Luxury Retail THE DIGITAL FUTURE
Burberry Brings
Bricks and Mortar Back to Life
When Burberry announced that its flagship London store would become a physical manifestation of its website, the luxury world jolted to reality
By Linda Peters U
pon the transformation of the 1820s Regent Street site, fashion insiders have been forced into a collective
rethink of their previous ‘looking down’ at digital opportunities. Take Patrizio Bertelli, chief executive and co-owner of Prada, who told Harvard Business Review in August 2012 that he would not sell his collections online because he didn’t want to use the same channel where “secondhand cars and books are sold”. Is Bertelli throwing away a huge opportunity by shunning the world of online?
Whatever the belief is, Burberry is making an impact. Opening in September this year, customers were promised that
Burberry.com would be brought to life in what is now the biggest Burberry store in the world, with customers promised the same experience that they receive online. On my own visit to the store, instead of queuing, I was directed to a sofa by an iPad-equipped sales associate [“We designed it like that because when you shop online at home, you are on the
22 entrepreneurcountry
sofa with your credit card, not standing up and queuing” - says Burberry’s Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey]. Clothing is also embedded with chips, which can be read when placed on various screens across the store to produce product information. Further, if you choose to try an item on, the changing room mirror can transform into images of the garment worn on the catwalk. And if you have children with you, low interactive tables are loaded with drawing applications to keep little customers content.
Merchandising in the store is also consistent with the Burberry online experience, so I didn’t have to learn which categories/collections included what product if I was familiar with the online categories and vise versa. This is a great example of digital technology, merchandising, physical product displays, and shopping experience coming together.
Music is another prominent theme, and a personal passion of Bailey’s. I soon found out that the CCO would
tweet his music recommendations and the songs
were instantly streamed onto the website, whilst the store itself is equipped with
420 concealed
speakers and a hydraulic stage for live performances.
Despite all of this, the question I often hear raised in retail circles is what is the future of the bricks and mortar store? This is a hot topic for many studies, retail conferences and strategic projects today and it is the right question in that it implies there is a future, rather than the demise of
physical stores. With e-tailing
becoming proliferate and many customers preferring the convenience to shop online, anywhere, anytime, rather than physically shopping the stores, it raises important questions for retailers. Another question that needs to be considered is what becomes of the role of stores for retailers? Now more than ever major growth is coming from online sales.
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