How Can We Enhance Customer Engagement and Experiences?

Designing for Change  

Retail space comes at a premium; small and large stores alike should utilise their footprints to better connect and engage their fan base. Flexibility is key; brands don’t stand still, and neither should their physical spaces. A retail design concept should never be truly finished; it should always have one eye on where the market is going and how it can evolve without diluting the original vision. On-Off took this approach for their rollout concept creating an efficient system that can be reconfigured and recycled minimising future waste and cost.

Dezeen – On-Off Store Milan 

Crafting Experiences

Brand experiences must have a sense of discovery to retain your fan base, it’s the customers opportunity to learn about new products and latest innovations or services. It is important for us to understand the customer, the brand mission and the retail store’s purpose, then to use this information to develop relevant and engaging concepts that amplify engagement with the community.

Charlotte Tilbury launched a pop-up store in London which transported visitors through a ‘magic portal’ presenting them with a series of unique experiences, celebrating a collection of new fragrances. This was a truly immersive and multi-sensory experience taking customers on a journey of discovery, creating memorable and sharable moments perfectly aligned with their target consumer.

LSNglobal - Charlotte Tilbury Beauty’s Future of Fragrance Experience

No customer is the same. We all have different needs and wants which can change depending on circumstances at that moment in time. Sometimes we want to explore, try products, and find that hidden gem, immersing ourselves within the brand like at the Charlotte Tilbury pop-up. Sometimes we are laser-focused on what we need and want; we know where we are and what we want. As retail store designers, we understand this and realise there is no one-size-fits-all approach, so multiple journeys need to be considered within any creative process.

 

For English Heritage’s Stonehenge retail store design project, we created a concept with two distinct journeys. Based on customer insights, we understood that some customers wanted to take their time and explore, while others were on organised tours with time constraints or with large family groups and needed to move through the space more freely. With this in mind, we created a space that facilitates both slow and fast customer journeys, removing friction points within the previous concept. The updated store design has helped to improve the overall customer experience and the ability for staff to better manage the space.

O12 – Stonehenge Gift Shop 

Curiosity & Communities

Online is a key channel for engaging your audience, but physical retail is still where brands can dial it up and craft a deeper human connection with the customer creating a sense of community, discovery and curiosity. By boosting service and personal interactions, brands can drive greater connections and forge long-standing loyalty.

O12 – Patta x Nike 

To do this the proposition must be relevant, retail store design engaging, and unique, creating something that can only be experienced in real life, bringing communities more closely together. We all want to feel special, and more than ever, customers are asking, “What can the brand do for me?” This emphasises the importance of understanding communities, local markets, and cultures. From introducing local events, clubs and in-store coffee shops these spaces are becoming social hubs for communities to connect and interact.

Jogger – Nike Run Club

Geolytix – Gymshark Regent Street Flagship

Other brands choose to create an element of localisation within their store design, taking inspiration from its locality. Aesop’s Piazza Cordusio store's aesthetic borrows from the nearby metro line through colours and materials which appear across the store. This creates a sense of local ownership and discovery with each store having its own character, personally I feel compelled to step into these stores every time I discover a new one.

Aesop – Milano

As a retail design agency, we aim to create more personal experiences that tap into local communities and fans with hyper-localised content that builds long-term loyalty and engagement.

O12 – PURESEOUL London

Amplifying Service & Experience

Service is a key point to any experience; we have all been to a great restaurant or store with terrible service and vowed never to return, but equally visited less desirable locations that had amazing service and became one of our favourite spots. That’s why it’s important that staff are at the centre of any experience. Retail store design concepts should consider how the design can not only provide the customer with an amazing experience but also benefit the staff.

Experience needs to be brought to the fore, from concepts to events and activations, providing a service and experience beyond anything that can be experienced online.

O12 – Crocs de Bijenkorf Paris

O12 – Crocs Citadium Paris

Tech-Empowered Store Design

Sometimes it is hard not to be cynical; we are in a world where technology is currently taking all the headlines. Remember the Metaverse hype? A few years ago, brands were chasing living in the Metaverse. Now that the initial excitement has worn off, it has many asking what’s next. Maybe the Metaverse is still to blossom; maybe, as many experts report, the future is bright and once again it will become a focus for the industry. Whilst brands regroup and look towards the future, generative AI is taking the headlines.

In this AI-empowered world, many brands, businesses, and creatives are wrestling with how to optimise this technology and apply it to retail design concepts and environments, creating the next generation of experiences. With this acceleration, many brands are still trying to understand the role of technology and how it can be utilised to best effect to enhance the customer journey.

Through sophisticated generative AI, chatbots can handle a greater percentage of interactions whilst other uses include better supply chain forecasting improving efficiency’s freeing up staff to do what they do best, interact on a human level with their customers.

Brands utilise technology to different levels, but all with the aim to better engage customers and create enhanced experiences.  Some have explored technology in their retail store design over the years with huge investments, such as Nike in their House of Innovation spaces. These laboratory-like environments provide a foundation that enables them to test and learn technology - from customisation, live streaming, broadcasting, customer interaction, and enhanced experiences, to allow for greater experience personalisation.

Hypebeast – Nike House of Innovation Paris

Spaaza – Nike Plus 

Global Brands – Nike Style Seoul 

Our belief is technology should always lead with relevance and purpose; it should never be a bolt-on or gimmick within retail design. All too often, we are asked to sign up or install an app for ‘enhanced experiences’ with very little reward or payoff for the end user. When technology is applied to good effect, it is a powerful tool; when it’s not, it merely dilutes an experience.

O12 – Nike Bra Experience EMEA 

Summary

The retail landscape is ever-changing and with increased consumer power and competition, it has never been more important to remain relevant and tap into the changing needs of our communities. Brands need to consider how retail design, services, technology, and community can be energised to create engaging and unique experiences.

 

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