Apple Watch: Why Apple’s new retail strategy is just the beginning

Apple Watch: Why Apple’s new retail strategy is just the beginning

With the launch of their long-awaited Watch, Apple has implemented a game-changing strategy to position themselves as leaders in the wearable tech market, choosing to aggressively target the luxury consumer rather than relying on their core customers. However, luxury consumers, specifically fashion-savvy consumers, can be a hard sell. With obstacles to surmount, Apple’s new retail strategy is only the first step in what has to be a long-term strategy. Apple’s new retail strategy Apple has always been an innovator, carving out their own niche by bringing beautifully designed-designed and user-friendly technology to the masses while redefining the customer experience along[…]

Saje: Riding the latest wave of wellness retail

Saje: Riding the latest wave of wellness retail

More than ever before consumers, aware and mindful of their health, are actively striving for a healthy lifestyle – and seeking retailers that can enable them. Driven by consumer demand, health and wellness retail has been one of the fastest growing retail sectors of the past few years. More than a fleeting trend, the sector is continuing to grow. The latest wave, the modern apothecary, offering natural remedies and products for everyday maladies and overall wellness, is territory being forged by Canadian retailer Saje Natural Wellness.   Rising Consumer Demand With the discoveries of modern science and the wealth of[…]

5 Reasons for art in retail

5 Reasons for art in retail

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[…]

Why off-site team shops make sense

Why off-site team shops make sense

Recently, while wandering through the Toronto Eaton Centre, I discovered nestled there among national and international retailers, a Toronto Blue Jays store. Even though the store launched last August, not being a sports fans per se, nor a frequenter of that part of the mall, I was unaware of its existence. Spotting it, I was intrigued. Typically, stadiums and arenas are the domain of team shops, but here in the foremost shopping centre in downtown Toronto, it was a surprise – but somehow a pleasant surprise. The Jays Shop is the first such team shop in Toronto, neither located directly[…]

Gender-Neutral Retail: A new retail genre?

Gender-Neutral Retail: A new retail genre?

For the past two decades there has been much focus on uncovering the differences between male and female shoppers. Yet, while researchers and neuroscientists have been unlocking the secret desires and needs of the genders and retailers have been feverishly adapting their approaches to reach their target markets, shoppers who have not fit neatly into narrow gender profiles have been overlooked. To target those customers, has the time come for other options – perhaps gender-neutral retail options?   Catering to the sexes For retail designers and retailers, the fact that men and women simply think and shop differently is common[…]

“The Organized Mind” and Simplicity in retail

“The Organized Mind” and Simplicity in retail

We are all suffering from information overload. Yet, on a daily basis overcome with data, extraneous facts and information, we are expected to make numerous decisions from the merely insignificant to the most critical. In his New York Times bestseller, The Organized Mind, cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist, Daniel J. Levitin effectively drives home this very point. And understanding that this is the state of mind of customers is essential for retailers. More than ever before it is time for simplicity in retail.   The Organized Mind Levitin’s book, The Organized Mind puts things into perspective – life is complicated! Referencing[…]

Apple’s “Start something new” embraces core customer across channels

Just as 2014 came to a close Apple launched their latest campaign, “Start something new”. Not only is it a departure from their typical approach, focusing instead on what can be done with their products rather than on the products themselves, but it seamlessly carries the message across online and in-store channels. And the concept itself brilliantly exemplifies the brand virtues, to customers, particularly leading-edge hard-core Apple customers.   “Start something new” Launched initially in Japan in late December, then across other international markets in early January including Canada and the U.S., the campaign features a curated collection of commissioned[…]

Retail Inspiration at IDS15: The 4 most inspired ideas

Retail Inspiration at IDS15: The 4 most inspired ideas

While the annual Interior Design Show in Toronto is a high calibre design show, it is squarely focused at the residential market and the end consumer, rather than the commercial and retail sectors. Yet, every year I come away from the show with inspiration, not so much from the products but from the exhibits – and sometimes with big ideas and other times with small nuggets. From this year’s IDS15, here are the 4 most inspired ideas that can be borrowed as retail inspiration:   1. Caesarstone’s Swing Set  A collaboration between Caesarstone, the manufacturer of quartz surfacing, and Canadian-born, London-based designer[…]

YNOT Cycle: More than mass customization

YNOT Cycle: More than mass customization

Mass customization remains one of the prominent buzz words in the retail industry. For retailers, responding to customers’ wants with customized products at reasonable prices, has become paramount in engaging customers and building a loyal following. What local on-line and now bricks-and-mortar retailer, YNOT Cycle delivers, is more than mass customization. They deliver customized hand-crafted products, made locally – and with a bricks-and-mortar store that speaks to the very essence of that offering.   The era of mass customization Across retail sectors, from M & M’s personalized candies to the Nike ID program, mass customization is just one more tool in a[…]

New Anthropologie store: From neglected church to lifestyle temple

New Anthropologie store: From neglected church to lifestyle temple

Just before Christmas, a new Anthropologie store opened – another outpost in Toronto, for the popular American retailer of clothing and housewares. The location: a 19th century church in the heart of Queen St. West that has been respectfully renovated and converted into a cathedral of fashion – or perhaps more accurately a lifestyle temple.   Go west Queen St. West The location in itself, is one on the leading edge of the gradual westward creep of national and international retail chains, along Queen St. West. Over the past two decades, gentrification has been changing the face of retail along[…]

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