Weblog Consulting Register Login Subscribe to Free Influx Emails Join our Facebook Group Branding Street Cred Technology Lifestyle Style Entertainment Interviews Art InfluxTV Map Widgets RSS — All Subjects RSS — More Feeds

Search

Advanced Search

Contact Privacy Policy

Like anything in marketing, it's essential that retail move with the times to reflect the changing needs to consumers. Recenttly, Influx has written about the gap that exists between the potential of the handset and the retail experience offered by most carriers. Now Sprint appears to have understood that retail is an area that could help them differentiate themselves, so they just announced plan to revamp their stores .

With phones becoming fun, playful multi-media devices, we thought that the dull heavy-handed retail environments could be replaced with stores that reflected a level of fun and excitement that the new handsets represent. However, it appears Sprint will not be following this path and instead are opting for more of an educational experience, according to the head of the design company working on the project "how-to" guide for improving their personal and professional lives through the use of practical technologies available from Sprint's new local company.".

Obviously education is essential if the carriers want to upsell their services, but we are not sure a 3-dimesional "how-to-guide" is the way to go and whether this will really be as differentiating as Sprint hopes.

Another company looking to try and capitalize on the changing environment, is The Gap. It has recently launched a new concept Forth and Towne, to target women aged 35 plus. In this case, the retail offering appears to meet need and offer than opportunity for The Gap to do something different. The designers, the Rockwell Group and the client did extensive research to understand the needs of the target. Two core themes emerged, the desire for service and the need to make shopping more of an indulgent and social experience.

To do this, Rockwell has focused its attention on the fitting room, designing a central space around them that encourages interaction with friends and the style consultants. This space is features comfortable chairs, tables with style magazines and free water and refreshments.

Retail has to adapt to changing times and both Sprint and The Gap are trying to do just that. Of the two, The Gap's idea for Forth and Town seems to show real understanding of how their demographic would like to shop and have created a concept that is very experiential that taps into an emotional need. Sprint seems to be trying to approach the problem like engineers, by creating new stores that are highly rational. By focusing so strongly on a rational need, Sprint could have missed an opportunity to create a radically different retail experience for the wireless category.