Great Retail Design Ideas Don't Always Come From Designers

Store and display design is generally a team activity. First there is the client. Then you have the design and production personnel. Add to that an installation crew and that’s a good handful of people working together on the same project. Am I forgetting someone? It feels like I am. Someone really important. Oh yeah! The customer.

Considering the fact that customers are the end users of the design, it makes total sense to have their wants and needs represented during the design process. This, however, doesn’t always happen. You might create a really beautiful store, but if your customers don’t like shopping there, what’s the point? There really isn’t one and some retailers are finding that out the hard way.

But others are catching on to this idea of customer-focused design with much success. Some are beginning to ask questions to get to the bottom of what their customers like and don’t like and why they frequent one store and not another. Others are taking to the web and setting up social networks where faithful customers can share their store improvement ideas with the company’s higher-ups.

Sure it’s important to have a company presence in your space, but it’s equally important to have your customers’ interests represented too. Creating a design that balances the two can be difficult, yet incredibly essential. Stop catering to your customers and they’ll go somewhere else. Just ask Starbucks about that.

(Here’s a great article about how the coffee giant is getting back to basics as well as how other retailers are benefiting from a customer focus.)

Commercial Construction Show

Judging from the bumper-to-bumper traffic I endured Friday night, even the ridiculous gas prices couldn’t keep people from heading north for the long weekend. I, however, headed southeast to my nearest mall to take advantage of all the fantastic sales and stock up for my upcoming trip to Orlando.

Yup, this time next week, I’ll be on my way to the Commercial Construction Show. While I won’t be able to provide “from-the-show-floor” updates, you can be sure to catch a full-show review when the sales team and I get back to the office. Being my first official trade show trip, here are a few things I’m excited about:

• Experiencing the buzz of the exhibit hall
• Meeting other industry professionals
• Finding out a little more about how retail construction works
• Discovering fodder for the Diaries
• and trying my luck at Casino Night at the Copacabana

Heading to the show? Stop by booth #445 and say “Hi.”

Retail Design Lessons, Indiana Jones Style

Admittedly, I have never seen an entire Indiana Jones movie, but even I know that there’s a new one coming out. It seems like ad campaigns, movie trailers, and Harrison Ford’s face are everywhere I turn; so it really shouldn’t surprise me that I would find an article titled “Unearth Your Inner Indy” as I was clicking through Entrepener.com this morning. Wanting to see how I could be more like the whip-toting, Holy Grail-finding adventurer, I checked it out. And just like how Bruce Springsteen taught us a thing or two about store design, turns out the brown fedora-clad Indy can teach us a couple lessons himself.

In his article, author Justin Petruccelli relates 6 qualities Mr. Jones possess that all entrepreneurs need to be successful. Let’s take a look at 4 of them and how they pertain to the retail design arena.

“The Book is Mightier Than the Whip”
For a design to be successful, you need to do your homework. Retailers need to have a clear idea of who is going to be shopping their stores and how they will be doing so. And designers need to understand the retailers they are designing for and the brands they are helping to build. Without either, you could end up with an unrecognizable store that no one really likes to shop in.

“Think Outside the Ark”
No matter how well you plan, hiccups do occur. Chances are your competition is coming across the same obstacles. Using a little ingenuity to tackle challenges can set you apart from the rest. It might not be the easy way, but it’ll be worth it in the end.

“Never Forget Your Hat”
Indy has his ratty brown fedora, you have your logo, brand colors, and other identifying characteristics. Utilize these at every opportunity, so your customers can find you even when they are away from home.

And finally, don’t become too complacent. Even though you’ve reached one goal, there are always more to reach for. Retail isn’t a static industry. Trends change. Demands change. Be ready to change with them or get left behind.

Thought of other lessons Indiana Jones –or any other movie character for that matter- can teach us? We’d love to hear them.

Repercussions of $4 Gas

MSNBC.com reports that gas prices have reached at least $4 for two metropolitan cities (boy, I’m glad I don’t live in Chicago or Long Island!) and the national average continues to rise. Somewhere, bicycle shops, walking shoe retailers, and public transportation officials rejoice. The rest of us are left grumbling at the pump.

Filling up on an individual level has become painful enough, but I can’t even begin to image the pain being felt by smaller companies who rely on trucks to deliver their products and their customers who are being subjected to higher shipping costs and fuel surcharges.

Working for such a company left me a little curious as to how F.C. Dadson and our customers were coping with the increases. So I asked around. Turns out this isn’t a new obstacle and we’ve already taken a number a steps to reorganize our shipping program to make it more cost-effective (go us!).

One of our biggest steps –and probably the most interesting for our customers- is that we’ve started to fill our trailers with multiple orders that are headed in the same direction. Called “batching” by those in the know, this initiative has been mutually beneficial for us and our customers. Here’s how:

• Customers are able to essentially pay only for the space they use as opposed to an entire trailer and are still able to enjoy our other delivery benefits (i.e., loading and unloading, insuring shipments, etc.).

• F.C. Dadson is now able to send smaller orders more efficiently.

And fewer trucks and trailers are needed so the Earth benefits as well! A win-win-win for everyone!

Of course there are some challenges like coordinating schedules and needing a little flexibility in delivery dates, but for the most part, our customers have been willing to bear with us in order to reap the savings.

It’s all pretty cool, and I have a feeling that it’s only the beginning. Soaring gas prices are forcing us all to think a little more about how we use fuel. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it? In the case of F.C. Dadson, I’ll argue that we’ll end up better because of it. Sure, $4 gas will have its repercussions, but they might not all be negative.

Customer Service?

Ever get that feeling like you’re wearing a big sign that reads “Attn: Customer Service Representative, it’s okay to ignore this one”? I had that feeling big time while I was dining out with friends last Saturday. We were at a popular Tex-Mex restaurant and, after seeing the birthday celebrations the restaurant staff put on for a few other diners, we thought it would be fun to have the same done to one of our dinner party members who was also celebrating his birthday. After being assured that it would be taken care of, no group of singing wait staff came by and no hot brownie dessert ever showed up. Our friend -who happens to embarrass easily, wasn’t upset about the miscue when he found out what we had planned, but the rest of us couldn’t help feeling a little snubbed.

Then, entirely by coincidence or some act of a higher being, this morsel of customer service enlightenment gets delivered to my inbox. Amen, Mr. Brown! Customer service isn’t a cost. It can be a very profitable strategy. I should march several copies of this over to that restaurant ASAP!

Traditional business wisdom tells us that it’s cheaper to retain customers than find new ones. And I was once told by a very successful area businessman that “repeat customers pay the bills.” Putting two and two together, it seems to go against the business’s best interest to offer even marginal customer service. Yet, we encounter it all over the place. So, what gives?

Maybe the restaurant’s staff could learn a thing or two from Jennifer Sharpe and her Girl Scout troop. Selling enough cookies to fund an entire European vacation? Those girls must be doing something right…

Bye-Bye "Bored" Room

If you find yourself zoning out during corporate meetings, you’re certainly not alone. I’m right there with you and so are a lot of others. As much as we try our best to hide our boredom, some people have taken notice and are eager to do something about it.

Running on the notion that it’s hard to innovate in a stiff and stuffy room, a few administrators have traded in traditional boardrooms for more unconventional meeting spaces like Catalyst Ranch. Here, you won’t find a long conference table or rows of chairs. Instead, you find vibrant colors, vintage furniture groups, artwork, and toys. Oh, they also have all the traditional meeting supplies like projectors and flip charts, but those aren’t nearly as interesting as the rest.

In a post on the topic, Reveries.com editor Tim Manners also tells of how some forward-thinking hotels are also getting in on the action, adding a little fun to function and inspiring creativity amongst meeting-goers.

So, if you’re thinking about incorporating a meeting space in your location, it might be to your benefit to forgo the hard-backed chairs and muted color scheme and opt for soft furniture and bright colors. Throw in a couple of Etch-A-Sketches and you might just experience (or help other companies experience) the best problem-solving and brainstorming sessions ever.

Lessons From The Bun

I had no idea just how forward thinking my home state of Wisconsin was until I came across this article on BusinessWeek.com. Hot Dog University? Where do I sign up?

While most of us will never run a hot dog vending cart, I think anyone involved in running a business could benefit from many of the university’s lessons. Turns out, the main factors that contribute to a hot dog vendor’s success are really no different than those that contribute to any business’s success. The school’s founder nicely illustrates this point with the practical business tips he shares with the article’s author. Here are a few tasty bites that Mr. Reitman serves up:

• Find a prime location
• Keep your menu simple
• Put on a good show
• Appeal to the senses
• Pay attention to industry trends

This is just proof positive that sage business advice can come from the most unexpected of places –in this case nestled inside the carbohydrate-filled goodness of a hot dog bun.

So Long, Suburbia?

After enduring the first of what’s sure to be many $40 fill-ups, I almost broke down at the pump. The only thing that kept me from shedding a tear or two was the fact that the poor soul who filled up at the pump before me had a receipt of almost $83.

With insane gas prices and the housing market meltdown, something’s got to give. According to author James Kunstler in an interview with BusinessWeek, that something will be life in suburbia.

This isn’t the first time I’ve read about a return to city dwelling as people abandon long commutes in exchange for urban residences that are closer to work. While I don’t agree with Kunstler’s opinion that strip malls and big-box stores are doomed (haven’t we also heard an awful lot about people trading down from department stores to Wal-Mart?), he does pose an interesting idea about the revival of downtown commerce.

If such a revival does happen, that could mean interesting things for the world of retail design and fixturing. One of the appeals of suburban developments is that locations can be pretty much built-to-suit and modular roll outs are, well, rolled out with ease. Downtown real estate presents a plethora of challenges including aging buildings, unique footprints, and building restrictions. This means that each location needs to be carefully considered and layouts modified to fit the site’s constraints. In a nutshell, it means less cookie cutter and more custom.

I don’t know about you but I love the quirkiness of city shops, and the challenge of designing for the urban environment could mean exciting things for retail. As someone who is considering making the move from the outskirts to downtown, I’m eager to see how it all plays out. Until then, you can find me at the gas station with my fellow suburbanites, reluctantly pumping my paycheck into my gas tank.

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Editor's note: As I was typing this post, Petula Clark's "Downtown" kept running through my head. To take this post to the next level, might I suggest having this play in the background while you read.

Good Sports

I know it’s Thursday and not my normal posting day, but do I have some exciting news for you! Now that you wonderful readers have helped me prove the positive power of the blogosphere, the higher-ups are letting me post TWICE A WEEK. That’s right! Double the Dadson Diaries pleasure, double the fun. Be sure to stop by twice as often to check out new posts every Monday AND Thursday.

Being my inaugural Thursday post, I knew I couldn’t just write about any old thing. So imagine my excitement when the perfect topic ended up in my inbox the other day. My boyfriend, the crazed Green Bay Packer fan, is also a huge fan of the Milwaukee Brewers (no surprise there!) and baseball in general. He forwarded me this story he found on ESPN.com with one line of text reading “Stories like this are why I love sports.”

In a similar way, that’s why I love the display industry. So many people working to help their clients achieve their dreams without fanfare or widespread recognition. We aren’t the ones who hit the ball –the retailers and product marketers do that, but we will help them score a homerun. When a shopper sees one of our product merchandisers, they don’t think “F.C. Dadson.” Instead, they think of the brand and product that’s on display and that is very much victory in our book.