The shopfitting industry roundup
We’re constantly keeping our eye on all the happenings in our industry, and here we selected the most relevant and interesting to share with you.
The evolution of store design
Huge retail spaces have always allowed brands to pack out their store with as many options as possible. However, Nordstrom are responding to the demand for a service driven customer experience by scaling their average store size down to 3,000 sq ft. When you consider it was previously 140,000 sq ft, you can appreciate just what a dramatic change this will be.
Instead of simply giving customers lots of racks to browse, they are creating a styling suite where customers can sit and enjoy a glass of beer or wine while using a specialized tool to browse Nordstrom’s range with their personal stylist. Their choices can then undergo any alterations that are needed, and can even have the items delivered to their car later in the day with Nordstrom’s kerb-side pickup service.
The importance of customer experience has been growing for some time. It’s a natural answer to the booming e-commerce market. Shops are deciding to stand out by offering something different. If people simply walk in, pick up and pay for an item, then walk back out, there is no motivation to choose a physical store over an online shop. Creating a customer experience that’s rewarding and exciting helps to keep customers coming back time and time again.
Customisable meal kits hit the market
A leading American mobile meal planning service has launched a meal kit solution that allows users to personalise their meals according to their specific needs. It provides an initial 15 styles of food to select from, including Diabetic, Paleo, Quick and Healthy, Low Calorie, Gluten Free etc. Once you have selected your preferred style you get to select from dozens of meals within each category. Once you have laid out your perfect menu for the week you can simply drop by a local supermarket that’ll have everything ready for collection at the side of the road.
The convenience of planning our weekly diets on our smartphones is appealing. It also removes impulse buys from the equation, which are usually the worst for our health. Do you think a service like this would work in Dublin? Over 90% of users in the US say they intend to keep using the service, but America isn’t Ireland.
Other markets have seen an increase in food-to-go type retail outlets, with many grocers creating a new income stream by dedicating an area of their store to food-to-go. It’s not a new phenomenon, but it does seem to be growing in popularity.
The UK gets its first ever HARIBO store
HARIBO’s first dedicated retail outlet in the UK has opened in the London Designer Outlet (LDO). Martin Walsh Architectural (MWA) created the design. Marcus Walsh, director at MWA, said: “HARIBO is an iconic brand. Each one of its touch points reflect the brand’s fun personality. For its new and first outlet store here in the UK, it was critical that we delivered this too. When shoppers stepped into the store we wanted them to really feel like they were entering the happy world of HARIBO.”
The internal layout features lots of bespoke furniture and colour choices designed to enhance the brand message and drive the happy narrative. The whole project, from concept to completion, took just 16 weeks to complete.
Shopfitting marketing report provides outlook until 2021
The 5th edition of the ‘Shopfitting Market Report – UK 2017-2021 Analysis’ has been published. It reviews the key trends and demand for shopfitting services across a number of sectors. It also provides detailed analysis of the leading shopfitting and refurbishment contractors, and an overview of key construction products and materials used in the shopfitting sector. This is one for industry professionals only, as at €960, the report is something that needs to add genuine value to your business.
2019 Retail Design Expo going bigger than ever
Following on from the success of 2018, next years event is going to be held at a bigger venue. The organisers are also using the increased space to make better use of different areas, creating clearly defined areas of interest that try to mirror the store environment, including a central zone that will include a dedicated area for experiential, lighting, and marketing.
Retail Design Expo event manager, Sara Adams, said, “The primary reason that people come to RDE is to make contacts – retailers want to meet suppliers and vice versa; however, what we were finding is that the current layout was not very intuitive. Following consultation with the industry including retailers and suppliers, we’ve decided to move RDE into the National Hall in 2019. This will allow us to introduce a zoned layout that will group similar exhibitors together, making it much easier for visiting retailers to find the suppliers they are looking for. Retail is constantly evolving, and so our events must reflect this changing landscape in order to better meet the needs of the retail design industry. By consulting retail specialists, we hope to bring a level of creative thinking, design excellence and retail insight to the show that will ensure RDE maintains its reputation as the event for innovation and inspiration in retail design.”
Would your shop benefit from a new look?
The changing landscape of shop fitting and the retail market requires expertise knowledge to extract the truly useful from the passing trends. Our expert designers have over 35 years of experience, consistently delivering the highest standards to businesses all over Dublin, and the rest of Ireland. Our professional team will provide you with the best options for every aspect of your retail space. Storebest are the best shop fit out specialists, and we know how to make the best use of your space to achieve your aims.
We can help you with every aspect of a shop fit out, from the earliest part of the planning stage through to a complete turnkey solution. Call us today on 01 539 4612, use our contact form, or e-mail info@storebest.ie to see what how we can help you.