The physical store is the communicator of the brand
By Eric Feigenbaum
Fashion is a bookmark of culture; it chronicles our heritage and the changing times. Retail is a reflection of fashion; it also documents the spirit of the day. If one were to hold a mirror to the face of retail, the reflected image would be us. Accordingly, retail’s most dynamic tools, visual merchandising, and store design, share equivalent reflective qualities with the runways of fashion; they too chronicle our times, our values, and our aspirations. Analogously, if fashion is the standard-bearer of our times, then architecture is the embodiment of the day.
Moshe Safdie, the world-renowned architect whose many memorable projects include Habitat 67 in Montreal, the Marina Bay Sands resort on the Singapore waterfront, and Missouri’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, famously said, “Architecture should be rooted in the past, and yet be part of our own time and forward-looking.” While architecture is an important component of any retail endeavor, it should be noted that retail, in its glorious interaction with architecture, must also be rooted in the past, and yet be part of the present with an eye toward the future.
Since its inception, the driving force behind modern retail has been its innate ability to adapt to change. Clearly, the rate of change in today’s retail environment is exponential. Driven by the unrelenting march of technology, retail is changing faster now than ever before.
Some view change with trepidation, some with uncertainty, and others with a heightened sense of opportunity. Those with apprehension, dread change. Those who are unsure, are anxious at the very thought of change. Those who see opportunity will drive change on the road to success.
Today, our daily lives are evolving faster than at any other point in history. Concepts that were unimaginable in the past, are the realities of the day. And while retail has historically been quick to embrace change and innovation, care must be given to avoid the overarching trap of technology as a singular tool of communication. Much like the works of DaVinci whose masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa were brought to life with a multi-level glazing technique, applying thin layers of color to create volume, depth, and complexity; retail design must also employ a multi-leveled approach to achieve a three-dimensionality of engagement, recognition, and acceptance. Retail artists must strategically integrate all tools of communication into store environments as they turn apprehension and anxiety into energy and action.
While technology clearly will define and drive the future, it should be noted that human nature tends to push totally in one direction or the other. It must be remembered however, that balance will define the vortex of success - the physical and digital worlds must work together.
As retailers integrate technology into their business strategies, as well they should, it’s important to note that technology isn’t the story. Rather, the role of technology is to help tell the story. And what is the most important, and hopefully the most compelling story that retailers should endeavor to tell? The focus today must continue to be on the beauty of the store, the presentation of merchandise, and the nuances of the brand.
While the built environment is not going away, retailers must provide a reason for customers to visit their stores. It’s important to recognize that the physical store is a tool of communication; the best place to articulate quality messages to the targeted customer. Retail is naturally the showplace for new ideas, new concepts, and new products. As such, the physical store becomes a selling stage, acting in concert with any digital platform, for those new products. It also becomes the standard-bearer of the brand. New products, the latest fashions, and trends, are all very exciting. Retailers must capture that excitement and communicate it through the language of visual merchandising and store design. In addition, retailers must also project the excitement of the brand. The role of the retail artist, whether they’re visual merchandisers, store designers, or creative merchants, remains the same, to strike a responsive chord in all who engage with their creative messaging. Retail is an orchestration of messages whose authors are the communicators of the brand.
Going forward, it’s imperative that retail strategists recognize the importance of the store environment as a critical touchstone of the brand. Every gesture that a retailer makes, from the sign above the door to the mat below; from the nature of the sales associates to the surface treatments on the walls; from the stationery they use to the merchandising standards and techniques they employ; must be in sync with the brand image they hope to project. As we broadly engage technology and digital communication, it must be recognized that the media we employ to communicate our story must also be strategic and in sync with the overall brand message.
It must be further noted that the store environment is not only the communicator of the brand but also the keeper of the brand. Through the art and technologies of visual merchandising and store design, the retailer clearly states who they are, what they have to say, and how they say it. The physical store is a dynamic projection of everything the retail brand believes in and stands for.
The moment a customer enters a store is the moment of truth. It’s the first tactile, three-dimensional representation of anything they’ve been told, through any platform, about the brand. The store environment is the last link in the branded marketing chain. Today more than ever, the physical store has to be looked at as more than just a place to sell merchandise. It should be considered as a point of connection between retailer and consumer. It’s a social gathering place where the community is welcome to visit and spend time. A place where they feel safe. When designing a store today, retailers are charged with designing more than a place to sell. Rather, they are designing a brand experience.
In keeping with Safdie’s proclamation, retail design must find the connecting tissue that touches the heartstrings of all who engage with the space. A store environment that communicates a well-defined brand image must be a relatable thread rooted in the past, and yet firmly positioned in our own time with eyes cast toward the future.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ERIC FEIGENBAUM, MEDIA RDI
Eric Feigenbaum is a recognized leader in the visual merchandising and store design industries with both domestic and international design experience. His career includes working in four different sectors of the industry. As a retailer, he served as Corporate Director of Visual Merchandising for Stern’s Department Store, a Division of Federated Department Stores, for fourteen years. In that capacity, he played a key role in the design and development of seven new stores and ten major renovations. He also served as the chair of Federated’s Visual Directors’ Team.
On the design side, he was the Director of Visual Merchandising for WalkerGroup/CNI, an architectural design consultancy located in New York City, specializing in retail design worldwide. In that role, he helped bring visual merchandising to Asia and South America and was involved in the design of stores in South Korea, Japan, Chile, and Peru. He was also a key contributor in the application of WalkerGroup’s proprietary service Envirobranding®, which promotes the physical store environment as an integral component of a company’s projected brand image.
In the educational sector, he was the Chair of the Visual Merchandising Department at LIM College in New York City from 2000 to 2015, where he created the first four-year BBA degree program in visual merchandising, and the first masters degree program in visual merchandising. A pioneer in advocating an eco-friendly approach to visual merchandising and store design, Feigenbaum is responsible for conceiving and designing the state-of-the-art LIM College Green Lab – a sustainable materials lab and research center. Additionally, he was an adjunct professor of Store Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Currently, he is the president and director of creative services for his own retail design company, Embrace Design. With many responsibilities, he also works in the editorial sector as the Editorial Advisor/New York Editor of VMSD Magazine, and the Director of Workshops for WindowsWear.
Feigenbaum has been the recipient of numerous prestigious industry awards. In 2012, he was awarded the industry’s highest honor, the coveted Markopoulos Award. Professor Feigenbaum has lectured all over the world on visual merchandising and store design including presentations at the World Retail Congress and the National Retail Federation as well as presentations in Seoul and Ulsan South Korea; Fukuoka, Japan; Santiago, Chile; Hong Kong; Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba, Brazil; Dusseldorf, Germany; Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Canada; Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Mexico City, Mexico; Madrid, Spain; Lima, Peru; Bogota and Medellin, Colombia; and Milan and Ancona, Italy.
Feigenbaum is also a founding member of PAVE Global (previously known as, A Partnership for Planning and Visual Education) and is regarded as one of the top experts and visionaries in the Visual Merchandising and store design industries.
ความคิดเห็น