Lots has been said & written about the importance of making physical retail great again. You can totally tell there is a big threat out there by simply visiting the major luxury Department Stores across the US. Neimans in San Francisco is true work of art, yet (at least during the week) I found it unbelievably empty.
On the other side, in LA mostly, you have online behemoths’ going offline and doing tremendously well , as The RealReal or Glossier in Melrose (will dedicate a future article to these) as well as all kind of up-and-coming supercool brands choosing to start small somewhere in Abbot Kinney, to become true retail destinations on their own. One of those who did it is undoubtedly Reformation.
What Reformation managed to do is quite simple as a matter of fact. They did what everyone else is just talking about: integrating digital tools into the very old-school experience of retail, mostly by:
Using wall touchscreens across the store to tap into the full brands’ offer, even pieces not immediately available.
While around, and after having chosen the pieces you want to try on, creating your own “room” with the selected pieces that actually looks like your home walk-in wardrobe.
Using touchscreens again IN the wardrobe, to make it easy and fun to ask for all the additional pieces & sizes you want to try on.
So basically, you close your closet, choose the additional pieces, open the closet and voila’, here they are waiting for you.
Once you decide on the ones u wanna take home, there is no Cashier, there is a Love Desk instead. Now how instagram friendly and millennial-appealing is that ? As an old millennial, let me tell you, it is quite fun.
So to make a long story short, as a Millennial, completely biased strategist & consultant, I pretty much enjoyed my experience with Reformation, even if I need to say my expectations were high, very high. For a minute I even felt a bit disappointed as I expected some kind of particularly immersive experience, that I did not find. What I found instead was a very well-curated & seamless (seamless is keyword here) shopping experience enhanced by technology, which was quite nice and made me totally want to come back and explore for more.
That said, I had to somehow review my own idea of digitally-enhaced offline retail. There is actually no rocket science to that. Yes, there is a lot of technology which requires investments & people development. However, it addresses the same old needs of a woman who shops: come in, look through nice pieces, hang around in an inviting space, enjoy herself in a nice fitting room and make the pay moment as quick and seamless as possible. Technology was there to make it smooth, simple and sweet. There was no revolution yet to how the very basics of retail were handled.
Is it the magic formula? Time will tell. For now, it is quite a case history, and big brands shall take note.
