What: a comprehensive review of the various new roles physical stores hold today in the Covid-19 world

Why it is important:  a compilation by GDR UK with a wide variety of examples which allow having clear, concrete ideas in mind.

GDR UK, a, intelligence company based in the UK dedicated to retail trends, is, just like IADS, a true advocate of the continued relevance of physical stores, provided they adapt to the new customers’ usages and behaviours. They recently released 2 articles gathering a wide variety of examples of stores, already operating, which take on their new roles.

When it comes to e-commerce, stores can come as an ideal complement, helping with various elements such as brand expression, or logistics. They can serve as:

• Showrooms for customers, as shown by MAC in NY, or Farfetch’s Community Galleries,
• On-demand fulfilment centres, as illustrated by IADS members, Lush, Walmart,
• Dark stores, especially in groceries (Whole Food, Amazon, Cajoo).

Interestingly, many digital innovations were also developed to emphasize the notion of physical space, as illustrated by shoppable real-life stores, such as Dior in Paris, Ikea in China.

Going further, stores are also reinventing themselves, to provide an improved experience to customers, justifying that they come to the premises:

• Either by proposing never seen before, not available online experiences, such as H&M with the Loop recycling machine, or Freitag’s personalisation workshops,
• Or by rethinking the purpose of the physical store itself, such as Starbucks transforming itself into a half-café, half-shared office.

The goal is to make sure the physical space is convenient and understood as a community centre, where customers can come as citizens and vice versa.

Discover all examples with links in the 2 links below.

The C-Series 6 How Covid-19 is changing the role of physical stores 

C-Series 7 How Covid-19 is changing the role of physical stores, Part 2