Radical retail: Revolution and what’s coming to the market - by Faith Hope Consolo

Faith Hope Consolo, Douglas Elliman

Retail is in revolution and what’s coming to the market are radical ideas aimed at evolving the shopping experience and redefining the way we interact with our favorite brands. Experiential retail is flourishing as we immerse in the shopping experience, while Omnichannel Retail is the name of the game as we shop online and in the stores. Retailers are testing new markets with new pop-up ideas, while foodies are getting in on the game, in terms of the experiential shopping we all love.

Future Forward

Experiential marketing lets customer try out a lifestyle, concept or product instead of just seeing it on a shelf. Consumers don’t just want a simple purchase any more, they want a comprehensive retail “experience.”

It’s all happening in Times Sq., New York City! The Hershey Company’s store is trading up to three times the size at 20 Times Square from its current location Broadway and West 48^th St. The concept will be something immersive and huge, along the lines of “Chocolate World” in Hershey, PA. The National Football League will partner with the Cirque du Soleil to create a theater and interactive exhibit in 40,000 s/f. Also at 20 Times Sq., the space, which will be full of NFL merchandise, of course, will broadcast the league’s archive of NFL Films onto a four-story videoboard outside the building. Cirque du Soleil will create exhibitions and shows to transport shoppers to a “game day experience, from the intensity and sound of a pre-game locker room to the snow and frigid temperatures at Lambeau Field.” The show will open November, 2017. Foot Locker will open a 36,000 s/f House of Hoops flagship store at Broadway and West 41^st St. which will be a store and interactive experience.

National Geographic Times Square: Ocean Giants coming next year to West 44^th St. in the base of the Times Building. Kellogg’s and Gulliver’s Gate, the “world’s largest pint-sized tourist attraction,” also coming to the former New York Times Building at 216 West 44^th St. Other entertainment companies coming: Margaritaville at the Brill Building at 1619 Broadway, the Grand Ole Opry at 1604 Broadway; both sure to include a retail component. Outside of New York City, malls and shopping centers are bringing on the experience with more dining options, gyms/spas, theaters, experience-focused stores, creating more reasons to visit and a “one stop shop” for all family members. Luxury mixed with necessities mixed with services. Look out for more “perks” at the mall; concierge service, personal shoppers, coat checks, facilities for children, delivery services. It’s all about “elevating the shopping experience.”

E-Retail

E-commerce is another arm of the retailers “multi-channel” approach in this environment. Shoppers like to be fully informed and are keen on comparison shopping so when they walk into a store they have generally done their homework and are ready to buy. Retailers must be open to expanding technology, using social media to catch eyeballs and help connect the dots online. We are now seeing reversal in clicks-to-bricks and back again, with Amazon and EBay opening physical stores. Traditional retailers are finding that e-commerce grows around physical stores, and will disappear if the location closes.  We want instant gratification, but we also want to touch, see, and try products. It’s clicks and bricks, not one or the other.

Power of the Pop Up

Pop Ups...new designers entering the arena and “testing the waters” before they dive into a full store or existing companies doing “Purpose-Driven Pop-Ups” to test a new product or collaboration. Take for example the Hamptons this 2016 season; there was a lot of “musical stores” that left temporary vacancies...they were taken over by pretty pop-ups that in many situations turned permanent. There are traveling boutiques that are mini stores on wheels. There is a Fashion Collective at Gurneys that changes every few days. It makes shopping unique and exciting.

Food Follows Fashion

In New York City, we are watching the restaurant scene that’s flourishing and expanding through “pop-up food” and “outposts.” All the new food halls, like Urban Space, are providing platforms for restaurant brands to try new venues in new neighborhoods for short periods in a small footprint to gain exposure and test the market. Just like for fashion. If it’s all about the experience in shops, the same is now happening at the movies. At the Metrograph, on the Lower East Side, where there is great dining, a large bar and lots of modern design, but the movies are all vintage. It’s the experience you pay for today when you have the option to watch anything in the world from your laptop. Nitehawk Cinema, in Williamsburg, has new movies, plus dinner in the downstairs restaurant and bar before the show, or be served in your seat as the movie begins! That’s definitely an experience.

Happy shopping!

Faith Hope Consolo is the chairman of Douglas Elliman’s retail leasing, marketing and sales division, New York, N.Y.