Here at Boxpod, we have been talking for a while now about how retailers need to adapt in order to attract customers to their shops. In having to compete with the world of e-commerce and the apparent ease that comes with it, high street retailers are having to change. One of the biggest changes that retailers are recommended to make is creating a shopping ‘experience’ – a reason for people to leave their houses and go to the shop.
In the last couple of years, we have seen some of the biggest retailers in the UK looking to up their game relating to the customer experience and coming up with innovative ideas to improve the experience for their customers and attract people to their brick-and-mortar shops.
In this article, we are going to look at some of the shops in the UK that have embraced this idea and are using it successfully to attract customers to the high street and into their retail units.
Superdrug
The high street beauty products retailer, Superdrug, has used its shop in Westfield Stratford in London to introduce its ‘immersive beauty playground’ concept. The idea is to then roll it out across the 30 shops that are the best performing in the UK.
Superdrug is looking to create a fun experience for its customers (hence the name, ‘playground’), giving them the chance to try products amongst other experiences.
Its ‘Try Me Tables’ within the retail unit enable its customers to test and experiment with beauty products, as well as engage with interactive displays, highlighting new and exclusive beauty brands.
Additionally, it has provided social content stations – equipped with a ring light for customers to create and post their social media content whilst in the retail unit.
Finally, Superdrug is using brand ambassadors within the shop to give advice and perform demonstrations, helping to create a retail destination.
This approach enables Superdrug to highlight the products that it is looking to push at any given time, through the brand ambassadors and availability on the ‘Try Me Tables’. It is a great way to encourage shoppers to go into the shop, giving them more than they would get from shopping online. It is also a great way of bringing potential customers in and showing them what products are available for them to buy.
Holland & Barrett
The well-loved high street health and well-being brand, Holland & Barrett, is best known for its commitment to selling healthy eating, nutritional food, and natural healthcare products. They have sought to enhance the customer experience in the retail unit in Cardiff by focusing on building community and connection with and between customers, as well as focusing on individual customers and their own individual health and well-being.
One of the main changes that they have made to their retail unit in Cardiff is to have created a space known as a well-being studio. This space is available for activities such as yoga and pilates lessons, amongst other activities.
In addition to this, they have created an iconic ‘cushion wall’ – instantly recognisable and perfectly ‘Instagramable’, and branded bays for partners to tell the story of their brands. There are also consultancy areas with specialists who can help customers with their individual queries.
Holland & Barrett has also created areas where customers can carry out health checks, understand their biological age, check blood pressure, and find out about other health habits that can help customers be healthier.
To finish it off, a new click and collect area that can provide a seamless service between the online and offline worlds can also help to attract customers into the shop.
These changes show how Holland & Barrett is looking to interact with their customers in a way that is more than just selling them the products that they need. They are also trying to help their customers understand and look after their own health, and, of course, provide the products that they need for this.
Ikea
Swedish home furnishings brand Ikea has been warmly embraced by the British public in the last few decades. Known for its flat-pack furniture, affordable home furnishings, and Swedish meatballs, it will be difficult to find a home in the UK that doesn’t have anything from Ikea. The other thing that Ikea is famous for is its sample roomsets – rooms that are set up, essentially making walking around the retail unit similar to walking around a cluster of different homes.
The thought of opening an Ikea shop on Oxford Street was met with puzzlement from many quarters. Mainly because Ikea retail units have traditionally been located out of town, where customers can drive to, pick up their flat pack furniture, put it straight in their car, and take it home to assemble. London’s Oxford Street, however, does not have the massive parking space that accompanies the other Ikea shops, and with only public transport really available in the area, the thought of carrying large flat-pack furniture on public transport is a thing of nightmares.
Ikea is making this work, however, through the concept of creating a shop based on experience and working alongside their online features.
The Ikea shop on Oxford Street has several features. Of course, the iconic roomsets are still there – adapted to reflect urban living, different cultures, somewhere to run a small business, basement flats with limited natural light, incorporating period features, home offices, etc., and using examples from real people. Although smaller items can be bought and taken home, larger items can be bought and then delivered to homes or pick-up points around London.
The shop also incorporates a design service for customers looking for more inspiration for the inside of their properties, a deli where Ikea’s famous Swedish meatballs can be eaten or bought to take away, and a second-hand section where second-hand goods can be bought, including products that have been discontinued.
Finally, Ikea has created a live studio, a space that can be used for a number of different events, experiences, and exhibitions, as well as having capabilities for broadcasting.
This shows that Ikea has really understood that the retail experience now is most definitely a mixture of creating an experience offline, whilst enabling the ease of buying products online. So much so that they have almost dismissed the need for customers to buy their iconic flat-pack furniture in their shop. By concentrating on creating an interesting shopping experience in one of the country’s busiest retail areas, then continuing the process online, they are showing a true hybrid approach to retail, one which we are expecting to see increasingly over the next few years.
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