One of the biggest players in online luxury fashion has been thinking about “Bricks and Mortar” retail for two years, Farfetch. They identified that currently 90% of all fashion purchases are made at a physical store and their prediction by 2025 is 80%. They will of course continue to trade online; to expand their customer base and grow more passionate consumers they need to go old school – in a new way. (Forbes)
If you’re purely online, maybe now is the time to be thinking Town Centre Retail?
I remember when I spent time with Zappos, (purely online store) how they leveraged a “pop-up” store to secure a designer brand as a stockist. It didn’t happen overnight however it is now responsible for what has become their Luxury division: http://luxury.zappos.com/ It took that step, to get what they needed, to extend and build on their offering.
You and I find comfort in finding the familiarity of a brand and yet the successful ones do not provide an exact replica of their instore experience. You will go to Paris, Luxor, Istanbul and find a McDonalds, Starbucks and Uber* and yet the service maybe similar, some of the elements maybe of a familiar nature but there will be something intrinsically different.
As we said in our latest Instagram post #onesizedoesnotfitall
There’s no cookie cutter example that will work for everyone; reading Mike Butcher’s account of a SXSW demonstration, he was very excited at the prospect of a full “Minority Report” experience that has at last been created in a believable way by NewAer. All the snags of previous efforts using GPS, Bluetooth, NFC and Beacons have been successfully overcome; these concepts may work for GAP, H&M and TopShop… Could you see it working in Browns on South Moulton Street, Fat Buddha on Queen Street or even Flannel’s on Old Bank Street? I’m not sure I can either.
The biggest challenge of a town centre store is managing stock and ensuring availability, the last thing we need is staff running up and down stairs searching through stockrooms. The primary role for retail staff is as a host, stylist and customer influencer; their time should not be spent managing stock.
I am the firm believer that new technology should be for making the life of staff more effective, allowing the tech to manage data and logistics. Have the tech inform the staff to guide the customer to a stock choice of availability in their size and fit to what’s in the store. Possibly discreet earpieces that pick up customer conversation or employee description, not a Madonna’esque headset! Combined with a shopfit that is flattering, an experience that brings confidence and delivers peace of mind.
Farfetch see disconnected town centre stores as a dying breed; the ones that will survive will be connected. What do you think?