FLATTENING HIERARCHIES BY GOING BEHIND THE SCENES

Unprecedented access to info via digital tech – nearly 76% of Americans research brands or products digitally before visiting physical stores (Deloitte, 2015) – means buyers often have as much info as sellers. This makes behind-the-scenes retail venues that infer a similar sense of ‘info parity’ especially powerful (see How Design Live, 2014 for more). 

FULL DISCLOSURE: RETAIL THEATRES OF REVELATION

Thanks to the scrutiny brands are now subjected to via social media (33%+ of UK shoppers are concerned about the origins of the products they buy, YouGov, 2015), evoking honesty continues to count across all brand scenarios – elevating stores that merge consumption and production, revealing formerly-hidden processes.

BLURRED BOUNDARIES: OPEN-DOOR RETAIL STUDIOS & ‘HQ-STORES’

Smart brands are allowing consumer-fans hungry for more access to engage with them via the very venues from which their brand culture is derived. These corporate-commercial ‘HQ stores’ and open-door retail studios and showrooms – both permanent and occasional – are exciting shoppers by blurring the boundaries between consumer culture and industry knowledge. 

WELCOME HOME TO GENEROUS BRANDING

Echoing the voyeurism inherent within social media monoliths Snapchat and Instagram, savvy brands are recreating the studios or homes of their star designers – or devising venues that pay homage to their philosophies. The tactic is especially relevant to luxury brands, where intimate and small-scale approaches are remedying waning interest in traditional mega formats.

STORE LABS DEMONSTRATE DEMOCRATIC, INCLUSIVE SENSIBILITY

Responding to the 80% of global shoppers more likely to shop in a store that involves them in developing new experiences, products or services (AMP, 2015), is an emerging wave of participatory, R&D-influenced store spaces designed around facilitating brand-consumer conversations and even collaborations. See also Beta Brandscapes.