RETAIL DESIGN- More important than EVEr!

Retail design is a creative and commercial discipline that combines several different areas of expertise together in the design and construction of retail space. Retail design is primarily a specialized practice of architecture and interior design, however it also incorporates elements of interior decoration, industrial design, graphic design, ergonomics, and advertising.

With technology at its peak the online market has taken over the brick and mortar version of it. The convenience, prices, abundance of choices and the immediacy has been a plus point for the e-commerce business and has been causing a dent in the offline market business. This is where retail design becomes even more important than ever before. Before the advent of the e-commerce business the competition was among alike contenders and much attention wasn’t paid to retail design and neither was much thought put into it. Definitely not as much as is required in this day and age.

If retail store still want to continue to in the business they have only two options so to speak. One, to move their business online, which can be a risky investment and take years to become fruitful. Second, to invest heavily in retail design, and offer more than what has been the norm, and is for sure a less risky and less expensive investment as compared to the the first option.

The norms of retail design have been in a motion of change for sometime now. However, that change needs to be a fast paced one with as many as possible retail chains on-board.

The focus of retail design has shifted to human experience now, to the extent that the whole idea of experiential design has come into play. The human experience has become an integral part of the retail design. It was the consumer who is still walking into a store is looking for, the experience. Why? The answer is simple. When the same consumer has accessibility to the internet from the comfort of his or her home, why suffer in the heat/cold, the traffic and in the waiting line when all of it can be easily avoided? It is for the experience of buying from a physical shop and here not just the buying experience is enough. What else you experience during your buying experience is what hooks the consumer to the physical store. As none of it can be experienced through the online stores.

Hence retail design becomes the only way out of the decline in foot count in physical store.

Experience luxury and grandeur

References

1. M. (2018, May 03). #RDE2018: The future of retail is human say Cath Kidston and Green Room. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://retaildesignworld.com/2018/05/03/the-future-of-retail-is-human-say-cath-kidston-and-green-room/

2.M. (2018, May 03). #RDE2018: Get ready for more 'liquid retailing' – says RDE speaker. Retrieved May 6, 2018, from https://retaildesignworld.com/2018/05/02/get-ready-for-more-liquid-retailing-says-rde-speaker-2/