How Entertainment and Retail Go Hand-in-Hand
The landscape of retail is ever-evolving. There is a current tension showing that while e-commerce grows and grows, the physical storefront still absolutely matters to customers. Sure, it’s changing – brick-and-mortar stores are increasingly becoming smaller in relative square-feet – but consumers are attached to the traditional. Which leads us to wonder if perhaps entertainment and retail will become more interconnected than ever before.
On 10th Avenue in New York City, there’s a new store gift store called STORY. The store’s concept is aimed at creating and selling experience, just as much as it does tangible products. The store’s theme changes constantly, and all items within the store change to reflect that theme.
“I think it’s a very revolutionary type of retail: ephemeral retail. The concept of product as content,” said Trish Mueller, Home Depot’s chief marketing officer.
Similarly, tech brands including Samsung and Sony have created storefronts that feature far more than just product. At the Samsung 837 Showroom, the company has crafted what must be defined as an all-encompassing experience.
“Reimagining the traditional store experience, 837 is a fully immersive cultural center, featuring programming which will tap into people’s passions such as art, music, entertainment, sports, wellness, culinary, technology and fashion, all powered and enriched by technology,” said Zach Overton, the VP and general manager of the store, in a press release.
Likewise, Sony has opened a location that will allow customers to view the latest products, watch demonstrations, and even take classes. It’s a total redefinition of what we typically perceive to be retail.
Whether or not examples like the above really take off, they do speak to the significance of the consumer’s experience. Customer’s place a high-value on how retail companies make them feel; it is no longer just about the product.
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