Visual Merchandising and Store Design | VMSD.com

How should store design head off the next big technology threat?

By Steve Kaufman

I am in awe of the brains that conceived of the microchip, which condensed our lives into something that fit first on our desk, then on our laps, then in our pockets and now at our thumb tips.

But every time the technology improves – which seems to be every six months – we’re forced to take stock of how this will change our lives.

For the retail design industry, some of the new changes are going to require yet another round of re-thinking and recalibration. Can you make shoppers want to come into the store when they can buy their goods and services without ever walking through your doors?

And if this question seems maddeningly familiar, well it is! Ten years ago, the industry quaked with fear that personal computers and the Internet would rob retail of its in-store experience, that shoppers would rather browse the web from home. We all began to say “bricks and mortar” – a lot!

When the stores didn’t disappear, you smugly comforted yourselves that people really do like the shopping experience, like being in the store, touching the merchandise, talking to the salespeople, surrounding themselves with a “community.”

But oops, here’s the next big threat: the tablet! And this time, the brave new world promises to be different. With the larger tablet screens, online merchants can provide images that truly allow shoppers the glossy photos of a fashion magazine with the convenience of clicking “choose,” “order” and “send.” The New York Times reports that while tablet PCs made up only about 4.4 percent of all computers shipped in 2010, they are expected to make up about 20 percent within two years. “And,” says The Times, “Apple iPad owners, who tend to be affluent (given the $499 price tag for the device), already prefer not only browsing but also buying from a retailer’s app rather than its web site in some cases.”

Net-a-Porter, Amazon, Gilt, QVC, HSN and eBay have all introduced their own tablet apps. The Times reports that “about 15 percent of shoppers buy from the iPad app, while eBay says the average purchase amount through its iPad app is higher than through either its web site or through mobile phones.”

So do you go back to figuring out exactly why people like shopping in a store? Do you comfort yourselves with all the things shoppers can’t get from an app – immediacy, flexibility, touchability, fit? Or do you simply say “this too shall pass,” like it did before, and go on doing business as usual?

Tell us what you think? What are the best tools in the store design artillery to keep people coming into the store? Log in and share your thoughts below.