Optimising the In-store Experience
Redesigning physical space with digital thinking
The year was 1909. As Franz Josef, the Emperor of Austria, looked out from the Imperial Palace across Michaelerplatz, he recoiled at the eyesore before him. Architect Adolf Loos was in the final stages of constructing one of his most famous and controversial works. Today, one of the defining buildings of Viennese Modernism, at the time of its unveiling the brutal austerity of the Looshaus shocked a city that still clung tightly to the familiar classical taste of its past.
Throughout the 20th Century, Modernism grew in both its ambition and acceptance to become the dominant design style that we know today. Its principles of crisp geometry and its distaste for bourgeois ornamentation can be read through the lens of history not just as an aesthetic (or rather, utilitarian) choice, but a way of thinking about our environment that evolved hand-in-hand with a greater understanding of germ theory and the development of modern vaccines. Early 20th Century architects used newly available material technologies to respond to the scourges of cholera, flu and tuberculosis that ravaged global populations with new, hygiene inspired forms and materials.
Throughout his life Le Corbusier continually espoused the removal of unnecessary objects and fixtures to keep surfaces clean and clear. He wrote extensively of a new type of city, a city where…
“there are no more dirty, dark corners. Everything is shown as it is. Then comes inner cleanness.”
The parallels with today need no great explanation. And once again, new technologies and design thinking have become a central topic for those who create our built environment as we struggle to navigate the new, social distance. Whilst impacting all sectors, this conversation is perhaps most pertinent when we consider high-street retail. These spaces that drive our economy are spaces where transparency and frictionless experiences run counter to the methods embraced by the store layouts in previous years to maximise customer’s dwell time.
While retailers are happy to finally be able to welcome the public back, there are still big questions around how best physical retail spaces can adapt to the needs of their health conscious customers and re-engage them in light of COVID-19.
A new customer journey
We’ve already experienced many of the interventions embraced by retailers over the previous months. From doubling down on e-commerce platforms, to virtual queuing solutions, when it comes to physical space the majority of focus has been on reworking store footprints through physical barriers and ad-hoc wayfinding to help guide social distancing measures. Grocers such as Tesco have naturally had a head start on finding their best practice and have generally enforced one-way systems, a particularly interesting take on a layout known for intentionally disorienting shoppers’ sense of direction to encourage spontaneous purchases.
These hygiene-focused shopping experiences are far from the engaging and interactive in-store experiences many retailers have been pivoting towards in recent years. But retailers who, pre-pandemic, embraced an experience-led approach have in many cases found this pivot easier to manage. With ‘experiential’ spaces designed with greater flexibility baked in, modular structures and CMS driven surfaces makes it possible to quickly adapt the shop floor to allow for new zones of space and separation.
With long, outdoor queues an unfortunate side effect of reduced capacity, stores are beginning to search for solutions to extend their presence into this point in customer journey — keeping them entertained and engaged through digital platforms that offer innovative ways to own this unexpected new dwell time.
Window shopping
In response to the pandemic, and in an attempt to create opportunities within these newly formed queues, Lone Design Club in South Molton, Mayfair have launched several ‘shoppable windows’ allowing waiting customers to scan and buy items showcased in the display via their e-commerce platform.
Self-described as a ‘phygital’ experience, it incorporates live content and product information through scannable QR codes places within the window display. In addition, customers can sign up to virtual events such as 1-to-1 personal shopping and beauty tutorials.
A relatively inexpensive intervention, Lone Design Club has cleverly woven existing content and initiatives into its physical real-estate, converting the window-side queue into a flow of engaged consumers.
The 501® Lookbook
At Make Associates, we’ve previously explored the potential for digital platforms to sweat existing content, recontextualising it within an enhanced customer experience.
In 2019 we worked closely with Levi’s to do just that—creating a purely digital showcase of the Levi’s 501®, revealing the story of its iconic versatility through an augmented reality, app based, treasure hunt.
Brought to life at Amazon’s Destination Denim, the 501® Lookbook was our response to Levi’s desire to explore a purely digital presence within the event space. Working with Levi’s stylists we created three ‘looks’ inspired by the variety of styles that can be worn around the 501®. Repurposing existing Levi’s content we designed three posters, hidden across the space in various low footfall areas. Customers were prompted at various points throughout their journey to visit 501lookbook.de — an interactive map that gave way to a web-based AR camera that revealed the look animated in 3D space around them.
Lowering the barriers
The AR web app was designed specifically to lower any barrier to entry for visitors to the event. Through implementing a browser based camera we weren’t reliant on app downloads which ran the risk of discouraging its uptake. By integrating with Sumerian, Amazon’s web-based AR/VR platform, it allowed us to craft WebGL content that could be deployed instantly to any mobile device, irrespective of OS. From a user-experience standpoint this flexibility allowed for a completely frictionless customer journey.
Rewarding engagement
Visitors followed the digital map through the event space, collecting, photographing and sharing their virtual finds. On capturing all three looks, the app would automatically serve an Amazon Locker code that could be used with Lockers located on the first floor. If a customer had been lucky enough to receive a winning code the Locker would open to reveal a variety of Levi’s and Amazon swag.
By incentivising engagement through a mix of low and high value prizes we succeeded in weaving Levi’s brand digitally throughout the event, using content collection and gamified mechanics to softly guide visitors in a unique way that ran counter to the traditional visitor flow — something that has obvious applications for today’s new retail requirements.
Nudging customer behaviours
While needing its own article to unpack fully, it’s worth — at this point — to name-check ‘nudge theory’. First developed within the field of behavioural economics, ‘nudging’ uses insights around human behaviour to make small, incremental adaptations to how we act through practical suggestions and positive messaging. As opposed to being forced to act a certain way, nudges make small adjustments to the ways in which we make our decisions. Instead of enforcing top-down calls to action, it gently guides individuals and groups towards specific outcomes via subtle systemic tweaks — for example when restaurants and cafés give greater prominence to low calorie options to encourage healthier choices.
Nudge theory has also been utilised by digital product designers (activity trackers such as Fitbit being one example) to encourage more active habits through positive goal reinforcement. For retail, if the goal is to encourage customers to move in new and safer ways the role of digital nudges alongside physical barriers has a huge potential to drive this change.
Much like the Modernist advances of the early 20th Century, novel uses of contemporary technology can offer a way to navigate the concerns of today. With innovative thinking and design interventions we can begin to adapt how and why we move through our environment, in turn mitigating our new physical constraints while also offering content-rich touchpoints for brands to re-engage with the public at large.
