All Change in the retail design sector


David Dalziel of integrated design consultancy Dalziel + Pow reflects on his company’s success in the sector over its three decades of business, and tells FX how technology has changed the retail market forever.


FX

Armed with our smart phones and iPads, we can shop anywhere. So why bother going to the trouble of actually visiting a physical shop? This is the challenge for traditional retailers - how best to integrate online and old-school shopping habits, and get the best results out of both by enhancing the shopping experience.

There have certainly been plenty of casualties, caused by both these changing shopping habits and the prolonged economic downtown. But rather than leading to the death of retail design, technological advances have meant that shop design has to work even harder and do far more. In David Dalziel's long view of the retail design sector, he also takes a look at some of the new retail designs out there, from Argos's first digital-only store to 3's new design concept, and online cycling business Rapha's hugely successful venture into bricks and mortar courtesy.

Last year Dalziel + Pow celebrated its 30th anniversary, no mean feat for a design company focusing on the fickle world of retail. Nor has it just been a matter of survival. Dalziel + Pow has instead thrived, steadily growing to an impressive 130 staff, with work as far afield as Chile, South Africa and China as well as home-grown clients such as Next, Debenhams and John Lewis.

Dalziel + Pow built on its relationship with Chilean store Paris to create Paris Kids in Santiago

Dalziel + Pow built on its relationship with Chilean store Paris to create Paris Kids in Santiago

As co-founder David Dalziel may have been a constant at the helm but the retail world he designs for has changed immeasurably. He is still designing shops, but the physical environment, though still crucial, is now only part of the story following the huge growth in online retailing and digital technology, and the knock-on effect on physical stores.

He estimates that direct digital retail's share of the market will stabilise at about 25 per cent, leaving 75 per cent still left 'to fight for' with the help of effective design. Certainly retail clients are increasingly being challenged to do far more with their stores in response to online options - there has to be a good reason to go out to go shopping.

'Being good enough isn't good enough,' says Dalziel. 'We need to create great stores with more personality. Everyone has to be more standout than they had been before,' whether this is through the quality of service or a physical store environment's ability to offer something different and surprising. 'It's challenging clients to think about how to present their store. This has to do more than be an open stockroom,' he says.

It's not a matter of either/or, but one of integration across the selling platforms, and navigating how store and online can best work together, whether using iPads in changing rooms or screens for online shopping on the shop floor. These days this is an exciting part of many of Dalziel + Pow's briefs, such as its recent work for Argos and John Lewis, which is increasingly selling off the web or 'showrooming' in-store. The sales impact of store design is less tangible - it is now a broader picture involving both in and out-of-store sales online, rather than just what goes through the tills at that location.

There's no doubt that things have changed for good. 'Retailers should probably be thinking about fewer and better shops... If you're a new brand you wouldn't build 200 stores, you'd build 50 great stores and a great website,' says Dalziel.

David Dalziel

In response to the new retail landscape, Dalziel + Pow now offers digital design as well as 2D and 3D, so that it can give continuity of brand experience across all platforms. This is a key part of its design for John Lewis, where the range is displayed over less store space but is accessible in a wider form via in-store digital sales terminals.

'Retailers have to balance retail and online and make it seamless - it's possible to VM a website in the same way as a store,' says Dalziel. Physical stores can still have many advantages over online such as - potentially - its quality of service, and the ability to retain customers for far longer than online sites can, for example, through the provision of department store restaurants. Brands such as Apple, with its emphasis on a hands-on customer experience of technology in its stores, are having a huge impact on the way such goods are presented and sold across the market, says Dalziel.

Argos, for example, is hugely raising its game with its first fully digital stores, designed by Dalziel + Pow and currently is being trialled at six prototypes. Here there are none of its traditional catalogues or printed materials, but large wall screens with moving images around the wall and a pledge to produce goods within 60 seconds of the customer clicking on the screen.

It's all about maximising the store experience. In its store design for Oasis, for example, Dalziel + Pow is increasing the space of fitting rooms by 25 per cent to allow for more group shopping, and providing iPads and more staff so that customers can have garments in other sizes and colours brought direct to their changing room rather than having to go back out into the store. It's a question, says Dalziel, of 'maximising the fitting room as part of the shopping experience'.

On the other hand, the emphasis is away from purely sales in the stores. When John Lewis opened a Dalziel + Pow-designed boutique department store in Exeter, web sales in Devon and Cornwall increased hugely, showing the knock-on effect of the physical on the digital. At Primark, store design is 'all about promoting the brand online, not just promoting the stock'. Dalziel + Pow has recently created Primark's first-ever series of brand films as well as photographic images for use projected within the store.

Long-standing relationships with clients are the most productive - Dalziel + Pow has also worked with Next for nine years and Primark for 27 years, allowing for a continual and, says Dalziel, 'very powerful' cycle of design response and review rather than attempting to achieve 100 per cent of the brief in the first go. About 85 per cent is a more realistic target, he reckons, with the rest achieved over time: 'Clients are more deeply committed to design at a broad level. We find ourselves in a continual cycle of evolution.'

About half of Dalziel + Pow's work is overseas, much of it local market brands aspiring to international standards. It enjoys the creativity and freedom that some of these projects bring, in particular its work with Chilebased department store Paris, which has a very vibrant, rich store environment.

Some 30 years on, Dalziel is still optimistic for the future of retail design, despite, and because of, the huge technology-led changes that have transformed the sector.

He says: 'There are still lots of stores out there that aren't great and do need help. There's always more to do.'

Three - Urban Salon

Not so long ago all phone shops had dummy handsets fixed to the walls. Some still do. But those days are long gone in mobile phone company Three's new store concept, designed by Urban Salon. Fuelled by the experiences offered by stores such as Apple, customers want and expect far more now.

Urban Salon made it a priority to eliminate dummy phones and replace them with fully powered, working models that customers can try out at woodclad gondolas throughout the store. Security was a major priority - Urban Salon worked with Three for four months to design universal clamps for the phones to prevent handset thefts.

Urban Salon designed gondolas on which to display powered up mobile phones for Three

Urban Salon designed gondolas on which to display powered up mobile phones for Three

Each is accompanied by its own screen with product and pricing information - a major move away from traditional ticketing - and that allows Three to update prices in all its stores at the same time rather than wait the 10 days it previously took. This means it can react fast to any deals being offered by rivals.

Stores will have between a single and 10 gondolas of demonstration phones depending on store size, plus sign-up tables and a children's zone with iPads and Eames Elephant Chairs.

Light boxes around the walls give a changeable backdrop for images and special offers, allowing the client to alter the stores' look easily and quickly. These are combined with large, bespoke overhead lampshades to give a fresh and welcoming ambience.

Urban Salon is currently working on a product gondola for wheelchair users. The store concept was trialled in three pilot stores in Birmingham, Bluewater shopping centre and Middlesbrough and is now being rolled out nationally

Rapha CyCling Club - Brinkworth

Cycling-gear brand Rapha Cycling Club is an example of an online-turned-physical retailer that offers far more than just merchandise. After starting up online, Rapha turned to Brinkworth to create its first walk-in stores, opening in London, then Sydney, San Francisco and most recently New York (pictured). Brinkworth is now extending the London branch.

The Rapha cycle walk-in stores came after the brand was established online. They offer so much more than sales, trying to build a Rapha cycling community

The Rapha cycle walk-in stores came after the brand was established online. They offer so much more than sales, trying to build a Rapha cycling community

The retailer is not, says Adam Brinkworth, afraid of giving over some of its selling space to non-retail, whether it be the cafe or an in-store cycling rack for customers to hang their bikes up in while they are shopping. This is all part of creating more than a traditional till-sales based shop. The store is helping build a Rapha cycling community, in which likeminded customers enjoy the broader experience of visiting the shop, whether it be, says Brinkworth, to have a coffee, meet other cyclists, or watch footage of major cycling events. It is also a base for Rapha's own road-racing activities. This is content-driven physical retailing, says Brinkworth.

'I'm full of admiration of Rapha's dedication to the Cycle Club concept, giving equal importance to the retail and the social experience,' says Brithworth.

Argos - Dalziel + Pow

The Argos catalogue is as nostalgic to many as the Woolworth pick-n-mix. But unlike that offer though, it isn't gone forever, but is taking a back seat following the creation of Argos's first digital stores.

Click and collect provides quick collections for online purchases

Click and collect provides quick collections for online purchases

The Dalziel + Pow-designed stores mark a huge change for the retailer, which now offers a new 60-second fast-track collection service for those buying online or via mobile devices. In-store shoppers will use iPads or their own mobiles via the free wi-fi rather than the catalogues, although these will be on hand as 'shopping aides'.

High stools are provided for browsing

High stools are provided for browsing

The new shopping methods go hand in hand with the new store environment. Here, digital displays replace static sales literature and the atmosphere is contemporary, with white brick-effect walls, light vinyl and porcelain flooring and LED lighting. Customers can browse seated at high stools and tables in a new customers' service area. Selected products are showcased in 'shop-within-a-shop' displays.

iPads have replaced catalogues in the Argos digital stores, now being trialled

iPads have replaced catalogues in the Argos digital stores, now being trialled

The six trial shops are being monitored and the outcome, says Argos, will inform future store policy. Currently the retailer has 735 stores, and is the UK's largest high-street retailer online. The plan is for digital channels to be the main interface for customers (already these account for 40 per cent of sales) but with stores continuing as a national network for product collection and a source of customer service.








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