CNBC Business | Shelf Life: 10 Retail Trends

Shelf Life: 10 Retail Trends

Shops are increasingly mirroring our habits and aspirations. John Ryan reports

8. LAYOUTS: TAKING IT SLOW
A number of retailers have realised that not all shoppers want to ‘get in, get it and get out’ when shopping. Heathrow’s Terminal 5 is a case in point. Owing to the longer periods that travellers are spending in UK airports, the retailers were briefed by owner BAA to provide shops that would be “on the way (to the departure gates), not in the way”. The walkways that ferry visitors to their flights are therefore wider and shoppers can amble rather than race towards their gates, stopping to shop, if they so wish. A similar thought process informs the interior of Teknosa Planet, a technology store in Istanbul. Here the 2,500m² store shape is circular, funneling shoppers towards a central hub from where they can see the full offer in its 360º glory and slowing the process of acquisition down. This has proved so successful that nine more are due to be built in the current year. Turin has its own version of slowing down with Eataly – a 10,000m² homage to the “slow food” movement, opened in 2007 and housed in a former vermouth factory.

9. ECO-STORES: THE FUTURE IS HERE
Almost every Western retailer has seized elements of the green agenda, despite it being somewhat contradictory, as the whole nature of consumption is antithetical to the green ethos of using less. There are those, however, that are doing rather more than most to clean up their act. One is Marks & Spencer, with its promise to be carbon-neutral by 2012. It has already unveiled a refurbished eco-store, in Bournemouth, England, that has a lower carbon footprint than similar-sized shops. The branch does not appear different from any other, but the way it has been remodelled means it is more sustainable. Tesco, too, has entered the green race with its wooden supermarket in Wick, in Scotland. Complete with wind turbines, this store wears its eco credentials on its sleeve. Even Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has not proved immune to the call to go green, trialling several eco stores, most notably in McKinnney, Texas. More interesting will be to see what happens when being environmentally conscious no longer confers a competitive advantage.

10. REPURPOSING: THE ULTIMATE RECYCLING
The decision by US lifestyle retailer Urban Outfitters to take a down-at-heel 1930s art deco movie palace in Stockholm, restore it and reopen it as a shop, is part of the trend towards repurposing existing spaces. When it opened, less than two years ago, the revamp was spectacular. The auditorium is now filled by fitting rooms that are integrated into a whitewashed wooden fairytale castle, while sculptures, a gilded ceiling and an art gallery complete the transformation. The trend can also be seen in Buenos Aires, where Nike has moved into an old townhouse to sell its more exclusive lines. And in the UK, Abercrombie & Fitch recently set up shop in London in a former branch of the Bank of England. With the good looks of a Georgian townhouse on the outside and the ambiance of a nightclub within, shoppers have flocked. It has proved a sound investment: the store has the highest sales per square foot of any of A&F outlet. A search for other European sites is underway.

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