It’s All About The Experience

I recently came across this chart in Alex Kantrowitz’s Tech Giant Update. It’s a fascinating chart that shows an increase in foot traffic at malls that feature “experience” stores. While it’s no secret that people love experiences, it’s a new trend as retail continues to shift from an in-person activity to an online routine.

I find it particularly interesting to look at how brands are responding to this trend. Retail startups and giants alike are building different types of experiences to keep up and attract new customers.

Let’s take a look.

“Food Experiences”

With over 13,000 locations in the United States alone, Starbucks needs to explore news ways to attract, entertain, and retain customers. Starbucks has always been a brand focused on “experience”. At the core of their strategy is the aim to become the “3rd place” where customers come to meet, work, and relax when they aren’t at their home or office. However, with a general decrease in foot traffic at retail locations, the company has to get a bit more creative with how they innovate their “3rd place” strategy.

“On Friday, December 5, 2014, Starbucks opened the doors to an all-new coffee experience: The Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room. It is a place where you can experience coffee from the unroasted bean to your cup of coffee. You can watch it being roasted. You’ll see the burlap sacks it comes in. You can watch it being loaded into the green coffee loading pit. You can buy it scooped at the coffee scoop bar. You can experience your coffee as a pour over, Siphon brewed, Clover-brewed, a shot of espresso, espresso beverages, and more.”

With Starbucks Reserve, the company is taking a different approach to selling coffee by showing customers the chain from bean to cup. While these types of experience stores typically enjoy less repeat customers, it allows the company to expand their target audience to families. With the Reserve concept, Starbucks essentially opened up a museum where parents can enjoy their beloved beverages and kids could enjoy the scenery and storytelling of what goes into a cup of coffee. Pretty cool if you ask me!

“Pop-Up Experiences”

It’s also interesting to see how retail startups are skipping the brick and mortar location altogether.

One of my favorite startups, Brandless, sells everyday grocery and household essentials. However, unlike other online retailers, they host pop-up shops to foster community engagement, not sales.

“The entire experience is about the Brandless community coming together, which is why no one can come and walk out with any of the company’s products. Instead, Brandless ambassadors will be walking around with iPads to help people build a Brandless box at the store but still ultimately get it shipped to their home.

“We weren’t selling anything because everyone has the store in their pocket,” Sharkey said, “We don’t need to sell anything in physical retail. In physical retail, we sell kindness.” — Adweek

Casper has also turned to Nordstrom to do a series of pop-ups in physical locations nationwide. These partnerships tend to increase sales and foot traffic for those who want to “try before they buy”, which helps online retailers increase sales to those who aren’t comfortable buying the product online. It’s a win-win as Nordstrom is desperate for ideas to draw customers in the door. Customers come for the mattress, stay for the clothes, and, hopefully, buy both.

“Educational Experiences”

Apple has long been known for their strategy to introduce technology to children through in-store experiences. If you walk into any Apple Store on a Sunday afternoon, you’ll see dozens of children sitting on bean bags playing, learning, and interacting with Apple’s products and staff. This is a smart strategy to not only increase in-store traffic, but to also drive brand loyalty from an early age. It’s especially an interesting move by the company because everyone looks for activities to do with children on the weekends. By providing a place where both adults and children want to spend their time, it positions Apple as a family brand committed to educating children.

It’s All About The Experience

These are just a few examples of experiences that have stood out to me. It’s no secret that brands need to up their in-store game if they want people to get off the couch. Also, as we get more comfortable having things brought to our doorstep, it’ll be interesting to see how other retail norms change. But one thing is clear, whether your shopping in-store or online it’s all about the experience!

Thanks for reading!

Hi! I’m Jordan, and I work for a global VC based in Israel. There’s a lot happening in the VC/startup scene and I figured I’d post my observations here. All opinions are my own. Feel free to follow and get in touch on Twitter @jordanodinsky.