In the midst of a pandemic, many Americans remain leery about dining at restaurants. Get insights on consumers’ comfort levels for eating out at restaurants.
What does the future hold for the shopping mall?
Retailers that spent years trying to get customers to linger are reimagining their stores for a grab-and-go future to make shopping faster, easier and safer amid long-term shifts in consumer expectations and habits.
Recovery will be all about retailers’ Brand value and ability to sell cross-platform. Specialization (Nuna, TJX), Experiential (NFL, BassPro) and Mass (Amazon, Walmart,) will be among the survivors.
As the winter reluctantly releases its hold on most of the US, the sales season is off to a fast and full start. From the giant CES to smaller regional shows and local sponsorship events, to new outlet builds, our clients are definitely committed to business development activities. Already we are hearing some trends: more […]
Retailers are downsizing and right-sizing traditional locations due to pressure from online shopping. The re-vamped RH brand has grown. The brand focuses on the “aspirational” values of consumers, and everyone from celebrities to the average consumer is taking notice.
Think brick-and-mortar retail is burning to the ground? Think again. It’s simply developing a new landscape. While slow-moving retail giants are closing stores, exciting new opportunities are opening up for entrepreneurs. These opportunities are opening up thanks to newer and cheaper forms of physical space, the commoditization of administrative operations, a loosening of red tape for leasing tenants, and consumers’ rising demand for more immersive physical spaces. One case study is Camp North End in Charlotte, a former Ford plant that’s being reborn as a community startup featuring hot new retail spots. Las Vegas’ Downtown Container Park is another case study in innovative retail. See more in-depth analysis via Forbes Technology Council at the link.
alked with more than a few leaders who feel like trade shows are a catch-22. Attending and exhibiting is expensive, and the ROI doesn’t always seem to balance that. At the same time, the FOMO is real. Being absent from a big industry show seems like a risk that’s not worth taking.
How do you escape this catch-22? You need a strategy. Specifically, you need a strategy to make the trade show pay off. It’s easier said than done.
I’ve thought a lot about trade show strategy, and from my perspective, it comes down to how well you execute your booth design. That’s because you could have the best PR team in the world hyping up your booth and driving foot traffic toward it, but your PR team can’t help you if people aren’t drawn to what they see when they get there. Your product is crucial, of course—however, as Peter Thiel observes, the idea that “a great product will sell itself” is a harmful myth. You have a great product, but you need great packaging and presentation, too.
That’s where your booth comes into play—and becomes the star. Your booth is an opportunity to create an immersive 3D experience of your brand. Product demos are wonderful, but it’s even better when people can experience your product surrounded by your brand’s story, vision, and style, while at the same time, engaging with your salespeople.
A really excellent booth makes your brand into a place where people want to spend their time. This amplifies any positive emotions they’re feeling, so they associate those strong, positive feelings with your product.
The only way to accomplish this reliably is to go big.
By “go big,” I mean to make use of exhibits that are 30×30, 40×40 or larger. Assets should be coordinated, so they play off each other and saturate the visitor’s field of view with a stunning, creative concept. This is how you engage customers effectively. It’s also how you can entice the fly-by journalists looking for eye candy to post on their distribution channels (I call that “free promotion”).
Okay, you might be thinking, but what if I don’t have the resources to reserve a big booth?
In my experience, it’s a fatal mistake to outfit a small booth with small assets. Big imagery takes up more space in front of people’s eyes, and it makes your booth harder to forget. So, I argue that for smaller booths, going big is even more important. That’s how you can position yourself to deliver an immersive experience at a trade show.
Contrary to popular belief, the brick-and-mortar retail sector is not struggling to stay afloat. Although some retail brands, including Sears, Pizza Hut, and Dressbarn, are shutting down swaths of stores, the research and advisory firm IHL Group found that more chains are opening new locations than closing them. In 2019, the number of chains opening new locations increased by 56 percent: 1,065 stores opened new locations this year, compared to 675 in 2018. For every chain with a net closing of stores, there are five chains opening stores, totaling a net gain of 3,000 store openings versus closures.