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Retail

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Destination Teen: Targeting Youth

Destination Teen: Targeting Youth Destination Teen: Targeting Youth From harnessing hangout culture, self-curation commerce and influencing upwards, to embracing the teen-specific trader mentality, Gen Z requires new retail landscapes to warrant their spending. We review the key concepts seducing the youth sector, including soft-sell brand temples, gateway beauty spaces and resale sweet spots.

Retail City Guide: New York City, July 2017

Retail City Guide: New York City, July 2017 Retail City Guide: NYC, July '17 Retail highlights in NY this month include new luxury flagships (spanning from industrial chic to mid-century elegance), a flourishing Flatiron district homeware scene, Amazon’s physical NYC debut, and a slick streetwear space. Brooklyn welcomes several destination eateries, while art shows encompass both technologically innovative installations and inspiring retrospectives.

Retail City Guides

Retail City Guide: London, July 2017

Retail City Guide: London, July 2017 Retail City Guide: London, July '17 In London this July, several cult brands’ stores receive a revamp, a new space targets hardcore wine connoisseurs, and visually striking hospitality destinations make an entrance for high summer. Exhibitions tracking social issues dominate the art scene, while a scent show beguilingly connects creativity and commerce. We present the most inspiring hotspots.

Retail City Guides

Re-Engineering Exclusivity

Re-Engineering Exclusivity

Re-Engineering Exclusivity

The spectre of automation, social media’s warping of brand hierarchies, and a peak-product era where access beats ownership mean retail’s luxury rulebook requires an urgent rewrite. From tapping intellectual affluence and the self-acceleration economy, to tiered prestige, humanised fantasies and temporal wealth, we reveal the new formulas for success.

Insight & Innovation

Retail’s New Prestige Players

Retail’s New Prestige Players

Retail’s New Prestige Players

Demographic changes and attitudinal shifts regarding family, organised religion, sex, drugs and wellness are fuelling a powerful new suite of prestige-worthy retail categories. From the premiumisation of pets to neo-spirituality and more sophisticated languages for formerly taboo pleasures, we spotlight the new need-to-know sweet spots.

Insight & Innovation

Future of the Store Revisited: 2016

Future of the Store Revisited: 2016

Future of the Store Revisited: 2016

Stylus' head of Retail Katie Baron compiles the best of 2016's store concept reports and expands on the future of retail and brand spaces.

Destination Teen: Targeting Youth

Destination Teen: Targeting Youth Destination Teen: Targeting Youth From harnessing hangout culture, self-curation commerce and influencing upwards, to embracing the teen-specific trader mentality, Gen Z requires new retail landscapes to warrant their spending. We review the key concepts seducing the youth sector, including soft-sell brand temples, gateway beauty spaces and resale sweet spots.

Retail City Guide: New York City, July 2017

Retail City Guide: New York City, July 2017 Retail City Guide: NYC, July '17 Retail highlights in NY this month include new luxury flagships (spanning from industrial chic to mid-century elegance), a flourishing Flatiron district homeware scene, Amazon’s physical NYC debut, and a slick streetwear space. Brooklyn welcomes several destination eateries, while art shows encompass both technologically innovative installations and inspiring retrospectives.

Retail City Guides

Empathetic Brand Engagement Empathetic Brand Engagement Acutely aware of an increasing level of beyond-mainstream needs, smart brands are implementing empathetic engagement strategies – from senior-friendly store designs and initiatives aimed at easing the strains of modern family life, to services (including adjustable e-comm sites) sensitive to physical impairment or mental health issues.

The Mobile-First Supermarket

The Mobile-First Supermarket The Mobile-First Supermarket M-commerce is expected to account for 45% of global digital retail sales by 2020. With grocery shoppers glued to their smartphones, we highlight the key strategies for capitalising on their differing goals – from mission-focused speed enthusiasts, to the culinary non-committal, to those who connect with brands beyond the store.

Digital Commerce

Retail's VR Future: Communal Digital

Retail's VR Future: Communal Digital Retail's VR Future The future of virtual reality for retail brands is socialised, interactive and media-inflected, with a satisfyingly sensorial edge. Exploding its currently prohibitive reputation as a solo activity, we explore how hangout-shaped e-comm, ‘XR’ and ‘sensitised' digital experiences are set to revive the genre’s relevance.

Digital Commerce

Jewellery Retail’s New Horizons

Jewellery Retail’s New Horizons Jewellery Retail’s New Horizons From lab-grown diamonds taking gems beyond bridal and into a younger market, to deformalising fine jewellery, demi-luxe spin-offs and tech-assisted personalisation, a growing jewellery market offers major promise for brands that can retune their perspective. We review the key in-store and online tactics.

Retail City Guide: New York City, July 2017

Retail City Guide: New York City, July 2017 Retail City Guide: NYC, July '17 Retail highlights in NY this month include new luxury flagships (spanning from industrial chic to mid-century elegance), a flourishing Flatiron district homeware scene, Amazon’s physical NYC debut, and a slick streetwear space. Brooklyn welcomes several destination eateries, while art shows encompass both technologically innovative installations and inspiring retrospectives.

Retail City Guides

Retail City Guide: London, July 2017

Retail City Guide: London, July 2017 Retail City Guide: London, July '17 In London this July, several cult brands’ stores receive a revamp, a new space targets hardcore wine connoisseurs, and visually striking hospitality destinations make an entrance for high summer. Exhibitions tracking social issues dominate the art scene, while a scent show beguilingly connects creativity and commerce. We present the most inspiring hotspots.

Retail City Guides

Retail City Guide: New York, June 2017

Retail City Guide: New York, June 2017 Retail City Guide: NY, June 2017 The wellness factor is a key focus in NY retail this month, thanks to two new wellbeing-dedicated stores, while sustainability surfaces in a flurry of 'eco-edu' shop concepts. Elsewhere, new hotels arrive en masse, and art homes in on sensory illusion and reappropriating imagery to challenge cultural values. We select June's creative and cultural highlights.

Retail City Guides

Creating True Alignment – Decoded Fashion London Summit 2017

Creating True Alignment – Decoded Fashion London Summit 2017 Decoded Fashion London Summit, 2017 Decoded Fashion’s London Summit provided a vibrant confluence of brands, technologists and fashion industry experts. Together, they teased out vital insights on themes including reactive storytelling, ‘super-suiting’ staff, upgrading immersive, humanising tech, and next-gen search. We present the highlights.

Digital Commerce

RDE, 2017: Pace, Personas & Pursuing Glocal

RDE, 2017: Pace, Personas & Pursuing Glocal Retail Design Expo 2017 Pace-changing store formats, ‘glocalisation’, BYO tech, targeting new persona profiles and both empathetic and ‘freestyle’ staffing initiatives headlined discussions at the Retail Design Expo, 2017 – a show connecting store designers, strategists and brand experience experts. We distil the highlights.

Milan 2017: Brand Experiences Milan 2017: Brand Experiences Milan Design Week remains a beacon for design industry influencers, and a key platform for showcasing brand flair and innovation to the world. Rich in both visual inspiration and conceptual sustenance, we spotlight 2017’s best projects amid the core themes of contextual creativity, urban balance and synthetically generated sensorial pleasure.

Architecture & Spaces

Retail Platform Reframes Autism

Retail Platform Reframes Autism Retail Platform Reframes Autism Echoing initiatives detailed in Empathetic Brand Engagement, new lifestyle website Wolf + Friends caters to parents of children with autism and other special needs by linking to a selection of need-appropriate yet aesthetically appealing products from both chains and independent retailers.

Ermes x IBM Watson: AI-Powered Real-Time Pricing

Ermes x IBM Watson: AI-Powered Real-Time Pricing Ermes x IBM Watson: Dynamic Pricing The perennial retail problem of identifying ideal price points and the exact timings of markdowns is being tackled head-on by Cyprus’s largest department store brand Ermes Group – assisted by IBM’s cloud-based, artificially intelligent pricing tool Watson Commerce.

Digital Commerce

Tech Tools for Ethical Shopping

Tech Tools for Ethical Shopping Tech Tools for Ethical Shopping A desire for sustainable consumption is triggering a rise in forward-thinking tech solutions that help people to shop more ethically.

Consumer Lifestyle

Science & Technology

LA Retail Openings, Summer 2017

LA Retail Openings, Summer 2017 LA Retail Openings, Summer 2017 LA sees a wave of retail openings for summer 2017 with a tech-enhanced menswear boutique, a video-focused eyewear concept, a purchase-for-special-access initiative, and a sustainability-encouraging vintage flagship sparking special mention. From womenswear expansions to streetwear launches, we select the highlights.

Rituals Takes Shoppers to Moroccan Spa with Sensorial VR

Rituals Takes Shoppers to Moroccan Spa with Sensorial VR Rituals’ Sensorial Spa VR Embracing the growing value of sensorial in-store experiences (see Topshop’s sensorial VR water slide), Dutch beauty brand Rituals hosted a semi-immersive virtual reality (VR) concept in its London and Belfast stores earlier this month.

Digital Commerce

Retailers Capitalise on LGBTQ Pride Celebrations

Retailers Capitalise on LGBTQ Pride Celebrations Brands Embrace Pride Celebrations Channelling the growing value of adopting a more socially active brand stance (see Amazon Unveils Ethical Initiatives, Retailers Tap Socially Aware Talent and Brands Take a Stand), several retailers embraced the LGBTQ Pride celebrations held globally throughout June and July.

Advertising & Branding

Wheelys’ Moby Mart: Self-Sustaining & Ultra Convenient

Wheelys’ Moby Mart: Self-Sustaining & Ultra Convenient 24/7 Mobile Robo-Store, Shanghai Pushing the perimeters of convenience retailing, Swedish coffee cart business Wheelys has collaborated with Hefei University of Technology and retail technologists Himalafy (both Chinese) on a self-driving staff-free store prototype. Available 24/7, the Moby Mart can be ordered to come to any neighbourhood in Shanghai (its beta-testing zone) via an app.

Digital Commerce

The Hamptons Pop-Ups, Summer 2017

The Hamptons Pop-Ups, Summer 2017 The Hamptons Pop-Ups, Summer 2017 The Hamptons – Long Island’s prime summer beach escape for affluent New Yorkers – continues to play host to a wealth of pop-ups from brands looking to grab a foothold on luxury consumers’ radars. We highlight the most notable.

New App Packagd Helps Brands Monetise Unboxing Craze

New App Packagd Helps Brands Monetise Unboxing Craze New App Monetises Unboxing Craze Californian app developer Packagd has launched a free video app called Unboxed that combines unboxing videos with two other booming consumer behaviour traits: social viewing/messaging and the ability to buy in-app. The move taps into the incredible popularity of unboxing videos – one in five consumers globally watch such videos, and 62% do so while researching a potential purchase (Google, 2014).

Digital Commerce

Teen Brands Reboot the Colour Pink

Teen Brands Reboot the Colour Pink Teen Brands Reboot the Colour Pink No longer the preserve of sugary sweet brand concepts, pink has recently been transformed into a teen-targeting retail design must-have, thanks to its Insta-friendly buzz and soothing effect on shoppers – literally relaxing the muscles (Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry)

Custom Beauty: St. Ives Mixing Bar

Custom Beauty: St. Ives Mixing Bar Custom Beauty: St. Ives Mixing Bar Plugging into the booming appetite for customisation, St. Ives – the Unilever-owned brand of lotions and face scrubs – has launched a six-week Mixing Bar pop-up in SoHo, New York.

Amazon Unveils Ethical Initiatives

Amazon Unveils Ethical Initiatives Amazon Unveils Ethical Initiatives Tapping into the growing trend for adopting a more understanding brand perspective (see Empathetic Brand Engagement), Amazon has launched two initiatives to bolster its wider ethical credentials.

Insight & Innovation

Neom Organics Launches In-Store Wellbeing Schools

Neom Organics Launches In-Store Wellbeing Schools Neom Organics’ Wellbeing Schools Tapping into the consumer trend for self-improvement, British beauty and lifestyle brand Neom Organics is launching a series of Wellbeing Schools at its standalone UK stores. From July 1, consumers can attend a free Sleep School, Energy School, De-Stress School or Happiness School at its Leeds, Chelsea and Wimbledon branches.

Frenzy’s Phygital Drop-Zone App Taps FOMO & Tenacity

Frenzy’s Phygital Drop-Zone App Taps FOMO & Tenacity Frenzy’s Drop-Zone App Taps FOMO Amplifying the ephemeral buzz of the best pop-up experiences, US streetwear brand Anti Social Social Club (ASSC) recently partnered with product release app Frenzy (created by Canadian shopping platform Shopify). The LA event required fans to check-in to a physical location at a specific time to purchase a limited-edition sweatshirt online.

Digital Commerce

Sustainable Cities: Bird Street – The Tech-Boosted High St.

Sustainable Cities: Bird Street – The Tech-Boosted High St. Bird Street: Smart Shopping, London A new partnership between UK business management consultants New West End Company and European/US pop-up specialists Appear Here is upping the transient retailing ante with the launch of Bird Street in London. The joint venture will see the conversion of a relatively quiet street nestled just behind the shopping mecca of Oxford Street into a technologically enhanced, sustainability-focused ‘intelligent’ shopping street.

Chinese Retail Embraces Facial-Recognition Tech

Chinese Retail Embraces Facial-Recognition Tech China Embraces Facial Recognition Highlighting Chinese consumers’ desire for convenience and relatively relaxed approach to privacy, use of facial-recognition tech in China is booming – as noted by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which named it one of its 10 breakthrough technologies for 2017.

Digital Commerce

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