5 Ways Retailers Adapt for an Urban Environment
Pat Flood • March 22, 2018
As more people are attracted to metropolitan living, retailers that made their name in the suburbs are now looking for ways to adapt their brand for an urban environment. Stores are increasingly experimenting with ways to modify their concepts for smaller store footprints and urban needs. And adapting involves more than just shrinking the store to function as a scaled-down version of the suburban store. The strategies are as diverse as retail itself.
A recent article in Shopper Marketing Magazine
summarizes the approaches various retailers have taken to entering downtown markets. Retail environment design strategies for these urban stores fall into several categories.
- Flexible design.
For Target, flexibility is key to the success of their existing 59 urban locations, as well as the 71 locations that are slated to open in 2018. Target’s product mix varies for each of these locations, and is adjusted based on customer feedback. Target stocks items that sell at greater volume depending on the characteristics of the neighborhood – such as whether it is near a university or public transportation.
- Service focused offerings
. PetSmart launched The Groomery primarily as a pet salon, with a few upscale product offerings. These urban stores are intended to compete with local pet grooming establishments. They feature at least eight wide, adaptable grooming tabletops. CVS is also incorporating more services into its urban format stores, including an optical center and walk-in health clinic, along with its traditional pharmacy.
- Multiple urban formats
. In addition to its online presence, Amazon operates multiple urban bookstores, as well as two grocery pickup stores in Seattle. In January, Amazon famously launched its first cashier-less Go convenience store in Seattle. Go has provided Amazon an opportunity for gathering and analyzing data from Go customers’ behavior. It remains to be seen what Amazon will do with this data to tweak or expand the grab-and-go model.
- Urban product mix
. CVS debuted a 2-story format in 2017 that offers healthy food and an expanded line of beauty products. Products are offered in “discovery zones” based on interest, such as advanced skin care. At 15,000 square feet, the store is no smaller than a suburban CVS, but the layout is clearly tailored for city tastes and city real estate.
- Scaled down and reconfigured store designs
. To fit more limited urban real estate, many retailers completely rethink their store design. Lowe’s locations in cities like Chicago and New York offer home improvement products tailored to the area. With urban stores that occupy less than half the traditional Lowe’s footprint, Lowe’s employs slimmer endcaps, shorter aisles, and digital touchscreens wherever possible. These stores carry a more limited inventory, particularly with larger items like appliances, and allow quick fulfillment from nearby stores.
It’s clear that when large retailers enter urban markets, some aspects of the retail environment design need to change. Working with an agile design company can help retailers shape their urban concept – whether that means expanding, reducing, adjusting, or molding to the needs of the changing market and trends. Overall, innovative designs all have one thing in common: a willingness to experiment with a new retail format designed specifically for an urban location.
Everyone is grappling with the realities of this pandemic. What it means for their business, customers, employees, and the future of their brand is uncertain. As dire as that sounds, always keep in mind, this will all end eventually. Quarter20 is always looking ahead, and now is no different. When people go into stores, what will they find and how will it be changed is a question that we are looking to answer.
Take a look at how these five major global brands are focusing on sustainability in their retail building and design strategies. From a focus on earth-friendly fixtures and materials to customer engagement with sustainable initiatives in-store, these brands are making sustainable retail design a priority.
The Case For Convenience. How These Retailers Built Convenience Directly Into Their Brand Experience
Read how these major brands have built convenience directly into their retail brand experience.
The evolution of the retail market has created a chasm between the online and offline experience. The transactional nature of e-commerce has created a consumer expectation of ultra-convenience, which retailers are incorporating at all levels of the purchase process. In the digital age of convenience, shopping online and in-store from the same retailer can feel different resulting in the massive adoption of technology to help build convenience in shopping experiences in online stores and brick-and-mortar stores. The following tips highlight the various ways that retailers can build a convenience store concept among their customers.
Anyone who has ever opened retail stores knows that success requires more than just renting space and opening the door. Taking a brand to new places can open the door for creativity in retail design. At Q20 we ask ‘what if’ a lot. We want to create new retail experiences that engage our client’s customers like never before. While asking ‘what if’ can expose us to the unknown, we support that question with a solid process that allows us to assist clients at any stage in their retail project. In this way, we access our team’s creativity within a structure that keeps projects on time, and on budget! We would like to offer some insight into our process to show how it supports creative new ways to deliver world class retail experiences. Take a look at the brief descriptions below and get in touch if we can help you in any of these stages for your retail development project. 1 . Design Engineering Retail store design starts with conceptualizing how to best use the space in order to fulfill the retailer's goals. We work together with our clients to establish those goals, researching sources for the right materials. Fixture requirements, modularity and capacity are all taken into consideration, ensuring adequate fixtures to properly display all of the store's goods. 2. Identify the Environment Our team works with clients to plan the use of the available space. This includes the marketing side of planning window display areas and merchandising for the retail store design. While this is happening, construction teams are working on site evaluation, permitting and regulatory factors that might affect the project. Because of restrictions imposed by the environment, each retail store design is unique. Restrictions must be taken into account early in the process, to ensure the best possible results for the retail construction and design project. 3. Engineering and Estimating We often explore a number of different options, seeking a mix that fits the client's budget. Drawings, specifications and initial pricing are prepared in this stage. At this point, clients make a decision on whether to build custom fixtures, source fixtures domestically or source them overseas to best meet their time and cost requirements. 4. Prototyping Fixtures With the concept well in hand, prototype sketches or models will be prepared, in a "proof of concept" process. All elements of the design must be vetted, to ensure that the fixtures will fit in the available space, provide the overall aesthetic appearance desired, and provide necessary display space. Further design modifications may be made based upon the results of the prototyping process. 5. Client Approval While the design process takes shape between the contractor and the retailer, this decision rests solely upon the customer's shoulders. Even so, like other stages of the process, it isn't about accepting or rejecting the overall concept, but rather seeking insight to further refine the design and make any additional changes that the customer deems necessary. 6. Engineering Updates Based upon the collaborative effort of the client approval process, engineering works to incorporate any necessary changes to the retail store design. Further drawings or prototypes are produced, as required, so the final design meets the customer's needs. 7. Fixture Production With approval of the design complete, it is time to begin production. We always start out with a first fixture fabrication to check that the design can be completed per the drawings and that the finished product will be the same as the prototypes. Potential problems with the manufacturing process are identified and rectified at this stage. Once everything looks good, any custom materials or tooling is created, and fabrication of the store's fixtures begins. There are two key elements in this stage of the process: quality control and transparency. It is the responsibility of our quality control team to ensure that each finished fixture matches the intent of the design. At the same time, the production process must be shared with the client, so they can see the progress and verify that the finished product is delivered to specification. 8. Retail Construction Management All the preceding steps lead up to the build-out. Once complete and the fixtures are installed, the retail store design will meet our customer's needs and provide a retail space which is attractive, effective and experiential. Installation of the fixtures is the high point for everyone in the team, as it is the cumulative result of the planning that went before. All fixtures are inspected to ensure their function and that they reflect the concept. We maintain close contact with our client through their opening or reopening to support them with any additional details needed to help ensure their success.
As legal cannabis sales continue to grow, there's a movement among dispensaries to improve the perception of cannabis, from educating consumers to providing a luxury buying experience. There is a growing trend across the industry to create spaces that are cutting-edge design statements and feature elegant décor and a one-of-a-kind, branded luxury buying experience. Cannabis dispensaries are giving designers like us a new canvas to explore. From incorporating natural materials like rich woods, stone, and bright lighting, to creating retail establishments in alternative spaces - creative dispensary design is working to brand cannabis retailing as a luxury experience. We are more than up for that challenge.
Major brands are building in-store community experiences into their brand strategy and store designs attracting internet shoppers into their physical spaces to interact with and purchase their products.
Airports offer different spaces to tell stories and engage with customers, but the conversation is very different from a storefront on Main Street. We appreciate how there are new experimental spaces that are going up in airports across the world.
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