Bangkok, perhaps surprisingly, is becoming a bit of a world leader in where truly innovative retail design concepts are headed. The key to this country’s success has been in creating environments that the public willingly revisits.
Named the “humanscape”, the idea is one that makes sense really – create spaces that people enjoy to be in and the retail dimension of the environment becomes part of the wallpaper.
Many who experience the humanscape retail design concept may not be aware of its subtle yet penetrating impact, what they do find however is the impulsive impact to their wallets they have little control over.
The future of retail design is clever and customer experience focused rather than drawing upon product lines and standalone retail displays in order to create an impact.
The key to its success is in positioning with other companies who have sympathetic retail lines but who do not detract from your own company’s unique offering. Not rocket science you’d think, but taking the right opportunity to position your business in the right environment for subliminal sales takes time and planning.
The essence of the humanscape is in recognising that design and business are no longer foes that pit the fluffy arty types against go-getters who’d sell their granny given half a chance.
Instead, companies need to accept that successful business strategies view retail design as being an essential component that adds value to their existing brand recognition, or in establishing an appropriate tone and reputation for new businesses with retail design doing the hard work for them.
A fantastic example of this is the open-air retail design J-Avenue shopping centre development in Soi Thong Lor, Bangkok, where dining spaces become comfortable lifestyle hubs to lazily browse the internet whilst eating for an hour or so, extending the home experience out of the house into a more social arena.
This customer-centric approach sets a new tone for shopping spaces to enable consumer engagement by considering the retail design environment as a factor that will sustain business in the future.
We at Design4Retail adore this concept, but it’ll only start to become reality when property developers see the value in creating clever customer experiences.
