What makes a store more than a store? What makes a breakthrough brand experience at retail?
These are questions that companies with brick and mortar assets wrestle with as they continue to lose share to online competitors or to those with mobile capabilities (smart phone-enabled mobile commerce as well as IRL roving mobile units and other non-traditional formats).
Denise Lee Yohn brand experiences brands retail(Here’s my newest Brand Experience Brief — insights and analysis from my audits of new and interesting retail or restaurant concepts.)
It’s always interesting to see how product companies create retail experiences for their brands. That’s why I’m eager to share my download on the LEGO store. It’s a solid experience for the LEGO brand, but they missed some opportunities to make it even more engaging. Take a look and let me know if you agree:
brand experiences Denise Lee Yohn Lego retailMy friend, Carmine Gallo, has written a book called The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty. The Apple Store is the most profitable retailer in America, generating an average of $5,600 per square foot and attracting more than 20,000 visitors a week.
Apple Guy Kawasaki innovation retailLast week, the Wall Street Journal featured a piece about Lululemon Athletica’s “secret sauce.” Although many stories have been written about the retailer of yoga-inspired athletic apparel, this one succinctly relayed the elements that distinguish Lululemon from other brands.
Denise Lee Yohn retail retail experiences
(Check out my latest “brand experience brief” — a report with insights and analysis of new and interesting restaurant and retail concepts.)
Fast fashion retailer Uniqlo is on a roll. I visited the company’s Herald Square location, one of three stores it has in New York City. Here’s what I thought of the brand experience there:
brand experiences Denise Lee Yoh retail retail experiences retail formats UniqloMarvellous. Fantastic. Terrific. I thought I was in a minority of one, as somebody who gets frustrated at the waste of time when the supermarket I shop at decides that for my benefit it is going to change the layout. I muse to myself that some silly sod in their HQ has latched onto the latest theory of retail layout and is thinks that by putting the milk where the dishwasher tablets once were it is going to make my life easier.
Dick Stroud retail retail formats retail designThe folks at Deloitte recently released, The Next Evolution: Store 3.0, a report on the readiness of retailers for the store of tomorrow. Although the report offers a somewhat limited and biased perspective since it is based on a survey of only 39 current retail executives, it raises some important questions about the requirements of the future store.
Denise Lee Yohn employee engagement retail salespeople selling in-storebrand as business bit: There’s been a lot of reporting on the rankings from Interbrand’s Best Retail Brands 2012 report – but I’ve been spending more time on the consultancy’s commentary that’s sprinkled throughout the report. The comments have made me aware of the tensions that now define retail:
Denise Lee Yohn retailOnce upon a time, Wi-Fi was a novelty in coffee shops. It was an unexpected bonus that we encountered when patronizing certain Starbucks or some other forward-looking establishments.]
But what was once a delight if found has become a disappointment if not found, or not working, or not free. Now any self-respecting coffee shop wouldn’t be caught without free Wi-Fi.
Denise Lee Yohn retail experiences retail Starbucks third place
