Global retail design agency Sheridan&Co examines the pivot that retail is undergoing, considering success stories and failures thus far. Plus, they elaborate on the unparalleled power of physical spaces, customer experience and community.
Back in May, The Economist wrote ‘ Farewell BC. Welcome AD’. Although the play on words for the Anno Domini reference here means ‘before coronavirus’ and ‘after domestication’, its pertinence is apt as we have arrived at a profound turning point in mankind’s history. 2020 will be a defining marker in the 21st century. It has witnessed many paradigm-shifting and world-changing developments across all market sectors. Life will never be the same again. One synonym for this change has included our ‘new normal’ and no industry has been left untouched. This includes retail design and customer experience.
The exceptional circumstances and the transformation we have experienced throughout 2020 have made it impossible to ignore how the retail industry will evolve and change to suit the new ways society is living, working, socialising and consuming. At Sheridan&Co, we believe that ‘'we have arrived at a tipping point of a period of transformation, shedding the skins of our pre-crisis lives to create a new way for society and the economy to exist”. This will fundamentally change how we design customer experience in store’s.
As retail specialists, we have been studying changes in the market, consumer behaviour and consumption patterns. We have conducted research as well as taken insights from conversations with clients and connections within our network to understand how retail design can navigate challenges caused by COVID19 and how to pivot in order to thrive in our new world.
Our learnings and insights have been interesting, thought-provoking and invited us to be even more curious and deep dive further into our research with new questions as to how retail will evolve and adapt to our new world. But most importantly, how brands can navigate and prepare this future too and what it will mean for the future of customer experience.
To summarise our findings, we have created a report: The New Role of Retail (download it here).
