The Age of Experiential Retail

Is customer experience becoming the new currency of retail? Should consumer engagement be the top priority of retailers, rather than sales? Experiential retail is becoming more and more popular as brick and mortar stores try their hardest to pull consumers away from shopping online and into their physical stores. In the increasingly competitive retail market, unique experiences are key in helping make sure you stand out from the crowd. Experiential retail is a retail strategy that builds emotional customer engagement by creating unique and immersive experiences in physical stores, thereby differentiating itself from purely online shopping.

Flexible furniture is another effective way to maximise retail space while allowing it to be adapted to the evolving needs of a retailer. By combining modular design with immersive concepts, brands can create engaging environments that are both experiential and functional.

Practical examples:

• Globetrotter: A community cabin concept within the store that replicates a rustic log cabin, allowing customers to immerse themselves in the great outdoors. The space serves as an in-store retreat, while flexible walls and seating can easily be reconfigured into a campaign area, creating both an extraordinary customer experience and a highly adaptable retail space for the brand.
• Moët & Chandon: An inclusive and immersive display at Harrods London featuring two elegant vertical screens that visually narrate the champagne’s heritage. Lift-and-learn technology allows customers to activate digital brand storytelling by lifting a bottle, while language selection buttons ensure an accessible and inclusive shopping experience that reinforces the romance of this iconic champagne.

Department stores and multi-brand environments such as John Lewis, Debenhams and Selfridges are increasingly incorporating experiential spaces to attract shoppers and increase footfall. In these visually crowded environments, where multiple brands compete for attention, creating a standout display is challenging — ARNO can help brands cut through and achieve meaningful engagement.

Online shopping websites can control what the customer sees on a screen, but this alone is not sufficient to create a truly engaging experience. One key advantage physical retail has over online shopping is the ability to stimulate all five senses, creating memorable experiences and stronger emotional connections between customers and brands.

Sensory approaches in physical retail:

• Sight: Carefully designed lighting concepts, digital screens, and visual storytelling that guide attention and communicate brand identity.
• Sound: Curated soundscapes or audio elements that support the brand atmosphere and influence mood and dwell time.
• Touch: The use of varied materials, textures, and interactive elements such as lift-and-learn technology that encourage hands-on engagement.
• Smell: Subtle scent concepts that enhance the environment and contribute to brand recognition.
• Taste: Product sampling or tasting opportunities, particularly relevant in food, beverage, and lifestyle retail.

By combining these sensory elements with technologies such as touchscreens, lighting control, and interactive furniture, retailers can create immersive in-store environments that remain consistent with brand values. These approaches demonstrate how physical retail spaces can be designed to engage customers more deeply and make more effective use of in-store environments.

Nowadays shopping in-store can seem more like a chore rather than a pleasurable experience to many people. Due to the ease, speed and convenience of shopping online, retailers now have to entice customers into their stores with original, out of the ordinary ideas, and this can be achieved through the use of experiential stores and an exciting in-store experience. These days it is crucial for retail furniture to feature some aspects of interactivity in order to engage the customer’s attention and increase the chance of purchase. As well as being exciting and interactive, the store experience still needs to focus on and address the consumer’s needs. Customers are coming to stores to see products in real life before committing to a purchasing decision, therefore stores still need to have a certain amount of focus on their brand’s products, rather than just the experience as a whole. One way of achieving this is by making sure your range of products are being displayed effectively through your retail furniture displays. Here at ARNO we can design, manufacture and install high-quality retail furniture that promotes both your products and your brand, and makes sure you don’t fade into the background in the crowded retail space.

Whilst it is important to provide a great customer experience to entice the public away from the e-commerce and online shopping sites and back to the physical high street and department stores, it is also crucial that you do this by remaining loyal to your identity, and making sure your brand is being showcased in the best way possible. Here at ARNO we have worked with many retailers, from high street to high-end, and provided them with innovative POP displays, shop in shops, pop-up stores and much more that not only improve the customer journey, but also makes you stand out from your competitors. These days consumers don’t just want products, they want the memories and the experiences associated with the product. This will not only increase brand awareness but it will also increase brand loyalty as customers will remember the enjoyable experience they previously had with your company and will be much more likely to return and purchase from you more. Our dedicated in-house team of retail experts here at ARNO can design, create and install state-of-the-art retail furniture and displays that make you catch the eye of browsers, turn them into buyers and increase their loyalty to you. Simply contact us online to start your bespoke journey with ARNO.

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