Ricola: a pop-up store to celebrate the rebranding
Ricola installed a pop-up store in Paris in March 2023. Its visit allows us to approach some interesting aspects of branding, observable in particular through the visual elements put forward in the sales outlet. But it’s also an opportunity to discuss marketing strategy since Ricola is diversifying. Follow me to the Swiss mountains to meet these friendly herbal candies 🌿. What can you find in the Ricola pop-up store? As you...
Yayoi Kusama and Louis Vuitton: the best of street marketing
In terms of street marketing, there are many initiatives. But some of them are above the lot and are of genius. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I am a big fan of Louis Vuitton’s marketing, especially the layout of its windows. What the brand has done for its partnership with Yayoi Kusama is unprecedented. This is the first time I’ve seen so many people taking pictures of what the brand has set up in...
Visit and analysis of the Lacoste flasghip store on the Champs-Elysées
The Lacoste flagship store opened in spring 2022 at 50 Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Lacoste occupies a commercial corner space that extends over 1600m². The whole universe of the crocodile brand has been reinvented with some interesting marketing innovations. The opening of this flagship store is part of the brand’s development plan since its acquisition in 2012 by MF Brands. Follow us for an analysis of this unique...
Le Bon Marché is 170 years old: how are department stores changing?
Le Bon Marché is 170 years old. For this occasion, the ancestor of “department stores” adopts a very “energetic” decoration on all floors. A recent visit to this shopping temple also allows me to reflect on what the department stores have become. Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, Samaritaine, … are all heirs of the “Bonheur des Dames” celebrated by Emile Zola. But before going into philosophical...
Street marketing: an example to follow [Soap and the City]
Street marketing, it’s good to know what it is. It’s even better to have an inspiring example of street marketing to implement. Today we give a little help (watch out for the pun) to “Soap and the city.” As its name suggests, this store located in Paris sells soap. Its owner had a good idea of installing a sink in front of his store so that passers-by could wash their hands with real Marseille soap. It’s...
Patrick Roger: stores and an exceptional customer experience
I am a big fan of Patrick Roger’s chocolate stores, and I have explained here their marketing power. For Mother’s Day, I had the opportunity to organize a photo shoot in 4 of the brand’s most beautiful Parisian sales outlets: Rennes, Saint-Sulpice, Saint-Germain, and Sèvres. These photos illustrate the 2 cornerstones of Patrick Roger’s marketing strategy: sales outlets that are all different and whose aesthetic...
Can the clothing sector break the deadlock? [Research]
The analysis of the statistics of the clothing sector in France allows us to understand the basic trends and anticipate the future. Under pressure from the increasingly digital Covid, the clothing sector is dominated by fast fashion giants whose model threatens the survival of independent shops. The forthcoming period of declining purchasing power is likely to widen the gap even further. In conclusion, we have identified 3 specific...
Un Regard Pour Toi: a unique store dedicated to clothing for the visually impaired
Why shouldn’t visually impaired people pay attention to their “look”? In a world doped with social networks which judge only on the external appearance, individuals deprived of sight are even more disabled. From this observation, the association “Un Regard Pour Toi” was created in 2014. In its wake, an eponymous clothing store for the visually impaired was launched in June 2019 in Paris. Listening to...
6 rules to follow in choosing your commercial premises
How to choose the location of a store? This article proposes 6 rules to select the right location and configuration for your future sales outlet. We explain how to gain up to 50% more customers by choosing the right sidewalk, the effect of public transportation, the role of “locomotive” signs, and much more. And of course, if you would like advice on the ideal location, please visit our dedicated page and contact us. 6...
Royal Canin: its pop-up store is also used to carry out Market Research
Royal Canin has installed a pop-up store at 123 rue de Turenne in Paris. With this pop-up store, the brand is not only going to meet dog and cat owners to increase its awareness. The Royal Canin pop-up store serves a market research purpose to shape its future flagship store, opening in the Opera neighborhood. This is the first time we have visited a pop-up store that takes advantage of all the possibilities offered by this type of...
New Clarins boutique: 100% phygital and 200% eco-designed
In June 2021, Clarins opened a unique boutique at 45 rue Vieille du Temple in Paris. Located in the trendy Marais district, it offers a very different customer experience than other stores. Clarins has opted for eco-design. In addition to specific materials, the store also features the group’s first perfume refill station. Finally, the store is a showcase for phygital, a forerunner of what tomorrow’s retail can do to win...
Patrick Roger: his stores are irresistibly attractive to customers
Some stores are worth the detour, and Patrick Roger’s are among them. I would be willing to travel hundreds of kilometers to immerse myself in the unique atmosphere that each of his sales outlets exudes. So, I couldn’t avoid visiting the one in the Marais in Paris that the Covid pandemic had deprived me. This store is an example for all retailers because it converts passers-by into customers. This is where the...
The contribution of a pop-up store to the marketing strategy [Analysis]
The pop-up store launched by Pulco in Paris is an excellent example of how an ephemeral store is an exciting marketing strategy for a brand. Pulco faces particular challenges (awareness, image) to which this pop-up store aims to provide solutions. It becomes an essential element of the marketing mix because it allows reinforcing specific messages to consumers. In this article, we analyze 3 strategic and tactical objectives to which...
Physical commerce: free fall in store traffic [Research]
While the frequentation of “physical” stores is in free fall (-40% in 8 years, with a further decline of 30% since 2022), we can reasonably wonder about the evolution of the following years. The Covid crisis has caused an actual drop in traditional trade, and 2022 looks bad (inflation, war in Ukraine). Our analyses allow us to identify 3 strong trends which will determine the evolution of the frequentation in the following...
The secret of La Samaritaine to make its customers buy
How to increase customer conversion in physical retail? By bringing them as close as possible to the product! This is what La Samaritaine has realized, thanks to a clever device we will reveal below. It is similar to a nudge and simplifies the customer experience subtly. Only for our subscribers: exclusive analyses and marketing advice Email address * Subscribe By signing up, you agree to our Terms of use and privacy policy. "I...
Visit the Giant flagship store: the future of supermarkets?
New trends in retail are often to be found on the other side of the Atlantic. This article presents the Giant flagship store and its innovative food offer. This Giant store features a new and oversized self-service beer bar concept. It foreshadows what will be the supermarkets of the future, multi-use stores where service will be ever more critical. This article was made possible thanks to Olivier Delangre, CEO of the well-known...
Carrefour Flash: thoughts on this autonomous store and connected retail
Carrefour has announced the opening of its standalone store “Flash” at 11 avenue Parmentier in Paris. This connected store promises to shop in 10 seconds and pay in 10 seconds. This first Carrefour “Flash” store was created with the American start-up AiFi and concentrated technology. Discover in this article a presentation of this autonomous store and a techno-skeptical reflection on the future of retail....
Starbucks and Amazon Go, launch a joint store in New York
A joint Starbucks and Amazon Go store has opened in New York on 59th Street between Park and Lexington avenues. It’s the first time that 2 brands have joined forces to open a common sales outlet. You will find in this article some pictures taken during a visit to the store at the end of November 2021. Many thanks to Olivier Delangre, Amoobi’s CEO, for sharing his photos and analysis for this article. Starbucks and Amazon...
Amazon’s innovations have a price: human and environmental
I am a big fan of Amazon. Personally, for the customer experience that is proposed, and professionally for the innovative nature of this company. Nothing surprises me more than Amazon’s ability to launch technical revolutions like Amazon Go and the “Just Walk Out” technology. The last report on Amazon Fresh in collaboration with Olivier Delangre (CEO of Amoobi) made me think about these innovations’ human and...
A visit to the most prominent Amazon Fresh in Washington
Welcome to the ultra-technological world of Amazon Fresh. Today we’re visiting the 2nd most prominent Amazon Fresh in the United States of America (700 square meters) in Washington. It’s equipped with “Just Walk Out” technology and allows you to shop without going through the checkout (you’ll still pay, rest assured). This retail report in the United States follows the one we published on the Lego and...
The Google store in Chelsea (New-York): experiential and different from Apple
Google has its flagship store, and it opened in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York on June 17, 2021. This foray into retail is a first for Google, which had so far only made timid advances, notably through a popup store in SoHo in 2016. Google joins Samsung and especially Apple with its Chelsea store, who have long made retail a cornerstone of their strategy. Thanks to Olivier Delangre, CEO of Amoobi, who visited this store for us,...
Lego store New-York: personalization and phygital on the agenda
The Lego Store on 5th Avenue in New York was the retail sensation of summer 2021. It opened on June 24, 2021, at the foot of the Rockefeller Center. It is not the first Lego store (see, for example, our article on the one in London) but probably the most “experiential.” It also incorporates several new elements that will increase the average sales and further fill Lego’s coffers. Follow us for a dive into the new...
Marketing and advertising: 5 innovative uses of the QR code [Research]
The QR code has been around since 1994 and has expanded over the years beyond the industrial context for which it was invented. Marketing professionals have seized the possibilities offered by the QR code and have imagined multiple applications. We present below 5 different fields that have seen the innovative use of QR codes. Only for our subscribers: exclusive analyses and marketing advice Email address * Subscribe By signing...
The Bacio Perugina has its own store in Perugia
The “Bacio” (“kisses” in Italian) is a chocolate delicacy famous throughout the Italian peninsula. Perugina produces it. Founded in Perugia in 1922, the Perugina brand has a store dedicated entirely to the glory of this specialty that made it famous. Why do brands have their own stores? FMCG brands have long sought to establish direct contact with the customer. Distributed in supermarkets, they do not know...
Why Amazon wants to open physical retail stores [Analysis].
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is about to open large physical stores in the U.S. Of course, this is not the first time that Amazon has opened “brick and mortar” stores (Amazon Go, Whole Foods, Amazon Books), but these 3,000 square meters would imply a deployment on an entirely different scale. We propose an analysis of the reasons that could push Amazon to realize this strategic investment and the expected...
Amazon Salon: a 3.0 hair salon in the heart of London
Amazon Salon is the latest innovation launched by the Seattle giant. A 6th brand has been added to the already very active Amazon galaxy (see at the end of this article our video overview of the group’s different brands). The Amazon Salon hair salon opens in London in partnership with Elena Lavagni, a stylist well known to stars and VIPs. With this hyperconnected sales outlet, Amazon is trying new recipes to reconcile the online...
6 innovative solutions for contactless payment [Research]
With the Covid crisis, consumers have massively opted for electronic payments over cash. Contactless payment, in particular, has benefited from a craze fueled by the fear of the virus. In addition to card payments, completely new payment methods will be democratized in the next few years and will revolutionize the way we pay for our purchases. Some of these methods are not science fiction. They have already been used for several years...
The interest of eye tracking in the retail sector [Guide 2021].
Eye tracking is a technique used in the marketing field since the 1980s. It allows optimizing advertisements and packaging design and naturally finds its main applications in the retail sector. Eye tracking allows piercing some of the mysteries surrounding consumers’ purchasing decisions by analyzing where their attention is focused. This technique is therefore of great interest in terms of optimizing the customer experience....
8 store formats that will shape the future of retail
What are the new forms of retail that will dominate the next 10 years? Which ones will emerge, and which ones will become permanent? In this article, I propose to project ourselves to after the Covid crisis and see 8 store formats that will be the future of retail. Each of these store formats capitalizes on emerging or already present trends. Read also 6 innovative solutions for contactless payment [Research] Summary Introduction...
Omie: a brand that advocates total price transparency
Does the Covid crisis sound the awakening of consciences and the dawn of a new day in responsible consumption? In any case, I had the sensation of awakening after seeing the receipt of the online sales platform Omie, a ticket on which are displayed in all transparency the margin, the price paid to the producer, the cost of raw materials. In this article, I first question the global context in which this platform operates. Then I...
Customer Loyalty: how Nespresso takes advantage of this with a single click
How to sell more with your e-shop? How to build customer loyalty? These are questions that many traditional retailers are asking themselves when customers are converting massively to e-commerce. In this article, we present a system developed by Nespresso and strangely forgotten by conventional retailers. Yet, it makes customer loyalty a driving force for business growth. Introduction 80% of the purchases we make in supermarkets are...
[Podcast] Optimising sales prices with Pricing HUB
Discover this entrepreneurial adventure in this new podcast. Only for our subscribers: exclusive analyses and marketing advice Email address * Subscribe By signing up, you agree to our Terms of use and privacy policy. "I thought the blog was good. But the newsletter is even better!" Esteban Hendrickx, art director Sommaire Chapter 1: your entrepreneurial experience in 3² point Chapter 2: The genesis of the business idea Chapter...
Covid-19: how to ensure social distancing in retail stores and airports?
What are the best techniques to ensure social distancing in private and public spaces (shops, airports, public transport)? This is the question we answer today in this podcast by interviewing an expert, Dr Flurin Hänseler. His research work is devoted to flow regulation, and his expertise is therefore valuable in understanding which techniques to implement to ensure that social distancing is maintained in environments where many...
COVID-19: 8 concrete impacts on the future of the non-food retail sector
This article is part of a series of analyses devoted to the medium and long-term impact of COVID 19 on different sectors of activity. The report below on the non-food retail industry is in line with another paper we have published on food retail in the post-COVID19 era. We updated this article in October 2020 with the latest statistics on the impact of COVID on the retail sector in 2020. To receive our most recent reviews, subscribe...
9 concrete impacts of COVID19 on the future of the food retail sector
After my forecasts on the future of the aviation sector, I propose today to focus on the future of the retail food industry, in other words, the trade and mass distribution sector. 25% of jobs in the US are in the retail industry. The stakes of the effect of the coronavirus on this sector are therefore significant. To write this article, I interviewed several leaders of the retail sector, including CEOs of well-known brands. I also...
How can small stores counter the giants of e-commerce?
90% of purchases are made in actual stores, only 10% online. Yet the end of small business is predicted almost daily. How can we resist giants like Amazon, Bol.com? That’s what Pierre-Raffaele wanted to know when he invited an entrepreneur to his studio, and who was not short of answers: Marc Filipson. He runs Filigranes, the world’s largest one-storey bookstore. In this 10th episode of “The World of Business...