By David DeCheser, chief creative officer, North America at Valtech
The rise of experiential shopping is nothing new. But today’s consumer demands are putting more pressure on retailers to look to other industries like hospitality and leisure for inspiration to deliver entertaining guest-like shopping experiences.
Brick-and-mortar shopping is being pushed once again to reimagine what it can offer customers. With many of shopping options available, advertising and retail experts need to look closer at the purpose of physical shopping experiences, how they intersect and connect to the digital world, and where to draw inspiration to ensure meaningful and effective brand impact, consumer engagement and conversion. Visitors need to be treated like guests and not consumers.
Brands that win in 2024 will tap into those intersections. They will offer shoppers experiences that are more human-to-human and help to create memorable – and meaningful – moments.
Retail lessons from themed entertainment: borrow from the best
Despite the turbulent economy and uncertainty felt on the street, the physical store is rapidly changing. We’re now seeing varied footprints and experiences. Brands that will pull ahead of the pack require an ambitious approach which looks beyond what we already know.
This opens a new and exciting path for retail. There’s still a great deal of room for innovation in how experiences are designed. Yes, ‘retailtainment’ has made strides since the term’s debut in 1999. But this concept is still evolving and growing.
This is where themed entertainment design comes in. With unbeaten expertise in designing an environment which is made to entertain and sell, theme park designers can take retail and commerce plans a notch above outdated ‘retailtainment’ initiatives. In the retail world, today’s competitors aren’t the only ones within their category. Entertainment giants like Netflix are also rolling out physical footprints.
Embrace creativity
Practices have to embrace creativity and difference. Otherwise, they risk falling victim to the same failings or “sameness” that digital experiences have been subject to.
Theme park designers have the skills to design an experience which can immerse customers throughout the space. They can find ways to get guests to inhabit a story and connect emotionally with the brand or magical land they are in. When applied to retail, these theories have the potential to transform customer engagement. This will increase spend and create more opportunities for individuals to remember your brand.
So, how can brands take inspiration from this?
The combination of uncommon disciplines to ignite creativity and innovation is something marketing and retail experts are no strangers to. But the intersection of themed entertainment, game theory and retail is certainly more outlandish. It can offer exciting results if executed properly. It is a way of innovating experiences and storytelling while harnessing the latest technology to enhance customer loyalty and create alternative purchase pathways.
Doing it at scale – with data
We are all no strangers to a novelty ‘pop-up’ experience which has run throughout the last decade. The problem is that many times these short-term “retailtainment” initiatives fail to make a long-term impact on brand awareness and repeat visits or purchasing.
The key to truly harnessing the lessons of themed entertainment theories in your retail strategy is to look deeper into how theme parks use and adapt technology at the intersection of storytelling and play to create seamless transitions from the physical to the digital.
For “retailtainment” strategies to make a real splash, there is a certain level of design and architecture (both physically and technically) needed to perfect and integrate digital tools and data and make it a crucial aspect of the business.
Retail spaces have an opportunity to harness customer data. They can do this in the same way as themed entertainment spaces while offering a long-term route to transformed customer experience. Beyond the various attractions these parks offer, they are engineered to gain a 360 view of their customers. They get visitors to share their data willingly partially because there is a clear value exchange between the data and the experience. Retailers have a similar opportunity.
