Luxury is popping up in luxurious destinations, why building a community is non-negotiable, and how creating a seamless experience will keep customers coming back for more.
#44: Welcome to “In The Loop”, where you’ll find the latest in retail to inspire and empower your next innovation.
Hello, and thank you for being here!
In today’s edition, you’ll find:
Innovation in action: the luxury pop-up and concept stores designed to perfection to maximise temptation
Three trends, updates, and stories you might have missed (but absolutely need to know)
Retail Lab: why building a community around your brand is the key to success
Your preview for next week’s blog post: how to create a seamless experience that keeps customers coming back for more
Out and about: this week I’ve been in the Midlands to see what’s new in stores
Retail Collaborative updates, and how you can work with me
With that, let’s jump in.
💡 Innovation in action - my breakdown of this week’s big innovation story
This week, I’m taking a closer look at a story in the Financial Times, “Luxury brands catch a break from holiday resort boutiques”, which explores the trend of creating themed pop ups and concept stores in exclusive holiday destinations.
Rather than relying on shoppers making time in their busy lives to come to flagship stores in large, overcrowded European cities, the big luxury houses are opening up in quieter more exclusive resorts, where their customers are escaping on holiday, to capitalise on the expected spend of those who have the time and inclination to buy limited-edition items they can’t buy anywhere else.
Why is this a trend?
Products, even top tier luxury ones, are no longer enough, as customers expect brands to continually innovate to keep their attention and their spend; what better way to do this than to create location-specific collections in specially curated spaces that hold memories of that particular holiday? Purchases in these boutiques are luxury souvenirs that customers can be sure others won’t have easy access to.
The result?
Brands are doing their research and opening these high-end boutiques that blend seamlessly in to their surroundings as a way of showing their customers that they really understand their needs.
For example, Louis Vuitton has popped up at the Nammos club in Mykonos and Dolce & Gabbana are hosting “creative takeovers” to reach a wider audience, both of which will be a surprise and a delight for holidaymakers in those exclusive locations.
This is a strategic approach that aims to attract the perfect high-spending customers in “status symbol” locations that brands need to be seen in, often without the commitment of opening a permanent space.
Why is it innovative?
Innovation in retail is knowing what your customers want and giving it to them before they know they need it. Luxury customers are discreet and this fits in perfectly with the ease and exclusivity they are searching for, especially at a time when it seems more and more people have access to particular luxury items. By creating exclusive items and collections in the most desirable locations, brands are encouraging customers to invest in their memories while creating a unique shopping experience that can be treasured long after the purchase has been made.
👀 What else caught my eye this week?
Trends, updates, and stories you might have missed (but absolutely need to know):
Prêt is changing its subscription model, and this article on the BBC talks about the wider shift in customer perks at other coffee chains on the UK high street. It’s a tricky time for the sector, and I wonder whether we’re close to a tipping point where coffee-drinkers will just start making their own drinks because take out no longer represents value for money or an experience worth paying for.
Matalan is adding more third party brands to its portfolio as it looks to provide increased variety and newness to its customers. Succeeding in modern retail is about keeping customers in your ecosystem for as long as possible, and giving them everything they need under one roof is certainly a strategy that works (just take a look at the M&S turnaround)
Sandro has partnered with Fringuant to create an AI tool that helps shoppers find their ideal size, showing that the latest technology can be embraced to improve the customer experience and help the retailer to reduce costs and returns. It will be interesting to see how this works in practice, and whether others follow suit.
🧪 Retail Lab by Retail Collaborative
This week’s Retail Lab is all about the benefits of building a community around your brand. Retail has never been more competitive, so it’s imperative that brands, big and small, embrace their customers and create a feeling of belonging to foster loyalty.
Why is it important?
In an increasingly anonymous world, now more than ever it pays to pay attention to your customers. Listening to consumers and including them in your product creation process and marketing shows you care about them and their needs, building trust and loyalty. In the simplest terms, everyone feels special when they feel included, and that feeling converts in to sales.
How can you do it?
With so many options, it can be difficult to know where to invest your time and money, but the key to community building is creating real-life events, pop ups or digital marketing that are socially shareable, like the recent Charlotte Tilbury “You are unreal” experience, or the Jellycat fish and chip pop-up in Selfridges.
When customers are excited to be involved in a campaign or an event, they will want to share it with their friends and family, so create something fun and unique that makes them feel seen and heard. If you’re a mission-led business, bring customers in to the heart of what you stand for to build a following that is emotionally invested and loyal.
What are the tangible benefits of building a community?
It gets people talking
It creates brand awareness
Being associated with other complementary brands makes your brand visible to a wider audience
It increases footfall and sales
It builds authenticity, transparency, and trust
It can help you create a personalised experience and “wow” customers, showing that you understand them
You’re more likely to be recommended
It allows you to connect with customers in a more informal way, ie via a WhatsApp group, or a closed community
Community goes hand-in-hand with personalisation, which customers are starting to expect as standard (more on this in next week’s newsletter)
A community is the perfect antidote to the huge anonymous audiences and deafening noise online. We’re moving towards closed, quieter spaces where people will want to be in smaller groups where they matter, so get ahead and start building your community now.
⭐️ The latest from the blog
Here’s your exclusive preview of next week’s post.
How to create a seamless experience that keeps customers coming back for more
With so much emphasis on online retail over the past 4 years, stores took a backseat, but while many brands choose to prioritise one channel over the other, customers are looking for a seamless experience that makes shopping a breeze.
Retailers should have one principal aim: to keep customers within their ecosystem for as long as possible by providing products they need and an experience they love.
Here are my top 5 tips on how you can do this:
Know what your brand mission and ethos is, and make that clear across your website, store and social media accounts so that customers know exactly what they can expect when they shop with you
Use the different selling channels available to your advantage, whether that’s a traditional eCommerce website, a TikTok shop, or a physical space
Tailor experiences to where your customer is, making sure that you show your brand in the best possible light. In store, that might mean tweaking a display or trying an interactive experience; online it could be creating a video that shows your product in action
Your online space (social media and website) can be an extension of your store in terms of products and experience if you use videos and give customers a sneak peak of your physical space via an interactive shopping event
Listen to customers across all channels by always asking for feedback at the till in store or via email after an online purchase; people love to be heard
True retail innovation is about blending all of the channels at your disposal seamlessly to keep customers in your ecosystem.
My biggest piece of advice for clients? Keep things simple because barriers to purchase are a huge frustration and one of the biggest drivers of lost sales.
🛍️ Out and about in Leicester
I went to the newly refurbished Marks and Spencer store in Leicester’s Fosse Park this week, and whilst works are still ongoing, there was plenty to be excited about.
The beauty section was almost a store-in-store concept, a peaceful sanitary-like space, showing beauty retailing at its best.
It had a fantastic brand selection which included the own-brand Formula range nestled alongside Stila, L’Occitane, and Clinique among others. The visual merchandising included pods for each brand, and a particular highlight was the fragrance wall.
All-in-all, a wonderful shopping experience that felt fresh and welcoming.
⭐️ Retail Collaborative Updates
Do you need a free 30 minute “Collaboration Session” with a retail expert? Sign up to get answers to your 3 biggest retail questions or problems.
My mission is to help you build a strategy for success, which means collaborating with business owners and decision makers to achieve successful outcomes.
🤝 That’s why I’ve created the Retail Collaborative “Collaboration Session”.
📌 Find out more and book here.
📣 If you don’t already follow me on Linkedin, please do! It’s where you’ll find me discussing the latest retail trends and news during the week.
And that’s a wrap for this week!
I’d love to hear from you, so let me know what you think of this week’s edition and what you would like help with in your retail business.
Until next week,
Hina