Gen Z. Who are these new generation of shoppers? No doubt Gen Z consumers are a powerful group in the future of retail. They may be only 14-19 years old right now but Gen Z will be the world’s largest consumer group by 2020. When it comes to consumer behaviour, Gen Z definitely stands out from the flock. So understanding what makes them tick and tailoring new generation marketing to fit is key to future-proofing your business. In this instalment of DC Insights, we build on our earlier story about the top five drivers of change in the future of retail by helping you get better acquainted with the forthcoming generation of consumers.

Who are Gen Z?

Technology lies at the heart of retail for Gen Z. Here is your first group of genuine digital natives who fully embrace an omnichannel approach and are highly influenced in their shopping behaviour by social media. Gen Z are impulsive purchasers, rely heavily on visuals and spend more time on their mobile devices than previous generations. Because of this, retail websites, apps and social media are key influencers in their purchasing processes. That said though, the majority of Gen Z prefer shopping in-store as opposed to online and will check out prospective purchases in-store before making an online buy.

So what does this mean for new generation marketing?

Gen Z presents a host of exciting opportunities and challenges for retailers. When you craft your new generation marketing strategy, applying the knowledge you have about Gen Z consumer behaviour will help set you up for success. So what new generation marketing insights can you apply?

* Gen Z rely heavily on social media to research their purchases. So your new generation marketing can capitalise on platforms like YouTube, Instagram and SnapChat to deliver highly visual showcases of your products or offer.

* Amp up that omnichannel experience for top notch new generation marketing. Gen Z leave no stone unturned in researching their potential purchases. Most will visit a physical store to get product information, use mobile devices to compare prices, check out social media reviews and so much more. They relish the journey of exploration and discovery – so be sure to have your in-store and online experiences deliver a seamless enriching customer journey

* Brace yourself for this one: brand loyalty does not exist for Gen Z. Or at least, it does not exist to any great extent. So how can new generation marketing clinch you a cohort of return Gen Z shoppers? The key lies in basing your marketing in a compelling retail experience

The old rules of retail no longer apply. Gen Z is set to shake things up on a major scale. With unique shopping behaviour, Gen Z demands a breed of new generation marketing that retailers have never before traversed. How prepared are you to capture the Gen Z market? Speak with Design Clarity for more information and new generation marketing expertise.

Retail is a rapidly evolving sector. But what are the main forces driving change in the future of retail? Getting cluey about what is shaping the mould when it comes to the future of retail helps you better forward-plan and prepare for industry step changes. Not to mention stealing a march on competitors. Design Clarity is here to help you kick such goals with our DC Insights series. In this instalment of DC Insights, we look at what recent research has dubbed the top five drivers of change in the future of retail:

1. Convenience
Consumers have increasingly less time so they are demanding increasing retail convenience. There is great diversity in the times, locations and channels through which different consumers shop. The future of retail means that retailers must respond with vastly enhanced accessibility. Technology, streamlined store design and stock control efficiencies will all be foundation stones to delivering next generation consumer convenience.

2. Get personal while respecting privacy
A meticulous balancing act is driving change in the future of retail: that between enriching personal retail experiences and protection of consumer privacy. Privacy regulations continue to be tight. Yet at the same time, insightful consumer behaviour and demographic data is key to enabling retailers to craft those highly personal consumer experiences. A rethink of data gathering together with potential personalisation of retail spaces themselves will be part of the future retail landscape. Again, technology will play a key role here too.

3. Two-way retail intelligence
Information is the name of the game in the future of retail. Both retailers and consumers alike are going to have access to far more revealing retail intelligence going forward, thanks once more to technological advancement. Such intelligence could propel retailers into personalised promotions, adaptive pricing and huge strides forward in real-time decision-making.

4. Flex that interior muscle
Inertia has no place in the future of retail. Physical retail spaces must be kept flexible, fresh and engaging – but consumers must not be overwhelmed by such frenetic change that they simply can’t keep pace. Herein lies another juggling act. Retailers must strike the balance between flexible engrossing retail experiences and enough consistency to remain dependable to consumers.

5. Let it all hang out
Offer up your customer reviews, supply chain and retail processes for close scrutiny by your consumers. In today’s information age, consumers research their prospective purchases to the inth degree. So as a retailer you need to volunteer the information they are looking for – but of course you must also be sure that the information you’re offering up stands up to the scrutiny.

So there you have it. Five of the chief influencers in the future of retail. Now you’re across it, you can integrate your newfound information into your future planning. That will help to place you ahead of the game. If you need some help, Design Clarity is here to offer you strategic advice and expertise that will support you in becoming a pace-setter in the future of retail.

As a player in the retail space, you have probably heard about the offline vs online retail design debate. Yet perhaps you have not considered that it does not have to be one or the other. Increasingly, strong examples are emerging of offline and online retail design each working in common.

Online retail design goes offline

One thing everyone seems to be able to agree on is that the retail space is being reinvented. So perhaps it is not surprising that retailers who do their business from a physical storefront are clambering to build an online presence. At the same time, there is a simultaneous scramble among online retailers to open physical storefronts.

Retail design can offer a host of shopper conveniences. At a mere click, customers can browse full ranges of whatever has their interest, from homewares to clothes, electronics to furniture. Yet where is that experiential element that consumers continue to savour? In-store is the only way shoppers can see, feel and interact with products.

Furthermore, relationships are the currency of repeat custom. It is challenging to deliver meaningful brand experiences and build lasting loyal relationships from behind a screen. This is yet another reason why online retail design is increasingly being complemented with a physical store.

Online retail design and the omnichannel

So what does the future of online retail design look like? Essentially retail is seeing the rise of the omnichannel. Here is where seamless retail experiences are delivered across myriad platforms to give consumers the best of all worlds. With the omnichannel in play, online and in-store experiences stand together.

Online retail design in the modern age is a dynamic multi-faceted creature. Fortunately you have access to specialists like Design Clarity who can help you achieve powerful online retail design teamed with omnichannel expertise. The Design Clarity team have an impressive portfolio showing the cohesive retail experiences they have achieved for clients across Australia and UK. Speak to Design Clarity today.

Veganism is not merely a dietary choice, it is a true social movement. One that is sweeping through the hospitality industry in multi-faceted ways. Having a vegan brand no longer simply means offering a vibrant vegan menu. Now you can literally build your vegan brand from grassroots up with vegan interior design.

Put vegan interior design on your branding menu

Natural cruelty-free materials are taking interior design by storm in the hospitality industry. There is a rapidly growing social conscience that is calling loudly for an end to animal testing and uptake of purer humane products. Naturally this social conscience pervades hospitality as more consumers look for clean, green, ethical vegan cuisine – and authentic vegan hospitality brands. Vegan interior design answers this call. If you have not already looked into vegan interior design, prepare to be amazed at the incredible finishes you can achieve in your eatery with not an animal product or by-product in sight.

Interior design is a major part of building your brand promise and story. So if veganism and a cruelty-free ethos are foundation stones of your hospitality business, here is your chance to show your customers your commitment through your physical premises. Vegan interior design uses materials that do not originate from any animal, contain no animal by-products and are not tested on animals. Some examples of vegan materials include:

• hemp
• linen
• cotton
• sisal
• microfiber
• polyester

On top of being the ethical choice, vegan interior design brings additional benefits to your hospitality business. Many animal or animal by-product based materials are treated with potent chemicals that can be toxic and linked to significant health issues. With stringent care expectations and regulations associated with food preparation, vegan interior design is a major selling point in your favour. By incorporating vegan interior design into your eatery, you can help keep yourself, your team and your customers safe, healthy and well.

How do I achieve vegan interior design?

Vegan interior design is a highly worthy course to pursue. Yet having the surety that you are using authentic vegan materials can take a lot of legwork. Running a busy hospitality  business means you probably don’t have this time to spare. Plus, without specialist knowledge, it is all too easy for subtle animal-based materials to slip in. Genuine vegan design gets right down to brass tacks by investigating the likes of paint, glue and lacquers.

The most effective and efficient way to achieve true effective vegan interior design is to work with a specialist like Design Clarity. All the hard work is done for you as the right designer will be fully across genuine vegan materials and suppliers. Plus you will pair your safe ethical materials with leading design expertise. That means your vegan brand will be powerful, resounding and authentic.

Grocery shopping but not as we know it. Thanks to new generation store design, there are big changes afoot in the grocery store sector. No longer is grocery shopping a chore but rather a vibrant sensory experience that will leave you counting down the minutes to go to the supermarket. New generation store design has turned ‘getting the groceries’ on its head.

New generation store design for all tastes

Just how many tantalising experiences can you fit under one grocery store roof? New generation store design has not only risen to this challenge but is constantly pushing the envelope. Now foodies and health nuts no longer need to hunt around for the next Farmer’s Market or hippest new food joint. All they need to do is head to the grocery store. Modern supermarket delis are brimming with mouth-watering fare including plump stuffed olives, flavour-packed salamis and a host of tasty cheeses. Meanwhile new generation store design by no means leaves lovers of fresh produce and baking wanting. Rainbows of seasonal fruit and vegetables are presented market-style. You can even grab a terrific barista-made coffee from your grocer while you are exploring the offerings.

How Harris Farm Markets does new generation store design

Cheese rooms, cellar door, seafood bar and pizzeria. All this and more is there for the savouring at Harris Farm Markets, one of Australia’s largest independent grocers. New generation store design has transformed Harris Farm Markets into an immersive sensory experience. Alongside being a haven for foodies and fine beverage lovers, Harris Farm Markets also offers free fruit for kids, imperfect picks at cheaper prices and all the convenience of a click and collect service.

Design Clarity is the name that is synonymous with new generation store design. With a proven track record of achieving transformational results, Design Clarity brought an edge to the Harris Farm Markets store design. This stellar team worked on a set a design guidelines for the brand that could be rolled out across multiple sites. Design Clarity also did early concepts and council drawings for some sites. You can get the same leading expertise working on your new generation store design project. Speak with the specialists today. Get in touch with Design Clarity.

So many factors go into creating a truly exceptional and memorable pub experience. From what tasty beverages are on offer to the physical premises of the pub. All of these factors are woven into successful modern pub design. This year, heritage is taking a prominent place in the fabric of modern pub design. Celebrating both the history of a pub brand and the establishment that houses the pub are being resoundingly recognised as playing a vital role in the ultimate patron experience. Celebrating heritage helps to create that comfortable personable space that many of today’s pub goers crave.

Call to your community with 

There is something about sharing great food and tasty beverages that can bring any community together. That is why modern pub design is such a cornerstone of the community. Any hospitality professional will tell you that patron demands and proclivities are always changing. Yet by honouring and maintaining the heritage of a pub, modern pub design ensures it remains valued, resonant and prized by its local community and visitors alike.

Modern pub design tends to:

• Embrace existing architecture and capitalise on key features
• Buck latest trends by staying true to a pub’s long-established culture
• Boost beverage ranges to include craft beers and spirits
• Line up exciting entertainment matched to the specific pub crowd

Modern pub design at Browns Bar & Brasserie

One of the most vibrant ways to see modern pub design in action is through Browns Bar & Brasserie. Since 2015, the stellar pub design specialists that are Design Clarity have redesigned 10 venues for the Browns Bar & Brasserie chain across the UK. In keeping with the focus on preserving heritage, Design Clarity has fully celebrated and preserved splendid architectural features like sweeping ceiling-scraping cathedral windows and magnificent golden arches. Modern pub design allows Browns Bar & Brasserie to cleverly draw together many different groups within its community together for entirely individualised hospitality experiences. University crowds are drawn to the striking bar zone likes moths to a flame. Meanwhile professionals can enjoy a more quiet sophisticated gathering in comfortable booths and couples can retreat to intimate seating under stunning stone arches.

Unleash the magic of modern pub design on your establishment today. Speak with Design Clarity.

Traditional shopping malls are outdated. Customers no longer visit shopping centres simply to shop. Modern malls are built to deliver rich dynamic patron experiences. Social gathering, sensory dining experiences and exciting entertainment are all part of the package. Integral to the reimagined contemporary shopping centre is the merging of restaurant and entertainment offerings with the retail shopping space. Successful merging requires the customer experience to rest at the heart of all space planning. Here is where a precinct design agency can be the difference-maker.

How a hospitality precinct happens

Everyone is a foodie in this day and age. While proclivities and preferences may vary greatly, patrons come to a shopping centre to enjoy a multitude of choice, all that food has to offer both social and sensory. As such, every modern shopping centre must have a thriving hospitality precinct.  The right precinct design agency ensures you nail user experience. Perfecting wayfinding and streamlining customer journeys are important pieces in the hospitality precinct puzzle. We recognise the fact that it’s also vital to encourage patrons to linger. In this way, you secure repeat business and ensure patrons savour the enriching memorable experiences that your expertly designed shopping centre delivers. A precinct design agency knows how to strike the perfect balance between achieving ease of customer movement and that all-important enticement of customers to stay, savour and shop.

Key ingredients to hospitality precinct design

Understanding the hospitality space is critical when fusing dining options with retail. Any clever precinct design agency knows that foodies of all kinds are spoilt for choice. Food trucks, vibrant restaurants, food courts, cafes with vibe, laid-back pubs: all are there for the taking. So because shopping centres look to dining and entertainment to keep patrons staying, paying and coming back for more, the same diversity of dining choices must be considered in hospitality precinct design. The right precinct design agency ensures you give the customers what they want but also serve up a bunch of fresh options to pique their adventurous side and capture imagination.

Design Clarity are a leading design agency. Check out their impressive portfolio where they have designed lively, communal dining destinations like Central Kitchen – One Central Park, Sydney.

What is your customer doing and how are they making their purchasing decisions? If you can answer this, then you have the means to really steal a march on competition. Understanding customer behaviour has become mission-critical to in-store retailers with the advent and meteoric rise of online retail. Progressive in-store retailers gather the knowledge they need to stay competitive from comprehensive retail analysis. This influential tool delivers in-store analytics to reveal customer behaviour insights and how in-store retailers can capitalise on these.

Cut the competition’s grass with comprehensive retail analysis

Most businesses undertake some form of data collection about their customers. Yet the value of the insights yielded by these can vary greatly. A simple customer survey can return some insights but you must rely on your customers providing genuine responses or taking time to complete the survey in the first place. Comprehensive retail analysis provides the equivalent of a guidebook offering specific insights about your unique target market. Using the data gleaned from such analyses, you can transform your business in ways that are directly meaningful to your customers. Comprehensive retail analysis gives you the means to:

• Devise strategies to integrate new and emerging technologies into your physical store space to enhance customer experience and create a retail destination
• Identify shop-lifting ‘hot spots’ within your physical store space so you can implement strategies regarding placement of in-store security personnel and monitoring to drive down loss through theft
• Better understand consumer buying patterns and preferences
• Pinpoint which products are not highly sought-after so you can adjust your procurement strategies effectively

In short: comprehensive retail analysis supports you to revolutionise your physical store space to eclipse e-commerce competitors with a fun, tailored, seamless retail experience.

Comprehensive retail analysis in action

Design Clarity specialise in comprehensive retail analysis. That is why this tool was the first step in our approach to help rethink the existing NRMA retail network branch model. We began with a review of NRMA data and branches. Next we completed a comparative appraisal against a backdrop of mega-trend analysis. Based on the findings revealed by our comprehensive retail analysis, we worked with NRMA to reimagine their retail branch design and service delivery. The results include clearly road-mapped individual client journeys, dynamic branding displays and unified client experience.

Would you like to benefit your business with comprehensive retail analysis? Speak with Design Clarity today.

Every business has a brand of some sort. Yet clarity is the cornerstone of a successful brand identity and message. All too often, the immense importance of clear branding is overlooked. When brand clarity is absent, the result is watered down brand cut-through and awareness. Be sure to keep your brand knife-edge sharp. Design Clarity is the team to help you achieve crystal clear branding.

Why is clear branding so important?

Consider for a moment what your brand actually is. It is a snappy encapsulation of who you are, your key value proposition, how you solve customers’ problems and why you should be the business of choice in this regard. With this in mind, it is plain to see that branding forms the foundation for all your messaging and marketing. So if your brand is not clearly defined, neither can your messaging and marketing be. That means a scattergun approach to communicating with your customers and hotch-potch business collateral. Operating from this basis means your customers are unlikely to truly understand what you do let alone why they should choose your business over your competitors. By contrast, clear branding ensures all elements of your brand are consistent, united and working their hardest.

What clarity brings to your branding

Branding is a crucial extension of your business. So when you achieve clear branding you have that all-important platform from which to:

• Make a powerful first impression to convert new customers
• Stand out from the crowd with powerfully communicated on-point messaging
• Establish your unique business difference and personality
• Forge strong meaningful connections with your target market
• Grow your business in a purposeful sustainable way

Are you ready to put the power of razor-sharp branding to work for your business? Speak to Design Clarity or take a browse through their portfolio of recent projects where clear branding was a strong focus. Examples include:

• Fujisaki, Sydney
• The Briny, Brighton UK
• Power of Health, London
• Yagé, London

Retail technology design is a pivotal part of the business tech revolution. Pioneering solutions that once existed only in the most progressive business minds are now fast becoming commercial necessities to remaining buoyant in the modern climate. Retail technology design innovators are continually crafting emerging tech capabilities that break new ground in business operations, tracking and performance. A shining example of the power retail technology design holds is provided by Decathlon, a major global retailer of sporting goods and equipment.

Decathlon: reimagining customer experience

Technology design is a vanguard of the overall Decathlon business strategy. Decathlon invests significantly in digital capabilities to enhance customer experiences in bold exciting new ways. At Decathlon, retail technology design is much more than just a bid to achieve a more contemporary look and feel to store interiors. Rather, digital capabilities enhance the efficiency of customer pathways and expand service offerings that improve their shopping experiences.

Decathlon is particularly adept at leveraging retail technology at point of sale. Accelerated check-out experiences are one example of this. Here, digital technologies assist in building the Decathlon brand and crafting interactions that customers return to experience again and share with family, friends and others.

Staff empowerment revolutionised by retail technology design

Retail technology design does not just enhance the experience for customers. Staff members also stand to gain plenty, like liberation from low-value tasks and optimum efficiency. In the case of Decathlon, staff members enjoy greater ease and empowerment as enhanced digital capabilities let salespeople:

– access valuable integrated product information

– get current real-time product availability and order statuses

– plan deliveries with far greater efficiency

– tap into the CRM database

– leverage exceptional ease of payment through digital capabilities and self-service options

Retail technology design does not always have to be of Decathlon-style scale. One of Design Clarity’s clients, NRMA, embraces retail technology in their insurance hub. Their brand journey towards an agile, digital-first and customer-led business is just as impressively pioneering in today’s retail space.

No matter what the size, scope and goals of your retail business, Design Clarity specialise is crafting retail technology design to ensure you break new ground. Speak to this leading team today.