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Entries in Retail trends (13)

Friday
Dec092016

The Set List: Instant Gratification

Expectations of immediacy have never been higher. How should brands meet these expectations?

Editor’s note: this blog is the second in a series discussing trends and insights into the world around us.

“I WANT IT NOW!”

Sound familiar? In our digitally enabled world of instant access, expectations of immediacy have never been higher and the demand for immediate results has seeped into all aspects of our lives.

In his book, ‘The Impulse Society’, Paul Roberts writes that ‘our entire consumer culture has elevated immediate gratification to life’s primary goal”. This is further proved by Kissmetrics statistics on ‘How Loading Time Affects Your Bottom Line’, revealing that 47% of consumers expect a website to load in 2 seconds or less.

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Tuesday
Nov152016

Speak Easy: Hospitality in the Retail Environment

In today’s competitive shopping environment, retailers are taking cues from the Hospitality industry to bring consumers back into stores.

This blog piece is based on a Q&A discussion held with guest panellists Marco P. Nijhof Head of Hospitality Strategy at Value Retail, Paul Nulty Director of Nulty Lighting specialists in Retail Lighting, Camille Lorigo Creative Commercial Development at Brand Building and Gensler designers Owain Roberts, Lara Marrero and Claire Richmond.

Hospitality has been influencing the retail industry for quite some time now—perhaps more so than any other industry, as explored during our Speak Easy series on Hospitality’s influence on our many practice areas. But it’s important to understand that retail is still changing at an incredibly rapid rate. Consumers are expecting more from their shopping experiences and the main challenge for retailers is keeping up.

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Wednesday
Oct262016

Retail’s New Normal: Lessons from the International Retail Design Conference

Image © Gensler

A ping-pong table might seem like a curious addition to a shop that sells handbags, luggage and women’s accessories. But for the SoHo flagship store of Vera Bradley, it makes perfect sense. For starters, it speaks to the retailer’s roots: in the company’s early days, a basement ping-pong table served as a place to display patterns and fabrics. But the SoHo store’s familiar rec room accessory also speaks to Vera Bradley’s efforts to craft a memorable in-store experience, one that not only showcases their refreshed brand, but also offers an abundance of engagement. That’s why we also populated the company’s latest stores with imaginative displays of merchandise, installations by local artists and digital screens that post real-time social media content tied to the bags and accessories maker’s brand.

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Monday
Oct102016

Outdoor Retailers Get Hands-On: Trends and Tips for Engagement

Timbuk2 prototype. Image © Gensler

The outdoor retail industry is consistently on the forefront of creating truly engaging shopping experiences. Leaders in the field have found ways to delight shoppers by aligning company values with the lifestyle and beliefs of the customer base. As a recent speaker at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Tradeshow in Salt Lake City, I experienced first-hand some of the latest trends taking hold in the world of outdoor retail.

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Friday
Sep302016

More Than a Transaction: Reaching Consumers Through Meaningful Experiences

Cadillac House. Photo: Eric Laignel.

The need for speed? I get it. We’re so busy with today’s pace of modern life that we typically look for the easiest solutions. With shopping, there’s more opportunity and acceptance for us to buy online and make our lives easier. But there is an inherent drawback to speed and convenience – a lack of the personal experience. Sure, flying over the Rocky Mountains at 500 miles per hour is efficient, but it’s not a great way to experience the beauty of a golden aspen grove, or the tingling sensation from dipping your toes into an ice-cold stream.

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