In this article we will delve into what is meant by concept store in the field of interior design capable of giving a real shopping experience.
The birth of a concept store
The concept store arises from a brand or company’s need to offer its target audience a physical place, commercial or exhibition space, that can concentrate products, services, atmospheres, emotions, and essences in accordance with the nature of its customers.
The primary goal of the concept store is to respond to the increasingly evolving needs of today’s customers, who no longer just satisfy their own needs but seek a real experience with added value in their purchase.
Therefore, this type of store has its roots in the deeper meaning of the word “concept.” Wanting to associate something physical and concrete, such as a space created to display products, with a broader and more abstract concept related to “ideation,” “conceptualization” becomes a real challenge for those involved in interior design, as they must be able to communicate a brand and convey a company’s values.
The bid construction phase and its benefits
The balance of merchandise mix and assortment composition are two extremely relevant factors in the coding of commercial offerings, especially during the initial design phase of a concept store.
We need to know how to carefully choose the collection of goods and objects to be displayed in the store, focusing on their ability to trigger and reinforce in the customer a sense of belonging to the brand, and to provide the customer with a shopping experience that conforms to his or her status and lifestyle.
Among its benefits we can certainly include:
1. Extension of target audience: a well-designed concept store formula is able to attract shoppers with different needs and purchasing abilities. Empathy and emotions from the experience offered by the store become important.
2. Expansion of purchase time: the customer has an experience where purchase is only the final act. The salesperson must be able to have people’s interests and needs at heart, but at the same time must be able to have total mastery of existing business techniques for closing the deal and retaining buyers.
3. Viral marketing: the concept store becomes a new place of socialization that triggers “word of mouth” among friends, building credibility and trust in the brand, which are essential elements in addition to the range variety of products and services offered.
4. Diversified offerings: the concept store is not obligated to maintain a quality and economic standard of products, as we will find both lower cost products and more expensive items inside the store. Essential becomes maintaining a product line that respects the conceptual theme of the store.
There are some aspects of the concept store that markedly change the dynamics of selling
1. Personnel: in a concept store, no single person can work, but rather a team of people with a common goal: the salesperson disengages from the event staff while sharing the business goal.
2. Merchandise is selected respecting the main theme of the store. Products cannot remain the same for a long time: a concept store needs constant changes as the customer’s attendance is habitual and assiduous, so it is necessary to fascinate them each time with novelties, trends of the moment and and more frequently than the
seasonal turnover.
3. Hours are elastic: opening and closing times and days are more versatile than traditional ones, especially during workshops and organized events.