Retailers needs to remember is that us customers are not just comparing them to other retail outlets but to all other experiences we are having. If we can pay for our meal at Wagamama's after we have left, be a fashion model on the cat-walk at Madame Tussauds or cuddle bunnies at our local farm – why can’t we have experiences like that when shopping?
| Boots 'flagship' store |
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"Our new Covent Garden store starts a journey of reinventing Boots for the future,” said Sebastian James, Boots Managing Director |
| Samsung 'not a shop' |
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Samsung KX was launched with great excitement – the future of retail. The website tells us… It’s not a shop. It’s a place you can #DoWhatYouCant |
| Pets at Home Stockport |
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My third visit was to Pets and Home in Stockport with my niece who asked to go despite not even owning a pet. |
As well as being fit for the future, a company’s retail experience must also align behind its brand as this is the only true way to focus and differentiate it.
Boots’ purpose is ‘We help people across the world lead healthier and happier lives’. Apart from selling health and beauty products in the store I cannot see much more that aligns with this purpose. The experience is most definitely product rather than purpose led.
Samsung’s mission is ‘inspire the world with our innovative technologies, products and design that enrich people’s lives and contribute to social prosperity by creating a new future’. I can certainly see some inspiration with innovative technologies, products and design in this new concept. It is an amazing, well designed space in which to demonstrate its superb product range but, as with Boots, seems more product than brand led.
Pets at home aim to become ‘the best pet care company in the world’ and one of their strategies to achieve this is by ‘bringing the pet experience to life’. They also have values such as ‘we put pets first’ and ‘we make it fun’ - all of these are well extremely demonstrated in the Stockport store.
In conclusion, the Pets at home concept certainly feels more like the future of retail, at least in the short term. The store mixes the ability to just pop in and easily stock up on pet essentials with education, fun, other services and a charitable purpose– making it a destination experience for animal lovers and not just a shop for pet owners.
It is also the most aligned to its brand, making it harder to be copied by the competition that the Boots or Samsung concepts.
A final point that retailers needs to remember is that us customers are not just comparing them to other retail outlets but to all other experiences we are having. If we can pay for our meal at Wagamama’s after we have left, be a fashion model on the catwalk at Madame Tussauds or cuddle bunnies at our local farm – why can’t we have experiences like that when shopping? But let’s not go too far. We still want to be able to buy something – don’t we?
