“LuxInside” – Holt Renfrew
Some retailers have become curators and patrons of the arts, highlighting local artists and emerging artists or even internationally renowned artists within their retail locations. Far from a fleeting trend, leading-edge retailers across the globe have embraced the concept of art in retail.
On an international level, Selfridges in the UK has a long history of hosting exhibitions and commissioning professional and amateur artists to create sculptural installations and windows displays; Reiss, the fashion retailer, has collaborated with artists for a travelling exhibit in their locations in the Middle East; Anthropologie often interjects playful rotating installations into their stores, and Apple commissioned artists for their recent “Start something new” campaign.
Here in Canada, fashion department store La Maison Simons, long a patron of the arts, commissions artists such as Guido Molinari and Pascale Giraldin to create permanent installations in their stores. Meanwhile, Holt Renfrew has mounted several temporary exhibits, including “LuxInside, Traces of Man”, a photo exhibit, in their flagship Bloor St store last year and are currently hosting both a Douglas Coupland’s “Gumhead” interactive work and the “Lego Metropolitan” exhibit of Lego sculptures and photos, at their stand-alone Holt Renfrew Men location.
Regardless of retail sector or target customer, there’s 5 good reasons for retailers to play curator and patron integrating art in retail.
1. Brand Expression
“Start something new” – Apple
Art in retail represents one more opportunity to communicate the essence of a brand, especially if the brand is forward-thinking or provocative. When carefully curated and on-brand, art adds another dimension to a brand’s personality to infuse a human quality, relatable to customers and able to cut through the clutter of retail advertising and promotion. The art can even become part of a campaign in itself as with Apple’s “Start something new”.
2. Enhanced Customer Experience
In an era of on-line retail, bricks and mortar retailers need to find new ways to enhance the customer experience in-store. Inserting art into the retail environment is one way to create a compelling customer experience that cannot be achieved on-line. Selfridges is a master of drawing customers to their physical stores with the buzz-worthy artist commissioned window installations.
3. Social Media Sharable
“Gumhead” – Holt Renfrew
For retailers, in-store art, especially interactive installations, is an opportunity to harness the power of social media, by engaging customers to promote their brand through selfies and location check-ins. Take for example, the recent interactive “Gumhead” installation at Holt Renfrew Men, where customers were encouraged to add their own gum to the piece.
4. Refresh Reset
One of the challenges faced by retailers is the perpetual need to make their stores feel fresh, especially in the lulls between seasons. Art in retail, provides an automatic interjection of newness in a similar way that displays or merchandise rotation do, making the retail experience fresh even for the regular shopper.
5. Customer Appreciation
“Lego Metropolitan” – Holt Renfrew Men
In any business there’s something to be said for making the customer feel appreciated. By sacrificing valuable merchandising space and making space for art, a retailer can give back to their customers, educating and engaging them in a dialogue that isn’t around the product itself or the brand but something less self-serving.
Although higher-end fashion retailers have been leading the charge, the idea of art in retail and resulting benefits are not limited to the luxury market or leading-edge retailers. With a competitive marketplace and consumers that are increasingly more sophisticated and aware, art is an opportunity. Art in retail – whether provocative, interactive, or simply a fun interjection, is just one more way to cut through the clutter of a competitive market and engage customers in new ways.
