Category: Uncategorized
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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…
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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…
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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…
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“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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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….
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Spacing; Selling city pride
Late last year, Spacing, the magazine that focuses on urban issues, and Toronto’s concerns in particular, opened their first bricks-and-mortar retail location on Richmond St West. Beyond the obvious, being a publisher turned retailer – a significant brand extension venture in itself – Spacing is fueling Torontonians newly found city pride. Expanding their reach With the…
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Pop-up shops here to stay
Pop-up shops are now a fixture in the retail landscape – and they’re not going anywhere soon. Bridging the worlds of e-commerce and bricks and mortar, while leveraging social media to build hype, this relatively new retail channel provides retailers with the opportunity to engage customers in new and interactive ways. On-line retailers, from Amazon…