The Retail PlannerJanuary 2015 - The Retail Planner

January’s phygital retail bytes

January 31, 2015 / alison

Here’s a round-up of January’s more interesting phygital retail bytes:

CES kick-starts the year with a host of innovative tech ideas and nascent, phygital developments to watch with retailers in mind. This year, wearables finally got exciting, the IoT (Internet of Things) got closer to reaching breaking point in our homes, and consumers saw how technology is ready to transform the shopping experience. My favourite round-ups from Bloomberg Business Week and Brand Channel touched on many key trends.

Estimote beacons

The Retail Big Show in New York closely follows CES, and the role of technology in stores increases with importance every year. This year, the show profiled eBay’s connected store concept, currently on trial at Rebecca Minkoff and Nordstrom stores, according to this report in Retail Design World, and magic mirrors were the top attraction according to Retailing Today’s review. Disruptive retail strategy was one of the show’s key take-outs for Retail Touchpoints while mobile apps that are enabling beacon technology uptake was top of the buzz list for CNBC.
Neiman Marcus has installed interactive inventory tables that blend into its footwear departments, and will spur sales conversions according to Luxury Daily.
Omni-channel is the word of 2015 for eBay, that has just launched its new sellers platform: Retail Associate Platform, according to WWD.
Mall rats are not dead, they are part of retail’s big phygital strategy, says Kevin McKenzie, Westfield’s global chief digital officer, who talks to the Business of Fashion about Westfield’s new World Trade Centre location in New York.
Virtual retail is a step closer thanks to Microsoft’s new Holo Lens headset. Here Dezeen suggests what might be possible.
Tommy Hilfiger has launched a digital showroom that is shaking up the fashion buying world.
Data-driven passenger information is driving a surge in luxury travel retail, says Fashion Telegraph on the occasion of Louis Vuitton’s huge new Terminal 5 store at Heathrow.
Pinterest is gaining traction among advertisers as brands flock to the channel’s ‘Pinfluencers’, according to the Wall Street Journal. And stylish influential men are Pinterest’s new target, as the image curation site works on its search functionality with ‘geek’ content.
Snapchat’s new Discover feature has instant appeal for luxury and retail brands keen to experiment with its Millennial audience. BMW is partnering with CNN for video ads around the channel’s daily news items on Discover, while McDonalds’ recent ads heralded a turning point for conservative US brands to use the highly targeted, ephemeral social platform for mobile marketing.
AdAge has a refreshing take on how Snapchat could kill the trend for consumer showrooming in stores via one-off snap coupons or scavenger hunt style retail promotions.
Fashion and beauty brands are combining user-generated content with discovery-commerce opportunites on Instagram. Joining the Insta-commerce party is Preen.Me, a platform that has recently run exclusive deals with Tweezerman and Bumble & Bumble, according to WWD (sub req).

Finery London’s creative pop-up showroom

January 30, 2015 / alison

A good pop-up still has its place and this one blends a few retail trends at once. For its launch onto the ‘premium high-street’, last week online fashion site Finery London opened a week-long pop-up showroom that mixed physical creativity with digital experimentalism.

Visitors to the tiny Greek Street store could see the label’s resort collection shown on a revolving carousel, set against a backdrop displaying the creative process behind the Finery London team’s design process, eg sketches, patterns, branding ideas. From the street, visitors could swipe through an interactive look book and find a discount code (for early bird shopping) hidden on a screen in the window using motion-sensing technology connected to their devices.

Finery London pop-up store

‘Creating an online audience can start just as effectively with an experience in the physical world, and for an online-only fashion brand like Finery London, we wanted to make the product tangible, visible and highly desirable to Londoners,’ says Thea Frost, partner at Somewhat, the digital agency responsible for the digital concept. ‘The interactive screen mechanic reminds visitors that Finery is a digital brand and allows them to browse as they would on the website,’ she adds.

After trialing the site among early adopters in December, Finery London launches properly on February 5^th. With a team comprising of Caren Downie, ex-fashion director at ASOS, Rachel Morgan, former head womenswear buyer also at ASOS and Emma Farrow, until recently Topshop’s design director, the brand’s fashion-forward ethos is well considered. Farrow says Finery London has launched as an antidote to the current lack of femininity elsewhere on the high-street. ‘It’s about flattering the female form,’ she says adding the brand has a London feel but is ‘a little bit quirky and not too serious,’ according to a report on the Business of Fashion.

* This pop-up reflects the retail trend for interactive billboards, that is breathing new life into the pop-up genre. Finery London’s launch onto the market is a clever mix of creative storytelling and digital experimentalism. Showrooming retail tactics blend a physical presence with digital discovery- commerce. By encouraging early adopter shopping on the site through simple rewards, the campaign is a great example of how to utilise social-commerce from the word go.

Menswear AW15: at the shows, classic merges with contemporary and streetwear meets luxe

January 28, 2015 / alison

Trendspotting at the recent round of menswear trade shows – Pitti Uomo in Florence, Seek in Berlin and various showrooms in Paris – the worlds of classic Italian tailoring, contemporary menswear collections and edgy streetwear seemed to merge into one defining Instagram moment. And it may well mark the mid-decade style statement of our Turbulent Teens.

Highlights at Pitti Uomo included Wooster + Lardini, the capsule winter wardrobe offer from menswear savant and streetstyle star, Nick Wooster. ‘It’s classic tailoring with a contemporary twist,’ says Wooster of the perfectly proportioned coats, jackets, trousers and shirts collections made in collaboration with traditional Italian tailoring brand, Lardini’s rich fabrics. In Wooster’s hands, camel coats and plaid suits have new life.

Wooster + Lardini Pitti Uomo AW15

Meanwhile, organisers at Pitti Uomo have recognized that luxury menswear retail is increasingly influenced by streetwear, and the club kids who shop for the latest threads. Welcome then, the new hall, Unconventional – more of a concrete white-washed Brooklyn studio space than designer showroom – to house the new breed of streetwear labels. Here buyers could find a wealth of luxury leather sneaker brands such as Cipher and New York based Hood By Air, that also put on a rather strange, extravagant show (as a guest of Pitti), to showcase its latest range of deconstructed clothing that played on eroticized male body areas such as shoulders or knees.

Unconventional streetwear pavillion at Pitti Uomo AW15

At its spring/summer 2015 trend briefing, Judd Crane, director of womenswear said that Selfridges is putting more budget than ever into designer streetwear collections, with influential collections such as Moschino, McQ, Hood by Air and Balenciaga defining the category for the UK department store.

In Berlin, the AW15 seasonal fashion week was shaken up by the demise of stalwart trade fair, Bread & Butter. Now instead, a cluster of niche, targeted shows across the city cater to different market sectors – unlike Pitti Uomo that neatly encapsulates them all. One highlight was Seek, a contemporary menswear show that has emerged leader of the pack. Here sportswear, heritage brands, urban and outerwear labels are flocking to be seen by some of the world’s best stores and edgiest magazines. Stand outs included 2XH Brothers for its fluid dark sportswear and Natural Selection for its evolutionary denim and tactile outerwear pieces.

Natural Selection AW15 at Seek, Berlin

Among the street food trucks, car brand Audi and drinks brand Hendricks also got in on the act, hosting a lounge area and vintage bar respectively.

In particular at Seek, I liked the synergy of Audi’s collaborative workshop studio space that served as a kind of creative inspiration hub where both Audi designers and Seek exhibitors could riff off each other’s creative juices.

Audi creative workshop space at Seek, Berlin

‘The space is about having a new type of dialogue with Seek’s influential design-led visitors,’ says Andrea Matthes, head of VIP sales for Audi, Germany. ‘The concept is focused on creativity – both for our design teams who are here to absorb new fabrics, influences and silhouettes, and to encourage the Seek community to consider driving Audi cars,’ he adds.

And in Paris a new era of luxe streetwear is emerging. From Raf Simons’ ongoing fascination with youth culture and his ode to student inauguration attire (hand-written scrawl coats available to order – seen here in the showroom) Designers channeling the current Health Goth (sub req) meme such as Ada + Nik or Blood Brother were showing at Capsule, while the new Wang-era at Balenciaga is fuelling fresh demand for high-end leather bombers and backpacks according to a recent article in the New York Times . Here fashion writer, Matthew Schneider also tips skate influenced Pigalle and OAMC as Paris Fashion Week men’s highlights, that are adding to the luxury retail industry’s new love affair with streetwear.

Raf Simons AW15

Finally, a little corner of Tokyo cool can now be found in Paris. 1LDK has opened on rue de La Sourdiere, a stone’s throw from Colette and offers a minimalist take on that classic Japanese mantra: Just Good Design, with er, a cleaning theme. If the launch party is anything to go by, the store will do a good trade on everyday clothes for everyday life; aka streetwear for fashionistos from Ginza to Brooklyn via Paris.

1LDK

Prada plays with phygital proportions

January 20, 2015 / alison

For its AW15 menswear show, Prada worked with Dutch architects OMA’s research facility AMO for an optical illusion runway presentation inside its Milan Fondazione Prada space.

Prada AW15 menswear catwalk by OMA AMO

The disorienting set was built by partitioning interconnected rooms in two lines side by side, each with varying degrees of precision positioning. Called The Infinite Palace a Prada statement described the suite of rooms as a classic enfilade, with an ‘abstract mannerist perspective’.

Prada AW15 menswear catwalk by OMA AMO

‘The progression through the connected rooms simulates endless repetitions and symmetries, while providing the illusion of an infinite palace,’ says AMO in the statement. ‘As the models move linearly across the enfilade, members of the audience, divided into small groups, are pushed into close and intimate proximity with the collection.’

Also in Milan this week, Prada launched its new season window display, created by designer Martino Gamper, featuring a play on proportions through different wood grains where corners were the focus. ‘The design draws its inspiration from perspective, fragments and contrasts between natural materials,’ explains Gamper on Prada’s website. ‘Those elements are enhanced by the simplicity of a corner, which is a common thread for all of the displays.’

Prada Martino Gamper SS15 windows

*Prada’s playful approach to graphic presentation (both on the runway and in its windows), reflects the label’s attention to architecture, design and influence over perception. While the Prada menswear show was live streamed over the web, the effect for viewers not present at the event, was augmenting an infinite runway show, while for a select few in the audience, the sequential spaces multiplied and fragmented the show allowing for a series of intimate moments.

Lo-hi luxury retail: Dior at Dover Street Market

January 18, 2015 / alison

For its seasonal Tachiagari ‘change-over’ this week, Dover Street Market (DSM) ushered in a new corner dedicated to Dior. Replacing Louis Vuitton’s ‘ephemeral’ space for A/W14 on the second floor, the Dior concept is a first for both parties, and one where the lo-hi luxury retail experiment is mutually beneficial. Dior gets to dabble in DSM’s cutting-edge reputation, while DSM (again) plays its luxury department store trump card in partnership with LVMH (owner of both Louis Vuitton and Dior) via a dedicated brand boutique.

Dior Cruise S/S15 at Dover Street Market

Kicking of with Dior’s Cruise 15 collection, the space has a futuristic and brutalist-feminine feel that has merchandise specially selected for its London location. This new era of suck-it-and-see-retail for the luxury brand signals a wider shift in the industry, that needs to appeal to new, younger customers. The store’s CEO, Adrian Joffe says he calls it a kind of freedom of expression (these brands) might not necessarily have in their corporate structure. ‘It’s the different context and the accidental synergy arising that both DSM and Dior can benefit from,’ he told The Financial Times.

Dior Cruise S/S15 at Dover Street Market

The trial follows Dior’s pop-up Greene Street, New York space that opened late last year, with floor-to-ceiling digital floral artwork display to entice younger customers with a purely accessories offer. Dior’s new bag, the Diorama will launch at DSM (along with the store’s edit of the spring/summer15 runway collection), exclusively in February.

Diorama S/S15

DSM is the go-to luxury department store for brands to try new concepts and reach a different kind of customer.
This season’s Tachiagari includes new spaces for Thom Browne womenswear and the Nike x Marc Newson Zvezdochka collaboration.
With basics such as customised rubber sneakers by Native, or fold-up plastic carriers from its Comme des Garcons Good Design Shop, DSM has a luxury spin on lo-hi retail.
DSM celebrated its 10th anniversary last September with a host of celebratory installations.

Selfridges celebrates retirement renaissance creativity with Bright Old Things

January 13, 2015 / alison

Instead of its annual Bright Young Things creative showcase, this January Selfridges is celebrating a group of 40-80-year-olds who have swapped careers in later life to pursue a ‘retirement renaissance’.

The Bright Old Things campaign promotes 14 creatives ranging from fashion designers, artists and a musician, who are all presenting their work and have collaborated with Selfridges on a range of printed products on sale in the store’s WonderRoom concept space.

Sand Laurenson, Bright Old Things at Selfridges

‘After last spring’s Beauty Project, the topic of aging gracefully really came into the zeitgeist,’ Selfridges head of creative Linda Hewson said at the launch event. ‘So we decided to twist our usual Bright Young Things showcase to focus on the older generation, with the idea that it’s never too late to try something new. People are having a retirement renaissance with second careers, and they are often mentors to the younger generation,’ she says.

Each of the 14 Bright Old Things has his or her own window display of ‘pure creative expression’ and photographer/film maker Todd Selby has collaborated on a film and the store’s large corner window area. The group includes painter and writer Molly Parkin, fashion buyer turned consultant Nick Wooster, punk musician Bruno Wizard, ex-cookery writer now curator Sue Kreitzman and ex-accountant now artist Roger Miles who is profiled over on The Womens Room

Molly Parkin, Bright Old Things at Selfridges

I love how the BOT collective have created their own eclectic worlds of wonder within the Selfridges window – some of them even hanging out in the windows, to form part of the exhibit.

Bright Old Things at Selfridges

Selfridges has timed its Bright Old Things focus perfectly with Boomers making news headlines more and more. Joni Mitchell is the new face of the Saint Laurent spring/summer 15 advertising campaign and Joan Didion models for Celine.

According to a recent article in The Guardian , the over 50s are driving renewed interest in entrepreneurialism with this age group wanting to change their lives for better rather than retire. Meanwhile The Times has reported how ‘Superboomers’ are rewriting what retirement means for the over 60s.

Boomers are hip, as they discover it’s never too late to change careers and re-invent themselves, finding new inspiration for creative expression.

This report also appeared on UniqueStylePlatform

Mr Porter’s movie role

January 13, 2015 / alison

Luxury menswear website Mr Porter has launched a Savile Row inspired tailoring collection that coincides with the upcoming spy thriller movie Kingsman: The Secret Service.

The online retailer worked with film director Matthew Vaughn and costume designer Arianne Philips to ensure the 60 piece collection (that is directly influenced by the movie storyline), reflects all that a British spy could need, sartorially speaking. Colin Firth and breakthrough actor Taron Egerton star alongside Samuel L Jackson and Michael Caine – who all look suitably suave and impeccably dressed throughout the movie. In fact viewers can shop any of the Kingsman looks on Mr Porter while they watch the film; content-to-commerce takes on new meaning with this collection that goes live on the website when the film launches in mid February.

Kingsman: The Secret Service – key looks in the film

Coinciding with London Collections: Men earlier this week, Mr Porter also launched a one-day pop-up at 11 Savile Row in London, bringing the movie location to life, literally.

Kingsman Mr Porter pop up store Savile Row

The bespoke 60-piece collection includes suiting, outerwear, shirting, knitwear and accessories made from a range of British brands – including Turnbull & Asser shirts, Drakes ties, Cutler & Gross eyewear, Bremont watches and Swaine Adeney Brigg bags – all known for their craftsmanship. It features the costumes worn by characters in the film and is reliant on the audience feeling compelled to buy into the power-play style portrayed by Colin Firth who is the well-dressed, super spy lead character.

‘The idea of turning a costumed collection into a commercial merchandising opportunity is a first for the fashion industry, especially to do it this way around’, Toby Bateman, Mr Porter’s buying director told me at the press launch on Sunday. Vaughn approached Mr Porter because he couldn’t find the type of suits he wanted to wear himself, and from early on in the film’s development he saw an opportunity to turn Philips’ designs into a global clothing line, which is why he turned to Mr Porter. Bateman says he we wanted to make it more than just a one-off film merchandise collection. ‘We saw the potential to launch a new personality-driven Mr Porter collection that will continue with seasonal updates after the film,’ Bateman said. ‘The Kingsman collection has genuine integrity, it’s costumed from the film, everything is made by British craftspeople, it’s a who’s who of British sartorial style,’ he added.

Mr Porter’s Kingsman collection

‘Men’s style has always been inspired by the look of leading men in film but this is the first time that the costumes for a movie have been conceived with the idea of selling those clothes to the film’s audience. You could be sitting in the cinema watching this film and shopping the looks from your mobile at the same time,’ he adds.

With the Kingsman launch, Mr Porter is breaking new merchandise grounds. The online retailer is tapping into the new entertainment-driven shopping trend as consumers increasingly turn to internet TV and shoppable videos for content on the move.
The Kingsman pop-up on Savile Row offers customers the opportunity for a touch of escapism. They too can play the part of a super spy for a while, adding retail theatre into the experience. The walls of accessories, corresponding iPads and bespoke ordering in-store, also serve as a great example of how to do phy-gital retail.

Harrods larger than life beauty windows

January 9, 2015 / alison

Happy new year from Harrods beauty department!

In with the new means a whole new beauty and wellness campaign at the luxury department store, where major beauty brands have taken over the Brompton Road windows with giant wellness/sports themed window displays.

Harrods Happy New You

Harrods Happy New You is dedicated to all those new year resolutions and alongside the huge product reminders in the windows the store is offering in-store beauty events, access to wellbeing consultants and fitness classes.

Harrods has partnered with 23 of its best selling beauty brands including Crème de la Mer, La Prairie,SK-II and Lancôme to produce the supersized signature product displays, with each adopting a themed sport as the focus for the window display. My favourites are La Prairie’s snowy mountain scene with miniature skiers or the trancelike SK-II sculptures that are practicing t’ai chi under an oversized cherry blossom tree.

The VM is eye-catching and has the desired effect of transporting passersby into an energised, healthy state of mind. Pop onto the website and shoppers can instantly find the window hero products in more life like sizes.

‘It is significant not only because this is the first time beauty has taken over the Brompton Road windows, but also because we felt it was important to make a positive and self-affirming statement on behalf of our customers, in January,’ said Mia Collins, Harrods head of beauty, London.

*There is a new age, wellbeing theme in retail (not just to chime with the new year) that is giving consumers a new reason to focus on being mindful and bettering themselves. Mind, body and spirit is giving fresh fuel for consumerism.

Online and offline stores merge for fit-tail experience

January 6, 2015 / alison

The worlds of online and offline retail are merging with increasingly compelling examples of personalised product meets convenient service = winning combination.

Kate Spade eBay digital store front, New York

The phy-gital retail trend is here to stay, exemplified by early adopters such as eBay, Bonobos, FAB and more recently Etsy, Birchbox and the trailblazing eyewear specialist Warby Parker. These online pure-players have all dipped their digital toes in physical waters, opening showroom and pop-up style stores with largely successful results (Warby Parker says its eight stores sell an average $3,000 worth of product per square foot annually, according to the Wall Street Journal).

The recent Financial Times report: Online clothes sellers seek a good fit for their business model, describes how the latest slew of phy-gital openings (including Trunk Club at Nordstrom and Rent the Runway) indicates the trend is still resonating with consumers, who like the opportunity to try on their choice of clothes before paying for them.

Rent the Runway New York store

What’s interesting is that the phy-gital trend also works the other way. The flipside is that physical retailers are also enhancing the store experience with data-enriched shopping experiences that online retailers have been used to offering for years. As J Skyler Fernandes, MD of Simon Venture Group, said at the Wired Retail conference late last year, the mall is not dead, it just needs to embrace the digital natives that now shop there.

Now there are fresh innovations from online retailers that are taking the idea of showrooming to new levels.

Zappos wants to encourage customers to shop whenever, wherever and opened a 24/7 Holiday pop-up store in Las Vegas in partnership with e-commerce software specialist OrderWithMe. The showroom-style store mirrored what was available on the brand’s website and was a reference to the way consumers shop around the clock, globally. ‘You don’t go to Zappos.com at 3 am and they say, ‘We’re closed,” explained OrderWithMe CEO Jonathan Jenkins.

Zappos pop-up showroom with OrderWithMe

Virtual stores with physical locations are popping up in New York and London. I loved the 3D scan virtual store experiment from ShowStudio’s collaboration with MachineA in spring 2014, for its avant-garde approach to interactive retailing. More traditional in the showroom sense was the DL1961 digital denim pop-up that appeared in New York’s Meatpacking area for the Holiday period offering body-scanning, virtual fit advice and payment/delivery options in a single booth. ‘The DL1961 Digital Showroom is a way to take a product like ours that is based on touch and feel and translate it in a digital space,’ the brand’s creative director Sarah Ahmed told New York’s The Daily.

DL1961 digital showroom

As retail in 2015 re-invents itself courtesy of the digital age, physical stores and digital shopping habits will continue to merge. Personalisation, device-enhanced customer service and clever economies of scale such as localised click & collect (FarFetch is ahead of the curve on that one), will be the new rules of dynamic retailing. Virtual showrooming, billboards for store-fronts and data-crunching personal shoppers will all play a part in the phy-gitalisation of the retail experience in 2015.

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