As consumers wait for their previous ways of life to return, brands have a role to play in solving their heightened need for escapism and stress relief, Florin Baeriswyl writes in an essay for finews.first.
This article is published on finews.first, a forum for authors specialized in economic and financial topics.
Many consumers who have been confined to their homes are craving social activities, like dining in a bustling restaurant or casually shopping with friends, and retailers and brands which can offer them the ability to escape will come out on top.
Many purchases are currently being made for practical reasons, but retailers who can offer aspirational storytelling and creative inspiration – both now and post-pandemic – will rebound. Yet, escapism is just one of a number of factors affecting the way consumers are behaving and brands are responding. Brands should also prepare themselves for consumers looking to reinvent their post-pandemic selves.
«There is an opportunity to rethink the visual merchandising experience»
As consumers strive to constantly evolve themselves, dopamine fuelled self-reward motivates people to buy. Linda Price, a marketing professor at the University of Oregon, has studied this need for self-evolution through what she calls the fresh-start mind-set, which predicts consumers’ efforts and choices directed at self-transformation.
Nike recently tapped into both the need for escapism and reinvention when they connected Chinese customers to their Training Club app, which led to a spike in their e-commerce app and converted to online sales.
Retailers tapping into this current need for escapism through online channels also need to be planning to provide engaging and creative in-store experiences. By using social media to create a buzz online, brands can drive more consumers to their physical stores. Programming spaces to be flexible and accommodate one-of-a-kind in-store events, such as a performance or limited-edition product launch, can help move the needle.
Additionally, as we anticipate longer dwell time as people queue up to enter stores, there is an opportunity to rethink the visual merchandising experience, starting from the exterior window display through to customers’ journeys as they explore different floors.
«Consumer expectations have been suddenly reset»
With nearly a third of the world under a form of a COVID-19 lockdown, this enforced isolation has subsequently affected consumers’ digital behavior. Not only are consumers now more open to trying new ways of making purchases for essential items, but they’re also taking advantage of new ways of learning, socializing, and discovering online.
Just as consumers are flocking to online art galleries (with over 370,000 people in China recently joining a virtual tour of the British Museum) and language learning apps, we’re also seeing this digital acceleration in the fashion world, where social media users are discovering and connecting with new brands through mobile apps such as YouTube and Instagram. Direct-to-consumer sales, through social media, are key to the way brands are tapping into this surge of digital consumption.
Consumer expectations have been suddenly reset, creating an opportunity to experiment and initiate change. Saks Fifth Avenue has changed its delivery schedule of seasonal products to realign them with consumer demand, and Nordstrom has launched Nordstrom Local – a retail space with no inventory that offers services like on-premise alterations and styling. These models could be a more successful formula moving forward as they have seen higher spending and quicker returns.
«Even department stores may be moving away from a wholesale model »
In March this year, more than 2.5 million viewers tuned into Shanghai Fashion Week, the first purely digital fashion week. More than 150 brands showcased their new collections via live stream and some reached conversion rates over 15 percent.
Last year, sales at China’s 2019 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, where live-streaming was a prominent feature, reached $38,379,306,333. Similarly, brands such as Drest and Carlings are experimenting successfully with digital fashion, as they dive into digital styling and digital clothing collections respectively. There is even experimentation on the business side, which is evolving in response to financial and supply chain stress.
Retailers such as Nike and Adidas are quickly evolving to sell more products directly to consumers through their own retail stores. Even department stores may be moving away from a wholesale model and towards a leased shop-in-shop model, where brands control their own inventory and sales.
Brands that succeed will likely redefine the purpose of their retail stores with a clear and distinct point of view. Brands can experiment with store formats with the help of spatial data. Connecting data to physical spaces provide greater insights into creating better retail experiences.
«The steps that retailers take right now will determine the long-term fate of many brands»
By integrating sensors and IoT technology into a store, the insights gathered from these tools can help retail brands understand in-store movements such as flows and pinch points and the alignment of staffing plans with layouts, as well as behaviors such as when products or surfaces have been touched but not cleaned. In time we anticipate that some of these technologies will become more mainstream in the retail environment.
The steps that retailers take right now will determine the long-term fate of many brands as they formulate their responses to both financially sustain and evolve into their post-pandemic identity.
As people embrace digital technology through e-commerce apps, social media purchasing, and even gaming, brands will need to carefully create a complex omnichannel strategy to reach their target consumers. By using these emerging channels creatively, brands can deliver exciting and experimental experiences and offer the much-desired escapism the world needs.
Based on more than 35 years of experience in brand strategy and design, Florin Baeriswyl is a serial entrepreneur and a consultant for international brands and institutions. In 1987 he founded «dai Zurich», a design agency providing corporate design services in Zurich, London and Shanghai. Because of his early involvement in China, he quickly became a recognized expert in enterprises' strategic development between East-West. Subsequently, he was appointed by the Beijing based DeTao Group for the Fudan/SIVA University and DeTao Masters Academy. He also launched the Institute for Swiss International Branding (ISIB), providing students with the possibility of combining their academic knowledge with real-life case-studies deriving from the Chinese industry and Government. Finally, he opened «Studio Baeriswyl» in Shanghai, offering corporate brand consulting and educational services.
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