I know, you're thinking that it's a dumb question relating to a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo, new age stuff, but let me explain. On the Friday after Christmas, Sarah DaVanzo & I spent the day walking through all of the shops along Madison Avenue, starting at about 59th Street. We visited all of the high-end, luxury stores for about 20 blocks and what we found were stores without a soul. Stores that had no energy, no life to them and were, in many cases didn't have many people in them either.
They were what we'd call 'web stores.' Physical stores with merchandise, staff and everything you'd expect at a store, but operating as if they were little more then a web site -- and sometimes a snooty one at that! Point at something to get more information and maybe touch it. Otherwise, it's a store that does little more then a web site does. In fact, at some stores, we got less info. We stopped in at one cool looking shop from a perfume brand from the 1700's but the sales person there seemed pretty uninterested in sharing their heritage and story with us.
In contrast, stores that we would say had a soul, were crowded and have a definite life to them. There were expected lines to the Apple store & FAO Schwatz stores on 5th Avenue, but the Abercrombie store on 5th had a line as well. Crate & Barrel was humming with activity and people touching and enjoying the merchandise.
And some of our new favorite stores along Madison:
- The DKNY store that was letting guests take pictures of themselves and adding their pictures to the photo montage playing on all of the digital monitors around the store. Plus they had a cafe for either shoppers to take a break or to entertain the non-shoppers so those shopping could actually enjoy themselves.
- The Juicy Couture store, that continued their brand experience throughout the store, including the dressing rooms. And it was about the only store we saw with teenagers once we left FAO & Apple.
- We LOVED the two Ralph Lauren stores! They were so alive in every way. Merchandise, store design, merchandise and staff. And you know what all of that energy generated? Judging by the transactions we saw going on, sales.
- We're putting together a more detailed review and some trends now and you look for them to be released during the Retail Advertising Conference next month. But, if you're investing in physical space and paying all of those costs just to create a 'web store,' you're wasting a lot of good money and some great business opportunities.
Soul is hugely important as it also seems to include being welcoming and having good customer service.
I posted after the difference in customer service meant a spend of £600 was directed in the direction of a chain which seems to value helping customers, and the other store ended up with a complaint and me looking online for alternatives.
It's amazing how blind businesses can be to the effect that personality, service, and the ability for staff to think around problems can be.