While our annual 2010 State of the Retail Industry report delineates the challenge for retail brought about by consumer behavior changes in reaction to the great recession and the rapid adaption of mobile technology—many of those challenges will take several years to address. To find seven things that retailers can do right now, we asked our experts.

Scott Jeffrey, Chief Creative Officer 

Push for differentiation. There is no time to rest on your laurels. Realize that innovation isn’t a stage, it’s an ingrained brand behavior. In fact, stop thinking of innovation as a  “next step” all together–”step” as in a phase of something that stops and starts, or merely cycles through.

My ideal retail brand would be one that never completes a store design prototype. The “never done” mentality is always asking, “What else? What else can we do to make it better?” That type of thinking requires courage. Belief in the importance of change. Granted, not every one of your new ideas will be a game changer, but once you entertain doubt and back off, you pretty much lose momentum. Particularly now, when the customer expectations are so far ahead of what most retailers are delivering in terms of the brand experience.

The minute you rest on your laurels and let your brand and your stores get outdated, you have a really big, hardest-to-do maneuver on your hands: a turnaround. If you have a fleet of any size, you’re in danger of being too big and too rigid to manage a turnaround. But if you’re a constant seeker, a brand that remains loose and nimble, the maneuvers are much smaller and easier to manage. Your creative adjustments and transitions will be happening all the time. Knock down any silos in your way and get to that mindset as soon as you can.

Bill Chidley, Senior Vice President, Shopper Sciences

Consumers’ rapid adoption of the smartphone means it’s time to start thinking about connecting and communicating through that little screen. To make the most of the opportunity to drive demand, mobile optimization should be a top priority for your brand. It’s all about being in the game. Don’t try to justify mobile initiatives with ROI.  Move forward with a reasonable hypothesis and prepare to learn and adapt.

Don Rethman, Senior Vice President, Architecture

Consider doing a site survey. Do your shoppers expect to share their shopping experience instantly? Do you plan to make fast calls to action in the store? Your building needs a wireless-based backbone to support that, with wireless connectivity that allows for transitions.  This goes even beyond the creation of mobile hot-spots. Buildings must have a distributed, robust and flexible IT infrastructure which will allow technical access to all spaces. It helps if you’re working with architects who are aware there is such a thing as a path to purchase so they can help create a store that increases productivity and doesn’t skimp on the brand experience.

Amanda Yates, Vice President, Strategy & Analytics

It’s vital to map the “customer journey” to understand where best to make the wireless investments, as well as other investments that help your brand drive choice. Mapping will provide the insights that will help you gain advantage and protect sales by offering shoppers what they want in the modes they desire. Not every retailer will need a full-blown program, but each must understand the needs of its customers, what information and access they are looking for and where or how they want to access it. Once these insights are known, the appropriate level of investment and how to spend it will become much clearer.

Dave Nixon, Executive Director, Digital Strategy

The multi-channel ideal is a seamless transition from the physical shopping experience to the virtual experience through every digital touchpoint–one that’s painless for the shopper and profitable for the retailer. However, for most retailers that’s not the first thing you can do. There will be silos to take down, brand strategy work and brand engagement initiatives to adopt before that nirvana is reachable. I’d like to elucidate further on what Bill says (above)—“Get in the game.”

Companies that spend too much time planning their next technology steps will find themselves playing catch up to those that are already moving. One of the main benefits of digital is the ability to deploy it quickly and then modify or adapt the solution depending on the performance metrics for success. In that respect, adopting new digital platforms into your channel strategy is less expensive and presents less risk than physical channels. The time is now to leverage digital technologies for increasing revenue, efficiency and customer loyalty.

Kris Medford, Ph.D., Director of Shopper Sciences

Get to know your shoppers again. Segmentation that is a few years old is downright archaic so make sure your insights are recent and actionable.  Who are your shoppers—both those in your store today and those you want in the future?  What’s important to them from a digital perspective, and how can you use digital help to make your brand be more relevant to their lifestyle?

Justin Wartell, Senior Consultant, Brand Strategy

The physical store needs to evolve from its position as the “jewel in the crown” to a “tool in the arsenal.”  For retailers, the most important thing that can be done right now is to (re)examine the relationship between the physical brand experience and all of the other expressions of the brand.  Brand experiences are inter-connected organisms that create an overall customer feeling about the brand.  By understanding the role that retail plays in the context of the other touchpoints that are, or can be, deployed, retailers can drive loyalty, reputation, efficiency and value across their organizations. 

My kid will tell you that I make a mean chocolate chip pancake, but that’s only due to my ability to follow the directions on the box. I’m not much of a cook, I’m afraid. I think the most difficult part of cooking a meal is the timing. I admire the planning that goes into starting one thing while thawing another all the while mixing something else and like magic, they all come to the table at the same time. I tried baking a layer cake once and didn’t make it out of the frosting phase unscathed. I ended up with a sticky mess and a birthday promise that went unfulfilled. Thankfully, the local bakery bailed me out.

Evolving a brand into a new, more engaging incarnation can be just as magic, or if improperly handled, just as messy, resulting in a brand promise that goes unfulfilled. Expectations are always high when we embark on the path that leads to transforming a brand, from both our friends on the client side as well as ourselves. Designers inherently embrace a challenge, and we see every project as an opportunity to make a brand all and the very best that it can be. A lot of teamwork goes into executing a brand—that is, following the recipe we’ve created for an engaging shopping experience. If the recipe isn’t followed, your outcome can suffer.

When we look at the physical expression of a brand, there are tactical aspects as well design elements in explicit proportions that bind everything together. The layout can be a big part of a branded experience, which entails orchestrating the shopper path. Lighting can add ambiance and mood to set the emotional tone that encourages purchase. Signage and graphics all act to give the concept life and visual impact. Surface textures and colors give us a canvas on which to work.  There’s a harmony of interdependencies that are critical to the agreed upon outcome. If you skip a step or skimp on an ingredient here or there, you can end up with a mess on your hands.

And as you can probably guess, the impetus for this post was a visit to the store of a former client who last year achieved great results with our design. Tests showed the shopping experience was clearing up shopper confusion, giving the store a look of confidence and quality—the things that lead to repeat business. Well, that changed this year. As often happens, new personnel take over. Their approach is to throw unrelated stuff into the store, pile it high, corrupt the plan and let the shopper dodge and search. Man, that’s not a brand, that’s a mess.

Curious. In a world where we can create our own unique looks by shopping anywhere we want, or by building our own virtual worlds, we still desire the approval of others and want resassurance that we fit in.

If you want to make sure you are being noticed by the right people, check out your recent witty status post on Facebook to see how many “Likes” you got from friends.

Wondering which outfit to wear tonight? Check with the masses via Go Try It On. Post photos of your look(s) and get fast feedback on which outfit makes you look cool and confident—most like the type of person who doesn’t need approval. There’s been a significant rise in the number of mobile instant fashion advice sites that play into this need.

It seems we are constantly looking for peoples’ opinions of where to shop or how we look. When it comes to apparel, of course, some of that need for approval stems from the fact that today’s fashion trends are very tricky to make work in a flattering way, especially for women. Seeking honest feedback can keep you from spending unwisely. So we are using technology to get advice quickly, right outside our closets, or often at the very point of purchase. 

The shopping behavior in our new “crowd-sourced” world—a world that allows us to customize anything and yet know that we are part of something bigger—feels like an opportunity for retailers.

Think about it in the context of the store environment. There is nothing interesting about stacking piles of the same t-shirt in twenty colors on the table. Or a sales floor filled with endless rounders jammed with hangared merchandise.

The idea that the shopper is looking to create her own sense of style and know that she is making the right decisions provides context for rethinking how we merchandise our stores. We need to tell a story that she can insert herself into and feel a part of—rather than just someone looking in from the outside.

So it’s that time of year again. Over the next three months, you can find me at my kid’s high school athletic field, watching his soccer team practice four nights a week. I rather enjoy those days. They’re a combination of fresh air and pride watching my kid trying to be the next great Springboro High goalkeeper.

As I sit here this evening, there is a slight wind that keeps the flag flying, pulling its cable against the flagpole, creating that hollow metal pinging sound. At the far end of the bleachers, a runner is doing some stair work. Her shoes make a sharp pop, I can feel the vibrations down my row as she hustles up and back down again. The evening sun is warm and the smell of freshly cut grass fills the stadium. Based on these sensations, you could blindfold me and I’d still know where I was.

A few retail brands stand out when I think of sensorial experiences.  How many times have you smelled a Cinnabon before you saw it? You can smell and usually hear an Abercrombie before you come across one in the local mall. A similar volume of music (not to mention the genre) somehow seems very out of place in an Orvis store. Bath and Body Shop does a nice job of seasonal scents to grab your attention.

As retail designers, we rely a lot on the visual sense to communicate to consumers. But let’s not forget that those brands that engage all of the senses create the most memorable experiences.

Amazing things are happening in China.  I recently traveled to Shanghai to witness the 2010 World Expo first hand. It was nothing less than astonishing.  I managed to see pavilions from North Korea (an altogether unique experience as it was their first appearance on the world stage), Iran, Belgium, the United Kingdom and India just to name a few.    

Disney World for adults 
The best way to describe the World Expo is that it’s a temporary and ambitious way to put the world on display, country by country.  Imagine a place that takes in on average 344,000 people per day, every day, for six months.  When I arrived on my second day around noon, the count had clocked 460,000 attendees.  Queue lines were outrageous, lasting up to five or sixhours for the bigger pavilions.  Some parts of the park were so crowded that I had to literally fight my way through masses of people.  Sticky humidity and sweltering heat made for a very exhausting experience.  However, when I passed the grey wall shrouding the UK pavilion and the iconic Seed Cathedral, all of those negative elements faded away.  

Project Dandelion 
Having seen a lot of great design around the world, the UK’s Seed Cathedral has to be one of the most incredible pieces of architecture I have ever seen.  The concept is elegant and awe-inspiring. When I walked up to this $38.4 million object, the subtle hint of the Union Jack appeared almost from thin air.  The pavilion led me through a story about a living and breathing green city before I reached the Cathedral interior.  Once inside, my jaw dropped!  Sixty-thousand fiber-optic cables were aglow from the natural light outside. Each fiber displays a seed, like a jewel crystallized in a fantastical cave of wonders.  The story continued outside as I exited the pavilion into an urban terrace.  Following the link from the “seeds,” I was directed to a collection of rare and odd plants.  The terrace itself is soft and blocks sight lines to the rest of the expo, allowing its visitors to truly detox from the long walk and surrounding noise. Sadly, I didn’t have a chance to lounge on the terrace as it rained during my visit. Fortunately, I managed to return the next day and do some sketches of this magnificent structure.  

When the Expo closes in October, the Seed Cathedral will begin the last leg of its journey.  At the moment, the plan for the pavilion is to distribute the seeds across various schools in the country, much like the seeds of a dandelion floating away in the wind. It is a poetic end to a fantastic story.  

What can brands learn from the World Expo and the UK pavilion?
It is critical to highlight the importance of story told through an elegant journey.  These days, brands have to scream to be heard but sometimes, the whisper of elegance proves just as impactful.

When people ask me what I do, somewhere in the description I inevitably use the “S” word: signs. However, in today’s experience-based socially driven marketplace, brands, retail brands especially, need to move beyond signs and think about wayfinding in terms of the whole experience of the built environment, and how every element in a space can play a role in defining what we like to think of as intuitive wayfinding.

Intuitive wayfinding means a customer or staff member is able to navigate a space without stopping to think about it, and does not need to consciously keep track of where they are in the space. If a customer needs to look at a directional sign to figure out where to go, you’ve already lost the battle for an intuitive wayfinding experience. The intuitive wayfinding experience relies on a system of well organized, strategically placed visual cues to guide the consumer to their destination.

Space planning plays a key role in maintaining an intuitive navigational experience. In the planning stages, if your plan looks like a lab rat’s maze, then there is a pretty good chance it will feel like that when it’s built. However, a layout with the proper adjacencies, strategic departmental hierarchy, and ample common navigational walkways is well on its way to achieving intuitive wayfinding right from the start.

Secondly, large-scale landmarks of all kinds, both three-dimensional and two-dimensional, play a big part in developing an intuitive wayfinding experience. What says “Men’s Suits” better than a giant photo of a man in a suit? Large-scale landmarks also provide great support when staff members give verbal directions to customers, such as, “Walk towards the giant photo of the man in the suit.”

Third, a high level of visual activity can draw consumers in and give a sense of excitement and identity to a space. Focals packed with merchandise arranged interestingly, a collection of items that obviously belong to the adjacent department, announces all by itself where a customer is in the space. With these kinds of intuitive visual cues playing a larger role in the system, signs become the wayfinding back-up plan, the safety net, the last resort for a customer who can’t find their way.

With an intuitive wayfinding approach, brands can think more about how all elements in the environment can support wayfinding and less about which way the arrow should point on that “S” word with the list of departments hanging from the ceiling.

Having read the article about the half-mile-long beaver dam in Alberta, Canada, it occurred to me that those beavers exemplify something frequently overlooked in the retail design business, the idea that it’s okay to fail.

You would have to imagine that over the reported 2800 linear feet of dam in what is basically a flat terrain, there’s the likelihood that sometimes it just doesn’t work the way they intended.  The colony has to react quickly to failure to ensure the safety of their habitat. If any of you beavers are reading this post and would like to broaden your portfolio, by all means, give us a call. Failure is an option in design as long as it’s smart failure and failing for the right reason. If it helps the idea move forward, then it might just net out the absolute best result.

In today’s market, retail brands developing a new design concept rarely have the luxury of time. Business pressure demands short design-and-build timeframes, followed by testing and refining. The original concept gets implemented across a variety of locations and architectures the offer the opportunity to engineer a new experience. In some cases,  the opportunities never get the proper amount of attention.  But when they do, the brand benefits. Much good comes from exploring various options, thoroughly test them with consumers and then using the insights to build something even more engaging at the next location. Failing forward.

My experience tells me that some of the most successful projects that I have had the opportunity to be involved with ended up that way because they continue to improve long after the first location is opened. Those brands realize the customer is a moving target whose expectations increase daily. To satisfy them and to keep them coming back, it takes a strong resolve to continuously improve.   

I am always inspired by my surroundings and the story of the beavers is a great case study on design. If and when beavers learn CAD and Photoshop, the design community at large might have some serious competition.

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time in our Madrid office collaborating with a cross disciplinary team to brainstorm and develop a cultural food destination concept that would be a reference point for the city of Madrid.  So far project and our ideas are having great success with the client and we are really excited about the potential of the concept.  

The experience of working abroad, for however long a period of time, in another office is fantastic!  If you ever get the chance to work in another office, especially globally, drop what you are doing and go!  It’s a great way to get a fresh perspective on what we do by seeing how other offices/cultures work and engage with each other and their clients.  Anytime you can get exposed to new people and fresh processes and ideas it’s really energizing!  This is true from both parties perspectives as well. The creative tools I brought were greatly appreciated by everyone, since it was a fresh way of working for them.  So, the door swings both ways.  I conducted a brainstorming/ideation session with the internal team only, and it was great to see everyone get excited by this “new” way of digging through ideas to discover the concept.  By the end, our brains hurt, we were a little sweaty and tired, so we went off to the bar to refresh our creative minds.  

Also, from a cultural standpoint it was interesting to see and understand the differences between what we have and do in the U.S. versus another culture.  Sometimes there are details that  seem insignificant to me (an American), but make all the difference when it comes to the experience to a Spaniard (ask me about my shrimp experience sometime).  But, being able to work through those details, with people who understand the culture, to reshape the idea to make it work, was awesome!

Finally, speaking as a creative person who is always looking for fresh ideas and inspiration, travel is always a good thing—excuse me, a GREAT thing!  I was able to work in a little sight seeing time both in the city of Madrid and in a small historical town outside the city named Segovia.  In both these places I was able to see some of Spain’s rich history, and experience the different brands and retailers that we don’t have in the states.

All in all, it,s an invaluable experience and I highly recommend it!

Stay ahead of rapid expansion
Singapore, Seoul, and Mumbai are cutting edge markets and this means high expectations. Going into a project as a designer in these cities is intimidating. Shoppers live in aesthetic cultures where every imaginable design has been popularized. These cities are changing organically. It almost seems instantaneous. Within 3 months of being away from Singapore three new malls have opened. It’s all about knowing past/ present memes and looking toward ways of either (1) creating a new twist or (2) breaking the boundaries all together.

Stand out
In most cases Western design tends to fit in with its surroundings. Success in Asia is all about being bold. Whether it be a silly chewing gum commercial or neon signage that puts Times Square to shame, there is always something screaming for your attention. When you consider how busy people are in cities like Beijing and Tokyo, getting someone’s attention takes a strong effort. In my opinion, the solution to this is a simple design that allows for a detox from all the noise.

Design practical and durable
In South East Asia dirt is a big issue. Visual identity systems are often colorful with no white. In places like the Philippines, hot weather and dirty streets make the use of that modern pure white seem like a silly idea. From a culture perspective, the European black and grey palette, that we strive so hard to achieve, is irrelevant amongst cities like Bangkok where the taxis are hot pink and golden palaces litter the cityscape.  

Be Flexible
Living in a “Cultural Salad” means tackling different issues than when in a “Melting Pot.”  Building retail experiences that resonate amongst different segments and cultures means being able to truly understand the differences of the people that make up the cultures. The smart way to approach this is to design a system of parts that can live in any scenario rather then focusing on the actual shell of a location. A clever use of universal imagery and messaging proves very effective. Just look at Wegamama’s (Japanese for “selfish”) in the UK. Their iconic image of a boy eating from a bowl is genius. You understand right away what the image is saying and without a specific identity to the subject, the photo has the ability to be relevant in any region.

    
Respect superstition
Each culture has its own specific set of rules. Going into a meeting with a clear respect and understanding for these rules can mean life or death of a project. I have been in meetings where the general feeling of a downward slopping logo mark was interpreted as negative and almost was shot down. Feng Shui in Chinese culture plays a major role in the designing of brands. I have heard of projects that needed to be reworked after a Feng Shui master came in and commented on how the shape of the logo was sucking out the wealth and positive energy of the organization. Buildings in Singapore have been publicly exiled for being too sharp and therefore allowing the positive energy to flow out of the city into the ocean. The same mood and feelings towards a store plays toward shopper habits as well. Lots of these rules may appear silly but if you really investigate some of the findings do lead to great solutions. It’s like Chinese medicine, no one really knows what goes into them, but somehow it works.

There has been a tidal wave of automotive advertising flooding the airwaves the past few months with claims and promises of improved product quality, safety, style, gas mileage. Media spending is way up, with every manufacturer trying to entice customers back into the showrooms.  

But to what end?
Consumers hate car shopping and they don’t want to go back into the dealership. Big surprise—the shopping experience there is still one of the most frustrating, untrustworthy, and manipulative games you can be subjected to.

Add to that the fact that the recession has also caused most dealers to suspend investment in their facilities, and you understand why the thought of venturing into a dealership is bleak. Promising better on TV only to deliver the same old retail experience only fuels consumer frustration and mistrust.

Instead, consumers do everything they can to stay out of the dealership, with online research and shopping being the preferred norm. Now even purchasing online has gained popularity.

Successful brands like Apple, Whole Foods, IKEA, even Walmart, understand how to leverage the power of shopper insights to deliver game changing customer experiences that build brand excitement, loyalty and bottom line results.

Auto companies must do more to improve the customer experience in showrooms! And there couldn’t be a better time. With the  recent upheaval in the industry, the marketplace is ripe for someone with the courage to innovate and completely reinvent the paradigm.  Success will come to those who differentiate.

The upcoming flood of hybrid and electric car provides an excellent opportunity for change. Consumers already perceive these cars as different, perhaps in some ways even more like an appliance. A completely new retail and shopping experience could and should be explored.

Will the automotive industry ever learn?
Give me even one dealer out there—or a player outside the industry altogether—who’s ready to exploit a pretty obvious opportunity. They’d have more business than they could handle. That would be exciting to see.