Combine Innovation, Efficiency When Transforming Your Branded Environment

When retailers decide to refresh or transform their fleet of stores, they often bounce back and forth between the aspirational and the realistic — cutting-edge technology and design versus execution-at-scale complexities.

It’s about innovation but staying within a budget. You want media headlines about a “Store of the Future” in Manhattan but also need to refresh hundreds or thousands of other locations with various footprints across the country. It’s important to elevate every omnichannel path to purchase but also achieve ROI as quickly as possible.

Ultimately, combining innovation and efficiency while refreshing and transforming branded environments at scale is critical for retailers trying to eclipse their competition and attract customers and build brand loyalty.

But how do you intertwine innovation and efficiency when they often seem at loggerheads? Here’s a four-step plan.

Data, strategy, planning and transparency

Transforming a branded environment starts with focused questions, such as:

• What are your brand’s main goals with this program?
• What are your present strengths and weaknesses, per store-level data collection?
• What are specific actions you can take to improve the customer and associate experience as well as operational efficiency?
• How do you maintain and/or improve omnichannel brand cohesion throughout the store and digital networks?
• What’s your timeline and budget?

Begin by assessing current store environments. Identify areas where refreshed design, layout and technology can enhance customer engagement and experience while also maintaining brand consistency.

“...combining innovation and efficiency while refreshing and transforming branded environments at scale is critical for retailers trying to eclipse their competition and attract customers and build brand loyalty.”

Then consider scale and scope and develop a playbook for rollout and site-to-site adaptation. Different regions and store footprints naturally will receive varied focuses, budgets and priorities.

Strategic planning involves setting clear goals based on data and pairing that with budget transparency and execution discipline.

Design innovations grounded in research and expertise

Innovative and transformative design is about visual appeal that celebrates a brand but also provides purposeful improvements, from wayfinding to merchandising to operational efficiency. Just like customers, associates also should have a “Wow!” visual moment during early impressions but then take note of how many ways their experience — in-store, back of house and online — improves.

Interior view of convenience store CU located in South Korea.

Innovative design elements to consider:

• Digital signage and interactive displays:
  Integrating dynamic digital signage and interactive elements can improve communication and engagement with customers, provide personalized promotions and enhance the shopping experience. It also allows for real-time updates and reduces the need for printed materials, thus cutting costs and reducing associate burden.
  
  
• Smart shelves and IoT:
  Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as digital price tags and smart shelves, can streamline inventory management by providing real-time data on stock levels and product placement. This not only improves efficiency but also ensures that popular items are always available, enhancing customer satisfaction.
  
  
• Gondolas and fixtures that provide flexible layouts:
  Innovation isn’t always about technology. For retailers, innovation can be realizing that gondolas and fixtures don’t need to be static. Seek and implement modular systems that can be easily reconfigured to accommodate different product displays or seasonal promotions. This flexibility allows for quick adaptations to changing trends and customer preferences.
  

Understand the details of the transformational process

As many retailers well know, the multi-faceted execution process moving forward from design to installation — and every step in between — is complex.

That’s why designers who regularly consult and collaborate with engineers, logistics and supply chain experts, program managers and production and installation teams understand the best intersections of innovation and practicality.

A design can be spectacular on paper — or even as a one-off flagship — but if it’s not efficiently scalable, it’s going to fail. It will logjam the project with delays, finger pointing and lose-lose compromises. 

Four points of focus to consider throughout the process:

• Material selection:
  This starts with material costs, as real woods, certain metals and stone or brick facades can be expensive. But it also includes procurement and shipping costs, durability, build and installation challenges and inconsistent looks. This all falls under the value-engineering rubric, which is a crucial part of design development and successful, on-budget program execution.
  
  
• Prototyping and pilot programs:
  Before a full-scale rollout, prototypes and pilot programs provide real-world settings to test new concepts and technologies as well as experiencing the overall look and feel from both a customer and associate perspective. This allows for fine-tuning and ensures that any potential issues are addressed early on.
  
  
• Feedback, assessment and transparency:
  “Measure twice and cut once” thinking is a critical part of a successful transforming of your branded environment. Encourage and closely assess associate and store management feedback on new initiatives, pilots and prototypes and suggested improvements. Frontline employees often have valuable insights into customer interactions and operational challenges. This also plays into what’s cost effective and what’s not, information that will be valuable with the current program and applicable to the next.
  
  
• Program management and… program management:
  Executing the transformation of retail environments at scale is complicated. It requires a holistic understanding of print, digital, production, procurement, logistics, kit packing and transportation, inventory management and installation. And more. Retail rollouts at scale depend on knowledgeable, precise and efficient program management expertise. That centers on how to avoid potential pratfalls and overcome them when they arise, all the while clearly communicating with all invested parties.
  
  
  

A holistic understanding of the start-to-finish process

Is this blog post outlining the strengths of an end-to-end, no-handoff approach to transforming branded environments at scale?

Yes.

And, yes, that is what Miller Zell offers clients, though we can enter the process at any juncture and provide value.

Retail innovation that delivers ROI requires an intertwining of dynamic design and a broad range of execution expertise. It’s a funnel effect that unites and focuses a design and execution system that is purposeful, adaptable and, above all, replicable.

Even with a back-and-forth collaborative process, it seamlessly flows from research and surveys to design to prototypes to pilot to rollout. At each step in the design development process, value engineering takes place, ensuring that costs are kept down while quality is maintained or augmented.

Effective branded environmental designs deliver solutions that can be executed at scale, meeting speed, timing and pricing requirements. They also elevate your brand and build customer loyalty, thereby providing a roadmap for revenue growth and increased market share.