Red, red, pink, purple, red and again a red, perhaps a dash of blue, and back to red. Every February 14, for the last 10 years, stores have freely displayed such colours in their merchandise.
In 2008, the story has changed, albeit, sparingly. Stores have become bigger; buyers are more global and designs have become slicker. But, we still have St Valentine’s Day expressed only through hearts. Some stores may do it differently and use brighter psychedelic colours. Yet, it is still those same hearts in the window that is telling you to walk into their stores to buy something for your valentine. All this is actually ‘heart-breaking’.
Today, in various localities of most of the cities, we see a peculiar scenario. Located along a 150 to 200 metres’ stretch of road, seven or more supermarkets compete for attention of the same catchments or segments of consumers. All of these stores have exactly the same range of products, exactly the same display and exactly the same level of disinterest and apathy in customer service matters.
We are also seeing ‘hi-fashion’ entering the country and buyers are looking to purchasing and changing their wardrobes often. But, are they actually enjoying the shopping experience? Take any city in the country: it has high- fashion street, which has stores of leading Indian and international brands. However, there is nothing unique or compelling seen in their showcase windows. Very few are investing in doing up the stores and most of them are betting largely on advertising for brand recall.
Broadly speaking, three issues need consideration and redress.
Questions this article deals with is on answering how differentiation can be created amongst stores or brands. Every brand or store has its own potential energy. Is the VM reflecting this individual and unique aspect? Is there an approach (VM) that will help us make our stores sure of getting buyers? Are we ‘unlocking’ the value in every store?
We have a problem and, of that, there is no doubt. The solution that we have found to be the most effective across product categories and markets is to make the ‘brand’ central to everything. ‘Retail design’ and ‘visual merchandising’ needs a strong sustainable guiding principle. What follows is a template recommended for bringing a greater degree of differentiation to retail design and visual merchandising
Take the example of an apparel and accessories brand called Urban Yoga from the Future Group. Every product from Urban Yoga is inspired by the lifestyle that Yoga represents. This means that the products are 100 per cent natural, breathable and use materials that are recyclable or reusable. The brand had a voice and it is reflected in its products.
The task for visual merchandising was to reflect this brand-belief while communicating the seasonal themes. And, when the brand goes on sale, you don’t have vinyl posters on standees. Instead, you have earthen pots with ‘25% off’ hand painted on it. And, when Urban Yoga makes T-shirts targeting children, there is no standard gondola or browser. Instead, you have a rope ladder to display and merchandise the T-shirts.
These clever ideas were largely a result of the clarity in the brands articulation. Once you have that, the rest is easy. Today’s retailers are going overseas to get value from international retail design shops. This may not necessarily be a smart thing to do, but at least, it serves the purpose for the design industry in India to get this wake-up call. Keeping this paradigm of ‘brand as the centre of design’, international firms may not necessarily be the best equipped to deliver value to Indian retail. Indian design and strategy outfits are the ones with all the consumer insights in our market. So, what better competitive advantage could we ask for?
The future leaders of retail will be those people who have a strong belief in brands. And, retail design and visual merchandising will be dominated by companies and individuals who have the passion and the skill to understand, articulate and build brands.
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