design:retail - October 2015 - (Page 6)

editor's note 006 Tell a Good Story ALISON EMBREY MEDINA EXECUTIVE EDITOR alison.medina@emeraldexpo.com @dretaileditor T HROUGH THE WORDS on these pages, photos on Instagram and tales on my blog, I tell stories for a living. Storytelling is a part of my personal brand-that's why anyone who knows me will tell you that: a) I'm loud (that's RIGHT!) and b) I unapologetically talk with my hands. (When you are an editor, you cannot breathe without proper punctuation. My left and right hands serve as my commas, hyphens and exclamation points when relaying stories in first person rather than on the page or screen. Grammar nerds unite!) A story at-retail makes the shopper feel immensely captured in the present. When you are enraptured in a great story, you are more likely to be less enamored with your smartphone and fully focused on reality. And when you are impressed and completely enveloped in the present-those are the moments when you are most likely to buy. I have a leather-bound book with pages made of Kraft paper that still sits empty on my desk. It was bought in the store you see in the photo at right-an itty-bitty little shop I wandered into on a recent trip to Shanghai. The store smelled of leather and lavender, with a soothing and soft instrumental melody in the background that I can only liken to those you might hear at a spa or massage salon. Thoughtfully executed visual merchandising touched every corner of this store, with vintage jewelry pieces exquisitely placed in birds nests, and tiny china sets OCTOBER 2015 DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM arranged in a miniature tea party, complete with tiny napkins. My favorite detail was the treatment on the three vertical beams that ran through the space. Rather than allowing an eyesore, the beams were each coined with tokens of appreciation. Handwritten notes and baubles adorned the columns, pinned up with thumbtacks, clothespins, nails and screws, creating a permeating "I WAS HERE" moment within the store. These artifacts hung on those beams almost like modern-day graffiti, marking that time and that instant for those customers within the greater life story of that store. So, you see, I had to buy a leather-bound notebook. I was moved. And I wanted to remember that leather-and-lavender smell. Where does your "I WAS HERE" moment live within your stores? Is it in the fitting rooms, which Marge Laney describes as the most crucial conversion point in the buying process in her interview on page 34? Is it an oversized brand statement that wows from the first few steps inside the store, as a giant bust form sporting the iconic Under Armour compression shirt achieves in the brand's new Chicago Brand House on page 40 (a selfie magnet, according to the design firm who put it there)? Or is it on a live stage, where actual rock concerts bring the brand to life right within the walls of a retail store, as we see in the Detroit John Varvatos store on page 48? However you look at it, stories are meant to be told at-retail. Consumers are hungry for it. Give them that "I WAS HERE" moment they are craving, even if they don't know they want it yet. That is what surprise and delight is all about. That, hand-gesturing storytelling collection of moments and all, is retail. http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - October 2015

design:retail - October 2015
Contents
Editor’s Note
Show Talk
On Trend
We Love This!
Designer Picks
Clicks & Mortar
Postcard
How’d They Do That?
Have You Heard?
Mingle
Perspectives
Visual Eye
Searching for Steve Jobs
Under Armour
John Varvatos
Retail Design Industry 2015
Backstory

design:retail - October 2015