Archive for the 'next' Category

Retail Safari (part 1) - Primark, Oxford Street

Published
by
Nick
on June 11, 2007
in Primark, Retail, Shopping, Zara Home, can design make a difference, design, next and retail design
. 2 Comments

On our recent trip to London we took in a few of the capital’s retail incarnations. We generally stay away from store openings preferring to wait until the fuss has died down so see how a store is really operating and if all the fuss is worthwhile.

Primark

Our first destination was Primark on Oxford Street. Boy was this place rammed. 11 o’clock on a Friday morning and the place was chock full of girls out shopping. We listened to a few conversations and several groups of friends seem to have made a special trip. What did we do before we could use our mobiles to call our frinds in the same shop and shout, “where are yer?”. Even the security guards, who could have been a bit more friendly, perhaps kitted out in a ’smile you’re on camera’ t-shirt rather than the ubiquitous day-glo waistcoat, couldn’t stop the hordes from ravaging the product, with the queue for the fitting rooms being 20 metres long at least. The environment was perfectly fine, Dalziel and Pow as always do a very good job of creating an environment that can be quickly changed and adapted using graphics and lighting and some good visual merchandising, I particularly liked the black mannequins and mirrored back panels. A store like this perfectly illustrates the point that a value store doesn’t have to look cheap.

The main focus of Primark really has to be the product. Apart from the homeware department (corner) this was bang on. This is really what differentiates a retailer and makes it a true destination. That’s why there was nobody buying homeware, who wants this kind of beige tat, (piss catcher anyone?) I’ve no idea what kind of customer this kind of stuff is aimed at and of course there was nobody buying which is a shame because it lets the store down. If it was me I’d take it our completely and wait until the basement is done, move it down there and create a much better bought, more on trend, more substantial offer, a destination in its own right. You only have to look at Zara Home (more of which in a later post) to see what can be achieved very simply, what should be sold and how it should be merchandised.

Apologies for the picture quality, especially the side of my head, but you get the gist of how busy it was even on a Friday morning. Strangely Next over the road was pretty quiet and so was New Look. New Look only had one image (that I saw) on the ground floor of Lily Allen despite the launch of her product line only the week before and Next was, well, bland as usual. Dalziel & Pow have just redesigned Next in Bluewater which we haven’t seen yet but hopefully it’ll be a big move on especially the standard of photography, although I suspect it may just catch up to the competition.

Primark securityPrimark mayhemPrimark entrance

What’s Next?

Published
by
Nick
on January 5, 2007
in Business, E-tail, Retail, Shop, Shopping, Trends, inspiration, john lewis, marks and spencer, next and zara
. Closed

As a retail designer – woman – and a customer, it is sad to see a retail giant like Next reduced to blaming the weather, fuel costs and warm weather for its slump in profits. Like M&S seven years ago Next has rested on its laurels and customers will only be faithful for so long. What was once the insecure shoppers dream, (most of us in truth particularly post children), with gondolas merchandised with a whole looks and beautiful visual story walls, what fantastic buying.

Customers no longer need to visit stores and if they are going to they want experience, they want retailers to provide more than a white or in the Next case grey box with stuff in it, reducing costs is not the answer it’s far more complex than that.

The key retail needs are trust-experience-quality on trend product and the ever elusive service.

Next needs a fundamental retailing review, it can no longer rely on tweaking a retail design scheme from 20 plus years ago – it is grey and dull with poor quality photography. When compared with M&S, Zara even John Lewis it has become the dull boring option. No longer to be relied on, customers need Next to supply an on trend look at a good price but also be a good place to go with friends and have fun shopping.

I really hope Mr Wolfson takes this opportunity to not only review the product but to look closely at the estate structure, the customers and not just the standard three names to represent age groups, but most of all the experience and be the first to drive the new High Street and the massive changes that are going to occur.

Obviously given the comparatively low growth in the catalogue and internet site caused by the lack of an experience and the time consuming navigation in both, visual and retailing review is necessary here to. The expensive beautiful cover is not enough when all customers get inside is one straight on photograph after another; a pool side shoot of a black work suit is not convincing particularly when you can not see the collar design when you zoom in. The basic retailing, cross-selling and range building for instance are just not there - its dull and hard work. The catalogue and to a greater extent the web are both naïve and dated in there design solutions.

What a fantastic opportunity for a profitable retailer to become a retail leader again – I look forward to it with anticipation and when the new unit in Meadowhall, Sheffield opens in July, will it be worth the trip?