Room and Board’s Boston store showcases experiential design goals: product display, community integration and strong brand presence.
Despite the recent rash of announced store closings, bricks and mortar retail is not going away. Consider these statistics: 85 percent of shoppers state that touching a product in a store is an important part of the decision to buy, and 71 percent of online sales involve the physical store at some point along the path to purchase .
Because most shoppers use some combination of on- and offline shopping, the pressure for brands to create consistent and integrated experiences across all channels is greater than ever. But how to connect the dots between what might seem like completely disparate experiences? By using a holistic design approach that will ultimately tell a consistent narrative across all channels, or experiences, that a consumer has with a company.
Experiential design brings together a range of dimensions, which together, create an immersive brand experience. Critical pieces include store components – such as staff, customer service and in-store graphics – as well as presence across all channels, including advertising, web identity and, of course, social media.
To create an authentic experience, the design must begin with the story of the brand. What does your brand mean, and what does it stand for? What would you like the customer to experience when they first enter a store or visit your website? Armed with an understanding of the answers to these basic questions, the evolution of an authentic, curated experience can begin.
After framing your brand identity, we engage with the experts who make a store successful. These range from behind-the scenes stakeholders who might never set foot in the store (like technology, human resources and legal staff), to product buyers and creators, and frontline store associates. Each brings a unique and vital brand perspective to the discussion. These varied points of view, about both the brand and products, are brought together to frame a compelling story and experience.
At Home On Newbury Street
Consider the Boston Room and Board store on the corner of Newbury Street and Massachusetts Ave. Room and Board is an established brand with a strong web presence. This is their only store in greater Boston, so we began by identifying the store’s goals: focus on the showroom as product display; integrate into the community and strengthen brand presence and marketing. And to meet these goals, we designed the answer to these questions: What should the customer experience as they enter and move through the store? How does this reinforce the brand story? This is the essence of experiential design.
Room and Board is all about home – both defining what home means to you and making you feel at home in its store. The home should be reflective of the type of homes here in Boston, blurring the lines between being at home and being at the home of your dreams. Materials and detailing were chosen reflective of the New England area, yet also of Room and Board’s brand aesthetic.
Stores enable us to physically experience a brand and its products. Sales associates play a surprisingly important role in the in-store experience as well, reinforcing the brand with each interaction. After assistance from a knowledgeable sales associate, a customer is 90 percent more likely to make a purchase.
We typically begin experiential process for a physical store by mapping the different journeys customers make to purchase. This considers a range of demographics, behaviors and interactions integral to the selling and buying process. We seek to understand the customer’s primary focus in entering the store, and what the customer will do once inside it. The entire customer journey is mapped with this goal: to enhance and highlight the brand via a customer experience unique to your store.
For stores with more than one location, the journey mapping reflects the demographic specific to each store’s geography. We recently partnered with a European retailer as it enters North America. Although three of these stores are in and around Boston, each store has a different buying persona based on the local neighborhood.
As the customer in the Burlington store is focused on the latest fashion, we created a shop-in-shop area at the primary entrance, which gives a boutique experience. In contrast, the downtown Boston shopper is seeking fashion values for the whole family. This store design targets this customer by making the various departments clearly visible from the main circulation path. In both cases, high-end materials elevate the product and reinforce the value, which is part of the retailer’s brand message.
Our research shows that customers return to stores designed experientially. They also spend more and have higher satisfaction ratings – and will share their experiences with others, both in person or online.
It all comes back to the brand story and the customer experience. Maintaining consistency of brand, reinforcing it through the store physical environment and incorporating the locality create the holistic experience customers crave.
Julie Reker, AIA, RDI, leads the retail practice area in Gensler’s Boston office; her email address is julie_reker@gensler.com.
