The COVID-19 pandemic has had a seismic shift in the retail industry. Specifically, in the case of retail design, brands have transformed according to new consumer habits and interests. In the current context, safety, flexibility, and a more engaging customer experience are essential to the future of retail spaces that call for innovation. This blog looks at how the pandemic changes retail architecture and trends and how brands are changing to create more flexible, safer, and engaging client experiences.

Designing for Safety: The New Normal in Retail

Prioritizing Health and Hygiene in Store Layouts

Now that health and hygiene are a priority, the challenge has been brought up to create safe in-store environments. Retailers are adapting innovation centered around reducing physical contact and keeping social distance. Stores have gone from wider aisles to touchless technology, evolving into a space where it’s essential to provide customer safety without sacrificing customer experience.

I’ve noticed an exciting trend in using contactless technology in stores. Retailers are increasingly reducing the number of their physical interactions at every touchpoint, from automatic doors to self-checkout kiosks to mobile payment options. Many stores are also putting up sanitizing stations at entrances and busy areas to keep people clean and guarantee customers.

Implementing Smart Store Design

Post pandemonium, smart store layouts are becoming a buzzword. With all eyes on supermarkets, retailers are redesigning spaces to facilitate easy navigation, but at the same time avoid overcrowding. There’s more at play than health reasons here–these changes make for a smoother, less stressful shopping environment for the client.

With the new store layout approach, one-way pathways, clear signage, and well-marked zones have been adopted to guide customer flows. Stores can control foot traffic so they can restrict certain areas to provide a safer, more comfortable shopping experience.

Flexibility: The Key to Future-Proofing Retail Spaces

Hybrid Retail Models

The trend of hybrid retail is a direct response to the pandemic, where retailers mixed up the in-store and online shopping experience. But with e-commerce booming, physical stores are becoming hubs that blend in-store and online shopping. A product of this retail innovation has been the click-and-collect model, where customers can buy something online but then pick it up in-store.

This shift is making physical stores redesigned to facilitate this shift, with dedicated pickup areas for online orders. Brands, meanwhile, are becoming flexible with inventory, too, letting customers bounce between purchasing online and in-store without disrupting the brand experience.

Modular Store Designs

As retail trends change, many brands are adopting modular store designs that allow them to change the layouts of their stores as easily as necessary. Storing the product off-premises not only creates flexibility in the store’s physical layout but also allows retailers to adapt their space to meet differing customer needs, promotion events, or changing safety regulations. For example, furniture and displays that can be moved or repurposed are becoming more popular since stores can change their setup based on demand and customer flow.

Retailers also experience a more interactive customer experience in modular spaces, which have the capacity to develop immersive spaces that transform with new campaigns, product introductions, or changes of season.

Enhancing Engagement: The Future of Customer-Centric Retail Spaces

Creating Immersive Retail Experiences

As digital shopping becomes the norm, physical retail stores are focusing on offering something that e-commerce cannot: something fully immersive and sensory. Retail architecture is being reimagined to build engaging spaces that make in-store shopping memorable. Brands are enticing customers to visit their stores with things like interactive displays, pop-up installations, and experience zones.

It’s a trend readily adopted by retailers, including Nike, which has begun offering flagship stores that incorporate digital features like interactive product customization and AR-based experiences to enhance the client experience and bridge the physical store to the digital side of things.

Integrating Technology for a Seamless Experience

The future of retail design is still dictated by technology. Augmented Reality (AR) fitting rooms, virtual mirrors, and interactive screens are innovations that bring customers closer to products in new and exciting ways. These advancements create a better customer experience: the convenience of digital shopping meets the tactile nature of an in-store experience.

Retailers are also increasingly relying on data analytics to provide personalized in-store experiences. Brands can leverage customer data to offer uniquely tailored products and store layouts that cater to specific customer behaviors and preferences as part of a scalable and repeatable shopping journey.

Future Retail Trends: Sustainability and Wellness

Designing with Sustainability in Mind

Today, sustainability is a topic on both consumers’ and retailers’ minds. Following the pandemic, retail design posts have become more eco-friendly, from natural building materials to energy-efficient lighting and climate control systems. At the same time, many retailers are also adopting the approach ‘less is more’—too many displays and curated, meaningful product curation.

Sustainable fashion brands like Patagonia and Reformation are taking the lead by embedding sustainability throughout their store design and operations, aligning their brand values with consumer shopping expectations of sustainability.

Wellness-Focused Retail Spaces

In the wake of the pandemic, wellness is the trend overall for consumers and brands. More and more, the design elements in retail spaces are becoming created to always benefit mental and physical health. Points of an example of how the biophilic design principles are being translated into stores — stores are being made more calming and rejuvenating — are adopting ideas such as including natural light, plants, and open-air spaces.

Retail Innovation plays a central role in shaping the future of retail design in a post-pandemic world centered on safety, flexibility and further customer rewards. We’re seeing many things in the retail industry changing how we shop, from integrating touchless technologies and modular store designs to creating immersive, tech-driven environments. Successful brands of the future that can anticipate and respond to the future needs of customers in their changing spaces will emerge from those who first embrace these new retail trends.