FEATURE Bringing Back th Zak Manhire, CCO of Regency Design, explains why bringing a personal, hu
The Bigger Picture Our creativity is what makes us human- it’s what makes us make. It drove us to make tools, tools which made machines, and machines which built industry. This process can be traced back to the late 18th century and the Industrial Revolution. Since then, in one form or another, the planet has been on a growth trajectory. In the retail world, this equates to a constant drive for automation, cost cutting and increased output.
In reality, this means that much of the work – whether it be for Points of Sale (POS), retail displays or bespoke shop fittings – is done elsewhere. Europe and Asia are just some of the regions producing vast quantities of the UK’s retail solutions, under the guise of British manufacturing companies.
As we face the biggest global crisis of the century, the ‘human touch’ is needed more than ever. Indeed, it has helped to create the solutions that have allowed the world, and particularly the retail space, to remain in motion.
On a broader scale, reconnecting with our designers, creators and manufacturers allows us to put something back into our struggling economy. It allows us to move away from the disparate, interconnected and ultimately fragile supply chains
24 | Tomorrow’s Retail Floors
that are dependent on the broader geopolitical environment. The signs are there – the US-China trade war, Brexit, COVID, even the Suez Canal blockage – now is the time to look inwards, to look locally.
Putting People First
To rehash a gladly forgotten phrase, we are living through unprecedented times, and the lack of precedent has called for original, bespoke, unheard of solutions, to allow the retail environment to safely co-exist alongside COVID-19.
These solutions have, barring national lockdowns, allowed the UK’s shops to return to operation, protecting us all in the process. Take hygiene, which moved from a personal choice pre-COVID to a societal necessity. Seeing this, design teams such as ours pivoted operations (our main focus as a design and manufacturing company is on retail transformation and Point of Sale) to create specific COVID solutions, such as automatic gel dispensing units. Coating the units with antimicrobial powder coatings meant that, even if they were touched, 99% of bacteria and viruses would be killed.
Looking forward, we face the reality that hygiene measures and social distancing will remain a key part of how we live
www.tomorrowsretailfloors.com
Zak Manhire
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