As designers, we’re taught to take information and break it down into basic building blocks. We then carefully rebuild with just the right combination of elements and new ingredients to create a new masterpiece. Sometimes we rewire to create a new functional and aesthetic model. Deconstruct, rewire, reconstruct, iterate; then refine and repeat. Some of the most beautiful and functional architecture and interior design has originated from this process.
Occasionally, a new industrial process comes along that not only challenges our current processes, it reconstructs how we think and live. Steel redefined what we thought was possible with the built environment and mass production fundamentally changed how we consumed. From the printing press all the way through to social media, technological advancements in communication have changed our culture and how we relate to one another.
Designers are often the bridge and catalyst to advancements. And we are once again in a transitional moment; I believe a fundamental change is happening in how we consume, and how many of us will make a living. The information and communication revolution is well underway: Our lives and the ways we relate to brands and consumers has changed irrevocably. Yet, another revolution is gaining momentum – one designers need to be part of defining, but I am not sure many are equipped to deliver on.
In the past, when I walked through New York looking for new retail stores, I was excited to experience beautiful and contemporary architecturally designed spaces. However, more recently, the change in the process fascinates me. No longer is retail and the consumer static or as one-dimensional as it used to be.
If you visit the new Lululemon Lab on Bond Street, you will find a beautiful and peaceful upscale retail store, but as you head toward the rear of the store, you will find a fully functioning design and manufacturing studio integrated into the store. This is not only for tailoring, here the Lululemon design team create new clothing lines that are exclusive to the New York flagship. Each piece is designed, manufactured and sold in one combined space
Across the bridge in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y., Mast Brothers combine a warehouse, storage, manufacturing and sales all in one living, breathing space. Its staff stack bags of cocoa beans next to the display tables. Looking over the counter into the open kitchen, you can see the chef sorting, grinding and mixing the chocolate just before being wrapped and displayed in the store or stored for later use.
While traveling through the airport on my way to GlobalShop last month, I was able to experience OTG Management’s iPad-equipped terminals as a customer, after being part of the design team in 2014. With fresh eyes, I was wowed by the design and ambience of the restaurants. The curation of celebrity chef collaborations coming to Newark Terminal C is mouthwatering. But the ability to take a seat next to your gate, and self-order on the iPad from any of the restaurants or stores and have it delivered to your seat, that is the real game-changer. The technology is having just as much impact on how the restaurants are operated, staffed and what food is being offered.
Jumping out of my Uber pool shared ride, in the lower east side, I was fortunate to spend time with one of the brains behind the smart technology used in the new Rebecca Minkoff store in SoHo, Oaklabs Founder and CEO Healey Cypher. In the store, once you’ve selected your merchandise, you head to the fitting room, where the mirror greets you and helps you adjust the lighting. The mirror knows the clothes you’ve selected (thanks to RFID tags), and it may even know you if you’ve connected with the brand via mobile, e-com or in-store in the past. It guides you as you try on the merchandise, makes recommendations and connects you with the staff for help. The mirror is also one step ahead and has communicated to the staff what you’re trying on and has made recommendations for other merchandise based on your data and shopping patterns. Browsing, fitting, customer service and transaction, all happen in a seamless two-way process.
On my way home, I realized I had forgotten to buy groceries and a gift for my nephew’s upcoming birthday. Not to worry, I pulled up Amazon on my phone and a short while later an Amazon truck delivered my groceries, and my gift-wrapped present winged its way to my nephew in Edinburgh.
The revolution I mentioned earlier is distribution, which I am defining loosely to encompass any part of the process that affects how a product or service is delivered to the customer. Companies are tearing up the rule books, and reinventing the process.
Supply chain rules are being shredded as speed and localization are driving new products to market. The fashion industry recently responded with see-now-wear-now initiatives to get product into stores at the same time as runway shows. And if you can’t match fast fashion`s Zara or Uniqlo’s speed, you can change the rules and relocate your designers and production line in-store like Lululemon.
How a product gets distributed to the consumer is being heavily influenced by Amazon, but smaller innovative companies like Hointer are having as big an impact by changing the in store distribution dynamics. The Amazon Kiva warehouse system turns the typical fulfilment process on its head. Instead of the workers walking to the shelved product, hundreds of robotic shelving units bring the shelves and products to the workers. In Korea, you can grocery shop on the subway platform via your smartphone, and have the groceries waiting for your arrival at home. And we are not very far off from a drone delivering our packages 24/7, or some products being 3-D printed instantly in home.
The transaction process is changing, too: Many companies are moving or removing this step from the process, like Oaklabs, with the smart fitting room, or OTG, who are empowering the customer with self-guided location agnostic checkouts. Ultimately, the transaction may no longer exist as a physical step, and the point of sale will happen as part of the total brand experience. It will likely be different for each service or product type. When you ride with Uber, the transaction occurs when you call for the ride; after which you forget about it. In Finland, there is a 24-hour grocery store with no checkout registers. Like Uber, you sign up with your financial information ahead of time, then when you shop, you scan the item before placing it in your bag. Upon exiting the store, you are charged for the merchandise. No lines, no waiting, no checkout.
As designers, we can create beautiful experiences through creativity and aesthetics, but when we innovate in what and how the customer does or experiences something, we create new memories and change the relationship. When we design how a product is produced and is delivered to the customer, we redefine business and create new opportunities for our clients. It’s time for designers to embrace and lead the changes in the process to create and build brands from the fundamental building blocks of today’s commerce. But to do this, we must broaden our knowledge of the entire process from source to customer. Only then can we truly shape the brand relationship and customer experience.
As a new creative director for retail at dash design, Peter Burgoyne has built a reputation for elevating retail design by combining disparate elements into a cohesive, strategic vision. His passion for technology and drive to make the retail experience powerful, memorable and results-driven has allowed him to work with clients such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Tumi, Kenneth Cole, Lord & Taylor, Duane Reade, Printemps, Shinsegae and Holt Renfrew, to name a few. Peter’s background in industrial design also allows him to take a holistic approach to design and view opportunities through “different lenses.” It also keeps him laser-focused in his journey to answer the question: “Is there a better way of doing this?” Burgoyne is a member of VMSD’s Editorial Advisory Board.