Photo: Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail Doctor’s blog.
What is experiential retail? It’s when the retailer gives you a distraction in hopes you’ll find it compelling enough to want to hang out.
It is store design divorced from the need to make a sale.
You might want to turn to experiential retail like Camp does with its secret room attached to a toy store or like House of Vans in London, which has a skate park in the basement.
For me, the delivery of experiential is oftentimes more gimmick than genuine — like being able to catch your own dinner.
Once you’ve done it, will you return? Unless the experience is genuine, I think not.
Here are three retailers whose experiential retail is baked into their entire store design:
Suit Supply was started in Amsterdam and now boasts about 100 men’s stores around the world. How they get you to linger: Carefully curated merchandising, mirror tricks and amazing graphics.
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RH Gallery – Restoration Hardware: This five-story, New York city showroom blurs the lines between restaurant and retail and between indoor and outdoor. Your gaze is caught by the glass elevator being swept up from the atrium to the soaring glass roof. How they get you to linger: Food, alcohol and windows draw you through the display showrooms, and everything is spot-lit.
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Starbucks Reserve Roastery: Starbucks’ original novelty of espresso machines has worn off. The mammoth store I visited in the Meatpacking District of New York features Italian aperitivo bars, high-end food, deluxe decor, on-site coffee roasting and more. Prices are more expensive than other Starbucks and the food and drink are served in exclusive cups and trays. How they get you to linger: Watching the process of roasting the coffee, making the specialty bakery items and a curated selection of retail.
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