As anyone who’s been to school knows, during trying educational times you sometimes find yourself asking, “When would I ever need to know this?!?” It can be difficult to translate information you learn in the classroom to real world, on-the-job situations. In my experience, this was not the case at the NRF BIG Show. My introduction to retail was as a competitor in the aspire2retail Challenge, but even as a novice, the conference was an invaluable learning experience.
The session that stuck with me the most was “The Power of Retail Design.” Two panels spoke to the unique challenges faced and innovative solutions found in the completion of various store design projects. What made the discussion so enjoyable was a balance between the familiarity of the brands discussed, and the newness of the interpretations of those brands for different markets and formats.
One such brand was Neutrogena. As an avid health and beauty consumer, I’m well aware of the brand and its positioning in the United States, but during the session I learned that to introduce the brand in India, an “education mall”, complete with magazine cover-inspired displays featuring layered imagery and text to attract shoppers was developed. Private consulting and a one-on-one selling process were used to educate shoppers on product skin care and cleansing capabilities.
Another thought-provoking topic was the sustainable L.L. Bean store. To again reference the session’s interesting paradox of the familiar and the new, I’ve always been an L.L. Bean catalog shopper, but didn’t realize they had brick-and-mortar stores. Speaker Joseph P. Nevin explained that natural light, high recycled content materials, and repurposed materials were used in the store, paying homage to L.L. Bean’s penchant for stewardship and sustainability. The store also includes a multi-channel hub where customers can access the company’s website and physical catalogs.
As these two examples illustrate, the projects discussed during “The Power of Retail Design” were quite diverse. Despite the variety, all of the speakers proved that a multitude of challenges can be overcome with innovative store design and visual merchandising, a lesson I’ll have no trouble applying to situations in my future retail career.
Molly McKenna is a student at the University of Michigan.
