{"id":854,"date":"2016-07-26T21:59:22","date_gmt":"2016-07-26T21:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.thestorefront.com\/?p=854"},"modified":"2022-10-11T08:00:44","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T08:00:44","slug":"gensler-on-designing-a-retail-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/gensler-on-designing-a-retail-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Gensler on designing a retail experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

It\u2019s mid-afternoon on a foggy San Francisco<\/a> Thursday. Ryan Fetters, a senior retail designer with Gensler<\/a>, sits with a client in a visioning session, exchanging questions. \u201cWhat do you see that we don\u2019t?\u201d the client asks. \u201cWhat is the story you\u2019re trying to tell?\u201d the designers ask in return. \u201cWho do you want to reach?\u201d The questions are targeted, and their purpose is to understand how Gensler can help the client remain relevant and competitive in the rapidly evolving world of retail.<\/p>\n

The questions are driven by seismic shifts in the retail landscape. Suburban malls and department stores are in decline. E-commerce is steadily growing, threatening the traditional retail model. An omni-channel presence<\/a> is a must, small budgets be damned. Advertisements shout at us to buy products from companies trying to manage these shifts, so much so that we stop paying attention, says Fetters.<\/p>\n

If today\u2019s (mostly digital) advertising and marketing methods fail to win customers\u2019 attention, how do retailers, especially smaller operations, maintain a market presence? That\u2019s where Fetters\u2019 questions come into play. How do retailers build their story? They do so by building authentic relationships with customers through face-to-face interaction. \u201cAs a consumer I want the real story,\u201d Fetters says about parsing through advertisements and marketing emails. \u201cAnd if I want the real story I\u2019m going to get way more out of going into the store and talking to someone in person.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Fetters\u2019 expertise comes in. Gensler\u2019s retail page echoes what Fetters says about storytelling and authenticity. \u201cThe heart of the consumer-to-retailer engagement is experiential,\u201d the site reads. \u201cThe desire for community, authenticity, and a self-curated yet spontaneous flow\u201d is what Fetters intends to help his client fulfill.<\/p>\n

Develop authentic, face-to-face customer relationships by telling a story. It\u2019s a test of turning an abstract idea into tangible strategy. A lesson in lighting, in space, in composition. It\u2019s the process by which a retailer takes his store from glorified warehouse to experience. \u201cPeople thought movie theaters would die with Netflix<\/a>,\u201d Fetters says. \u201cBut it\u2019s about the experience. Not just buying to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s lesson is\u00a0convenience, and it\u2019s an especially pertinent lesson, given the nature of the shifting retail landscape. \u201cConvenience plays into wanting an authentic experience,\u201d Fetters says. Convenience is how retailers answer consumer calls for a relationship that is all about them. Shoppers expect the speed of Amazon<\/a> fulfillment, along with the ability to touch and examine products in person. In short, customers want the world. Convenience is how retailers can give it to them.<\/p>\n

Target<\/a> now showcases a number of City Targets in urban centers. City Targets \u2013 built to absorb maximum foot traffic \u2013 regularly outperform their larger, suburban counterparts. Walmart<\/a> is in the midst of opening 300 small-format stores. The recent success of their existing Walmart Express and Neighborhood Market locations compels them to do so. These mini-Walmarts either focus on a specific subgroup of products\u00a0and\/or are located in more heavily populated areas.<\/p>\n

Apple<\/a> measures store success not by sales per square foot, but by store radius. If a shopper does not make an in-store purchase, but later returns home and buys a MacBook online, the store closest to their location receives credit for the sale. Warby Parker <\/a>opened a number of temporary warehouses. Their sales in zip codes near those Pop-Ups were significantly higher than in zip codes without access to physical inventory.<\/p>\n

\"Gensler-1\"<\/p>\n

This is why Fetters describes the beauty of a Pop-Up in today\u2019s meeting with the small retailer. \u201cPop-ups get retailers closer to people who want that authentic experience,\u201d he says. Well-designed Pop-Ups help answer the questions Fetters asked earlier. \u201c \u201cWhat story do you want to tell?\u201d. Who do you want to reach?\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pop-ups bring the product to the customers. They do it with the self-curated spontaneity Gensler espouses. They do it with a \u201chere today, gone tomorrow\u201d attitude that is a pop-up retailer\u2019s greatest asset. Temporary retail spaces<\/a> tell the story of the moment. They live in the immediate gratification a customer receives after a face-to-face conversation with a store associate. They live in the pleasant surprise of finding one\u2019s favorite brand suddenly around the corner.<\/p>\n

\"Gensler<\/p>\n

As the meeting winds down, Fetters discusses specifics \u2013 such as how a\u00a0space should be arranged, how lighting, color and shelving will guide customers around the store. The conversation includes details about every square foot of floor space, including window signage and display models. By the end of a visioning session, the idea is to have a granular plan for telling a story and remaining relevant.<\/p>\n

The devil, as they say, is in the details. How do we build a mini-Walmart without 40,000 square feet of space? How do we develop a City Target without a vast inventory?? How do we bring customers an authentic experience? \u201cIt needs to be something personal,\u201d Fetters finishes. It should be unique. And today, more than anything, it needs to be convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s mid-afternoon on a foggy San Francisco Thursday. Ryan Fetters, a senior retail designer with Gensler, sits with a client in a visioning session, exchanging questions. \u201cWhat do you see that we don\u2019t?\u201d the client asks. \u201cWhat is the story you\u2019re trying to tell?\u201d the designers ask in return. \u201cWho do you want to reach?\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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Kerbrat","author_link":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/author\/ak\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"Industry News<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"It\u2019s mid-afternoon on a foggy San Francisco Thursday. Ryan Fetters, a senior retail designer with Gensler, sits with a client in a visioning session, exchanging questions. \u201cWhat do you see that we don\u2019t?\u201d the client asks. \u201cWhat is the story you\u2019re trying to tell?\u201d the designers ask in return. \u201cWho do you want to reach?\u201d…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestorefront.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}