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Continued
Experiential Shopping Experience
To be experiential, a store environment must:
• Be easy to shop
• Be engaging
• Be understandable
• Have an easy purchase process
Easy
shoppability is the purpose of
Men’s Wearhouse. The potential for far-flung
members of a wedding party to show up in mismatched
tuxedos prompted Men’s Wearhouse to offer
tuxedos for sale or rent in its nationwide network
of more than 700 stores. Groomsmen on opposite
coasts can be fitted hassle-free
at their neighborhood Men’s Wearhouse, spurring millions of new visits
by target customers. The retailer recently added a national drycleaning
business to support its tux rental business.
Engaging is an apt description of the Jordan’s
Furniture environment. The retailer distinguished itself
with a 160,000-sq.-ft. "city" replete with
ice cream shop, candy store, restaurant, 500-seat Imax
theater, and jellybean house sporting 280,000 pounds
of jellybeans. The family-friendly destination has paid
off in more than just sofa sales; Jordan’s averages
$950 per square foot as opposed to $150 per square foot
for the average furniture store. Bass Pro Shops stores
engage outdoor enthusiasts with environments simulating
the great outdoors through architecture, design, fixturing,
and elements such as waterfalls, aquariums, and taxidermy
displays. Climbing walls and archery and shooting ranges
encourage interaction. The environments have become tourist
attractions, with the Springfield store Missouri's top
tourist attraction.
An example of an understandable environment is Target's
in-store boutique, “Time to Play.” It breaks
up toys by play occasion ("pretend," "discover," etc.)
rather than the typical product categories, making the
offerings understandable for Mom.
Improving the purchase process is Talbots' “Style
by Appointment.” The customer reserves a fitting
room online or by phone, listing the kinds of styles
desired. Those styles and refreshments await them in
the dressing room. Last year, Talbots hosted 59,000 such
shopping experiences, with consumers rarely, if ever,
leaving empty-handed.
Reinvention
Even successful retailers can't rest on their laurels. If they don’t reinvent
themselves now and then, someone else will steal market share from them. Best
Buy has been proactive in reinventing itself while it's still a category killer,
remerchandising its stores toward target segments as well as creating new concepts
such as Escape, Studio D, and Eq-life, a store geared toward health and wellness.
The changes keep Best Buy's portfolio fresh.
Strong retailers don't always remain so. In a competitive
retail landscape, once successful brands have been gobbled
up or have exited the marketplace. Making the high-performance
list year after year requires dynamic strategies. Those
outlined here are guidelines for remaining profitable.
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Retail Forward, Inc. |
