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Create An Exciting Flagship Experience

Focusing on unique retail implementations at flagship stores can drive customer experience, allow for experimentation and set a competitive advantage.



Macy's New York location has always gathered attention. Expanding upon this existing detail, Macy's can take a new approach to using their flagship as an exciting center of innovation, not just history.


A Bit of Inspiration


During this semester of our retail marketing class, Showfields, or "the most interesting store in the world," came to speak to our class about how they innovate in the retail space while opening up omnichannel opportunities and ease for consumers, as well as adaptable options for their internal retail decisions.


There are a few central features of Showfields' flagship stores that provide competitive advantage. First, Showfields creates an experience that sparks joy and is hard for competitors to replicate. Second, Showfields cycles through products regularly in their showroom to adapt to constantly evolving trends and consumer values. Finally, Showfields streamlines the buying process to allow consumers to take their experience home, by purchasing and scheduling home delivery for the product they tested and had to have.


Through the Macy's Lens


Although Macy's cannot replicate Showfields' approach, the historic retailer can create their own version of this with their own unique features.


Macy's can create fun and delightful displays in their stores. Some possibilities include Macy's creating a cultural and historical hot spot by displaying parade memorabilia, or even life-size balloon replicas, and allowing shoppers to interact with these through photo-ops or real interaction. Macy's could also dedicate a section of the store as year-round Christmas, again featuring historic displays and new exciting displays, which would attract Christmas-lovers year round while speaking to the brand's cultural presence. These are just a few ideas of where Macy's could take their strategy in flagship stores to create delightful experiences for shoppers.


Next, Macy's should similarly have segments of the flagship store dedicated to cycling through products and brand features. This will allow Macy's to continually test product performance and easily discard of lines that are not performing, while also extending featured brands that are performing well and could be brought to their smaller format stores and online channel. Experimenting in these few locations and allowing the successes to trickle into other decentralized locations is smarter than their current strategy of experimenting across their all of their new and many Market by Macy's, which has only cost Macy's valuable time and resources. This could also expand beyond products, and provide insights on possible influencers to partner with or certain interest areas that are overlap between the Macy's image and its desired customer segment. Also, this cycling of products can allow Macy's to speak to year round calendar events that can support their relevancy as well as corporate social responsibility efforts. For example, and similar to Showfields, Macy's could feature brands by diverse creators as well as special launches for occasions like Earth Day.


Finally, Macy's should reduce the depth of products in their flagship stores. The retailer should focus on creating try-and-buy experiences for customers that creates an emotional and memorable tie to the product. Then, Macy's should capitalize on this consumer's experience and push them to their online channels to purchase and deliver the product to their home, or even a friends home as a gift. This will expand Macy's omnichannel capabilities and savvy beyond what the Polaris strategy currently encompasses.


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