The Concept Store Brand Experience
Concept stores are focusing primarily on store experience, it is the selection of products and services around an idea, a vision, a feeling, that is their raison d'être. Concept stores revolve around a theme that is translated into all kinds of products and even restaurants or cafés.
As a shopper, going to a concept store is different than browsing an e-commerce website or shopping at a brand store. We choose to go to a certain website or store because we know what sorts of brands and products we will find, a concept store offers an unexpected mix of products. We never know what we'll see in a concept store, and that's precisely why we go there. We expect to be surprised, tempted, and inspired.
Multi-brand stores are not necessarily concept stores. Even with a consistent selection of products and a truly unique point of view, these aren't enough to create the experience of a concept store. So what does it entail? And can an e-commerce site also be a concept store?
The key element to turn a store or a website into a concept store is to have a strong brand and a strong voice. However great the selection of products is, if the host isn't highly visible and doesn't have a strong personality, then it is just a store with many nice products in it.
Defining the core personality of the host and then selecting the right way to embody this personality is no easy task, but doing so is the only way to create a following. Multi-brand stores are distributing other brands that have strong personalities on their own. The shopper will come for these brands of course, but if the store stops carrying a brand for some reason, then the shopper will simply go somewhere else to find it. Making the shopper come for the core personality of the concept store, for the expected pleasure of finding the unexpected (inspiration, temptation, and surprise) that's the role of the brand.
Brand experience is mentioned everywhere in articles, posts, and books. It is almost a joke because it feels like everyone is doing it, but of course like so many things there is a lot of talk and not much action. Very few stores (online or offline) provide a truly singular brand experience. Considering all the tools marketers have today to create these experiences, it is quite surprising at first, to notice that very few are doing it right.
The reason, of course, isn't a lack of ideas or means. The main reason is often a lack of brand strategy. You can have all the tools and budget in the world to communicate, but if you have no idea WHAT to tell, then you won't be relevant. It is not easy to talk about something you don't know well, not easy to talk with no intent on whom you want to address, on how you want to talk to them.
Concept stores are created with a vision around a theme and a lifestyle. Yet, to build a loyal following and to rely on more than a selection of products, a concept store has to be a strong brand in itself and to find ways to express this brand in a relevant and singular way.
