The International Retail Design Conference concluded Friday, Sept. 8, 2006, with record-setting attendance of more than 350 retailers, designers, manufacturers, suppliers and other industry professionals .
IRDC kicked off last Wednesday with a presentation by Mark Dvorak, The Gap's vp, global store design, on the apparel retailer's efforts to reinvent itself.
“We fell behind and our competition caught up,” says Dvorak, noting the company's recent struggles. “In many cases, they surpassed us.” For more than a year now, the San Francisco-based company has been rethinking and redesigning its in-store experience.
Using customer feedback, Dvorak said The Gap looked at how men and women shopped at its stores and developed two separate shopping experiences inside the store. For the men, designers created a more straightforward layout, clearer paths to the fitting rooms and even added sales registers near the fitting area.
For women, The Gap has provided more room for exploration and lingering, including a social zone in the fitting room. In addition to a new store layout, designers introduced new custom-designed mannequins in more relaxed poses; upgraded the stores' sound systems; and added more color to areas such as denim to make them feel “unique and fun.”
Dvorak said the retailer embraced its history, including images of its first store — opened in 1969, in San Francisco — as a source of inspiration. “Gap is about being yourself,” says Dvorak. “It's an attitude and hopefully the new store feels like the Gap you used to have before.”
Dvorak's presentation was one of four general sessions presented by major retailers at the conference, along with twelve breakout sessions and numerous networking opportunities. Other keynote speakers included Dave Lindsey, vp, store planning and architecture, Nordstrom, who accepted VM+SD's annual Peter Glen Retailer of the Year award on behalf of his company; and Tom Kennedy, division president, Pacific Sunwear of California.
IRDC was held at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco September 6 — 8, 2006. Next year's conference is set for Sept. 19 — 21, 2007, at the InterContinental Buckhead in Atlanta. For constant updating of conference information throughout the year, and to sign up for email updates, visit www.irdconline.com.