, is our imagination – and of course, the budget.

So whilst we know retail is ever-changing and developing, it is an exciting to see new developments. There is no denying it is a challenging time for retailers, but challenges bring with it innovation and for that we are excited to see what boundaries are pushed and what fresh and new outcomes are produced in the world of retail, along with retail/service based industries.