Selling the Retailing Experience

BusinessWeek: Light years apart in brand image and market appeal, both shops are targeting “the to die for” position which retailers the world over are striving to reach, the point at which a store becomes “a destination,” a place where people choose to linger, learn, and be stimulated or simply have fun.
The best shops have always aspired to be more than mere merchants, but intense competition on the high street has upped the stakes. This is particularly so for department stores and specialist retailers, such as booksellers, caught in a pincer action by the advance of online sales on one flank and supermarkets offering heavily discounted blockbusters on the other. As Gennaro Castaldo, head of press and public relations at music store HMV, sums it up: “It’s certainly the case that consumers have many more [retail channel] choices today. You have to give people an added reason to come into your store, something that makes the act of visiting a shop as rewarding as acquiring the good itself.”
Hot Shops: Retail Revamps [BusinessWeek]