GlobalShop 2016: Low-Tech Rallies

This year, the annual GlobalShop trade show and conference was held March 23-25 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

For the second consecutive year, part of the trade show floor was dedicated to the “Bricks & Clicks Centerpiece Exhibit,” which featured products geared toward digitally integrated retail spaces. A showstopper within the exhibit was a booth featuring a Nao Robot, a small robot that can interact with shoppers – on a surprisingly human level – to engage them at the storefront. The area also included beacon technology, digital p-o-s systems and digital signage, graphics and wayfinding.

While fervent buzz about digital design remains, the show’s focus on the sector paled in comparison to GlobalShop 2015, where it was a primary concentration. Instead, low-tech shone with extravagant booths from fixture, mannequin and props and decoratives manufacturers. Attendees witnessed some of the year’s hottest visual trends, including the use of Pantone’s colors of the year (blushy pink “Rose Quartz” and periwinkle-blue “Serenity”), an abundance of four-legged mannequins (of the canine variety), a bountiful use of succulents and other foliage, along with the return of corrugated materials.

During the show, VMSD awarded five exhibitors its annual “Outstanding Booth Design” award, including CDW Merchants (Lincolnwood, Ill.) – whose booth was designed by Stephanie Johansson (art direction), Hannah Hwang (graphic design), and Jocelyn Lam (industrial design); Hudson & Broad (New York); Pacific Northern (Carrollton, Texas); Kendu (San Sebastián, Spain); and CNL Mannequins (Buena Park, Calif.).

The Planning and Visual Education Partnership (PAVE) collaborated with GlobalShop again this year to showcase fully executed store displays in the PAVE Design Challenge. Show attendees could admire students’ work on their way in to the show and were tasked to vote for their favorite projects based on how well the students achieved their proposed design briefs.

This year’s “fan favorite” winners were students from Dakota County Technical College (Rosemount, Minn.), who were paired with manufacturer Chandler Inc. (Afton, Minn.) to create an interactive in-store display for Under Armour (Baltimore, Md.). The display included augmented reality to educate consumers on the brand’s connected fitness devices, and offered an incentive for showgoers to continue the experience in a brick-and-mortar location.