Retail

The retail sector is undergoing a seismic shift. Retailers are under pressure – many find themselves in an uncomfortable position as margins are squeezed between shifting demand and rising costs, and the continued increase of online shopping demands further changes across the sector.

At the end of 2018, e-commerce was 20% of all retail sales. Although the majority of sales still take place in-store, the bulk of growth is coming from online.

New research shows that physical stores remain an integral part of a retailer’s ability to drive sales and meet consumer demands, but that the strategic role of stores is changing; their value as a ‘shop window’ – an opportunity to experience the product and the brand, while also providing convenience to customers in their purchasing journey – is increasing. 29% of all online purchases touches a store, whether by research or collecting in-store.

So what is the future for the physical retail environment? We are still seeing businesses invest in their bricks and mortar. Brent Cross, for example, is looking to adapt and reinvent itself to respond to rapidly changing customer expectations’ and the O2’s ICON Outlet, offering value in a quality environment, opened at the end of last year. Retail does have a bright future, but the successful retailers of the future will be very different to today.

In the future we believe there will be fewer, better stores. Successful physical retail will be more experience focused – retail destinations must offer something that cannot be achieved by online shopping alone. The retailers that expertly combine ‘bricks and clicks’ are the ones set to benefit most. The high street and the shopping centre are not dead, they’re just going to be different.

The future of ‘offline’ retail will be part of a blended mixed use environment, where we see high quality retail destinations alongside residential, office spaces, leisure and hospitality. The design of these places will be crucial if we want to create socially and culturally rich experiences that are commercially viable. We must work with clients to pioneer a new approach to our high streets, shopping centres and retail destinations.

There is a need to reframe our approach to designing retail space. We will create shop space for experience and convenience – more prominence given to Click and Collect, greater space given over to digitally charged interactive fitting rooms, kitchen design workspaces or room setting visualisation labs, for example.

We must look to the future creating public spaces that not only look and feel good but provide exceptional attractions, amenities and connections. Architects and designers working collaboratively with property developers, town planners, and communities can create places that support and enhance social gathering, providing a sense of place and purpose that binds people together through a feeling of common ownership.

Shopping centres and high street areas need to be transformed so they offer flexible, multi-purpose environments responding to the time of day. A shopping hub during the day – an entertainment district at night. Accessibility, inclusivity and ‘comfort levels’ for visitors of different ages and physical abilities being integral to any successful design . This all should coalesce to provide customers with more reasons to visit, and even more reasons to stay.

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