Eronda Woonmode, a passion-driven Belgian family business, has been building furniture for three generations. Throughout their journey they have always managed to adjust to the times, refining and broadening their offer to meet evolving customer expectations. At the time of consulting Wave of engagement, they were faced with a new internal review. The current store design focused on their ready to sell furniture range, whereas most of their revenue was anchored in custom work. The owners thus sought Wave of Engagement’s advice on the best way forward for their brand, omnichannel strategy and most importantly a store refit which would better align with their targeted audience and ambitions.

Wave of Engagement contracted Lorena and I to deliver on the first part of the project scope: the brand and retail vision. This was envisioned to take place through 2 phases:

• WS1 – audit
• WS2 – advice on the brand identity, retail vision, omnichannel approach and store experience

Once the client signed this off, this part of the scope would serve as a creative brief for other colleagues to take forward into a more refined store design proposal which, given their own experience in interiors, would be detailed and constructed by the retailer client themselves.

For WS1, Lorena and I conducted a thorough audit of the brand, the various retail and communication channels currently utilised and the physical store experience. I assisted Lorena on a series of in-depth interviews with the brand managers, some staff members and customers. I also spent considerable time in the physical store observing how customers and staff operated the space. With this information in hand, we drafted a first report of our findings, also integrating Lorena’s strategic advice for refining the brand identity.

The insights collected in phase 1 allowed us to deliver a research-based strategic proposal in WS2. Lorena refined her initial brand proposal. Together we then drafted a holistic retail vision, integrating the physical store’s role in a clearly defined omnichannel strategy. I was personally responsible for strategising the physical store journeys based on 3 key missions framed as a team. We then illustrated our design intentions for the various journey phases through reference pictures.