Store design and brick-and-mortar retailing in a decade or two

Retail is about doing things. Not just profiting.

You need only take a quick look back at history, and modern brain research confirms it: the focus in recent decades has been on very rational aspects such as progress, mechanisation and digitisation. We can already fly to the moon as tourists, play god and clone other creatures and bring about stock market crashes with money that doesn’t even exist. These strange miracles are dominated by people’s extrinsic motivations, our drive to prove and assert ourselves. Monetary success, an egocentric career, autonomy, apparent life hacks and coolness are what count.

These are certainly of immense importance in our present post-industrial society, but our history, politics and now also our environment already show the deep and painful tracks we have left, slowly revealing to us our limits. An urgent rethink is required. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, however, as we carry the solution within us – our intrinsic motivations: for happiness, health and self-preservation, social belonging and the multifaceted power of love. 

Retail is tradition. With a future

While on holidays in Egypt with my children last year, we strolled past a store which seemed somewhat makeshift to our European eyes. And yet it still held mysterious (magical?) appeal. A well-worn red carpet led us inside, where we stared in amazement at the small bottles, sorted by colour, the frayed but opulent seating area and the impressive chandelier: broken, but still unforgettable given its sheer size. We were first asked how our day was going and which type of tea we would like. (Instead of the usual “Is there anything I can assist you with today? ... No, thank you, I’m just browsing” blah-blah.). No, this was not a tea shop. The water bubbled in a beautiful copper kettle. My astonished children were gifted a mini-bottle with Oriental designs and the hospitality we were shown made us feel at home and charmed. Using signs and gestures, we managed to discuss with the shop assistants the delicate touch needed to produce essences and the magic of scents, spices and fine oils... Afterwards, we asked ourselves why all we have in Germany is the very chemical oriented perfume selection offered by frequently heavily made-up women at Douglas...

My intrinsic motivation responded: I didn’t “buy” any perfume, because I already have a bathroom full of it. But I “spoiled” myself with two indescribably bewitching aromatic and body oils (vanilla and sandalwood), which both came with stories which are surely also some form of traditional marketing strategy but showed me one thing: it’s the encounter that matters, not the commerce. I learned something about scents and their tradition while also experiencing a moment from the Arabian Nights. Of course, I did haggle and “rewarded” myself because it was a pleasure and an experience, a delight for the senses. Not everyone who entered this wonderful shop went on to buy something, but everyone was offered tea and a place on the red velvet sofa. Back home, you only get offered something if you make a purchase. We demonstrate arrogance, without showing pride in ourselves.

It used to be price. Now, value is everything. 

The fact is, stores that do not engage with customers at a personal level lose any customer relationship. 

It is not the much-decried online trading which is the problem, but the brick-and-mortar retailers who have handed customers to online retailers on a plate through their modern/rational, whitewashed and purely profit-motivated peddling of our products. That is the nub of the matter. And precisely where YOUR opportunity lies: to fill your store with life, dialogue and enthusiasm. 

Dialogue and resonance - two magic words. In this age of hollow transactions and 90% return rates, we long all the more for the emotional and thus more effective components: store design concepts with charm. A space for tradition and honest craftsmanship, for individual flair and authenticity. Room for owners who stand in and behind their beautiful stores with their names and passion. Presentations which enhance and frame the product. Concepts designed to boost how employees and customers feel. We need smells again, the right music and sounds, velvety materials, wood that you long to touch, smiling faces and little treats and gestures for our children.