Just months ago, beauty relied on high-touch sensorial environments. With a raised awareness around high-touch environments, the beauty industry must appeal to customers that responsibly tackle the “touch and feel” interaction associated with product testing. Shop! Association asked our team how stores can create inviting and authentic experiences while balancing digitization and human interaction responsibly?
When physical retail shut down earlier this year, pop-ups went with it. Running a temporary retail store, which has become a popular experiment, especially for DTC brands looking to test the waters of brick-and-mortar, became impossible. And now, as the U.S. market slowly eases into reopening, the pop-up is transforming.
In part two of an op-ed Q&A, retail strategist Melissa Gonzalez provides answers to top questions about the evolution of the retail store as the industry continues to contend with changing consumer behaviors and new challenges during COVID-19. Keywords: digital, fluid, flexible!
Because of the coronavirus and people's buying habits moving online, retail stores are closing everywhere — often for good.
How can we build a community of designers who intuitively weave sustainable thinking into every design decision? Laura Gardner and Candon Michelle Murphy, two of our MG2 sustainability champions, are on a mission to teach us how patience and the art of making micro-moves over time can result in a having a significant impact. Their solution to this burning question is to form an army of educated, passionate advocates who challenge each other and our clients to focus on the long-term benefits a sustainable practice can yield.
MG2 is increasingly being approached by brands interested in creating sensory-rich physical environments that are less about selling and more about building offline community. Designing stores with flexible spaces to enable showrooms, classes, pop-up shops, brunches and parties is an ideal way to appeal to multi-tasking Millennials looking to build their skills and networks while simultaneously experiencing products and services curated for them.
This Earth Day, take a moment to look at the built world around you and think about where all of this “stuff” came from and where it might end up before you start sourcing materials for your next project.
