A Review of the Design Process
It is no revelation that our society is currently living a true “experiential” revolution. People are seeking meaningful experiences in every aspect of their lives. In response, most sectors have had to review their processes to address the evolving demands associated with what is referred to as the “Experience economy”. Adding yet another level of complexity are the ongoing developments in communication technologies. As people are continuously connected to new sources of information, they also become more critical, value conscious and demanding.
Being a highly innovative sector, the retail market has been at the forefront of addressing this shift. Many steps have been taken in researching and generating novel ways to please customers’ evolving demands. Not only have there been numerous trial and error initiatives led directly in the field, we have also witnessed a growing interest in academic research specifically on experiential retailing. Multiple renowned authors have studied the “experience” construct on its own, in different contexts, but also in relation to other key concepts such as consumer value.
One area which has particularly benefited from all this is that of physical retailing. Not so long ago, predictions on the end of the brick-and-mortar store due to the rapid growth of online shopping were a common occurrence. However, experiential demands have shifted retailers’ focus back to the physical store, as it remains the best tool in delivering a complete customer experience. These retailers have nonetheless understood that their stores need to change. It is not enough to sell products anymore, the store must now deliver memorable experiences. As a response, brands are constantly on the lookout for new ways to create what the industry refers to as “experiential stores”.
To assist them in this task, they turn to their long-time retail design partners. They do, however, expect these to now design a brand appropriate experiential store concept. The pressure thus shifts to the designers. As shown above, much has been written regarding the retailers’ take on experiential retailing, but what about the retail designers’? They too must have adapted their practices to address evolving demands. In what follows, we report on our research to uncover whether this has truly been the case. Our goal was to answer the following question: how do retail designers address the experiential dimension in their daily practices? We first tried to answer this by turning to available literature, which we then complemented with a field study where we sought the views of the three stakeholder groups most concerned with the topic: retailers, retail designers and consumers. The combined insight suggests necessary updates to current ways of working. We thus conclude with a proposed model illustrating a retail design process better integrating the experiential dimension.
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