Reengineering Retail by Doug Stephens

Author:Doug Stephens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Figure 1 Publishing
Published: 2017-02-20T05:00:00+00:00

Less a store, more a story

Very few brands can lay claim to the creation of more remarkable and memorable guest experiences than Disney, which anyone who has been to a Disney theme park will attest to. It is, by most accounts, the master at creating magical moments in people’s lives. It’s no surprise, then, that retailers and brands from across the globe travel to Disney each year to learn how it does what it does—create experiences—so well.

Turns out, it all begins with a story.

Legendary Disney theme park designer John Hench once said, “Story is the essential organizing principle behind the design of the Disney theme parks.” For Hench and his team, a successful theme park was a zeitgeist of cast, costumes, set design, technology and attractions centered on a compelling narrative. “We transform a space into a story space,” he said. “Every element must work together to create an identity that supports the story of that place.”2

What Hench recognized all those years ago—and what smart retailers are coming to recognize now—is that no amount of store design, technology, product or merchandising can replace the essential bedrock of a powerful brand story. It’s not that these other things don’t matter; of course they do. But without a cohesive and powerful story that people care about, these other elements will be largely ineffective. All icing... no cake.

Great retailers of the future will build their shopping spaces less as stores and more as remarkable places that put story at the nucleus of the shopping experience. For example, every attribute of the first Apple store—including store design, merchandising, staffing, service methodology and in-store technology—supported the brand story “Think Different” and the battle cry of defying the status quo. The store was, in every sense, unique compared to any computer store that came before it. As such, it was a living, breathing articulation of Apple’s brand story.

Every retailer, no matter what they sell, must instill this same element of story into their shopping spaces. But let me be clear, what I am suggesting is not that your retail space become a stuffy museum for your brand. It’s not a place where your story is told in a passive way through a few signs, screens or pictures hung on a wall. Story is not something that we put in front of shoppers for them to reflexively gaze at. It’s something we draw them into.

I’m also not suggesting here that every brand story need be told in the same high-touch manner or with lofty in-store aesthetics. The fact is, a dollar store can have just as powerful and engaging a brand story as a luxury apparel store, if it’s well designed and articulated.

Ultimately, shoppers should become active participants in your brand story. After all, story is what we see, hear, taste, touch and engage with. It’s the people we talk with and the feeling we take home with us. Story helps you bring the same feeling into your retail space that you might find in Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

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