Insights Archives - RPA Group

New breed of hotels & restaurants want to be one of the locals…

Airbnb’s rallying cry, “live like a local,” is now being applied by hospitality brands to both hotel and restaurant chains, with owners happily embracing the idea by developing localised design that has extra Millennial appeal. All this is changing the face of hospitality, not just in the UK but across the globe. Millennials, with their desire for something new and authentic, are demanding a new style of venue that offers homely, comfortable and interesting looks, often with a retro or vintage twist.

It may all be artfully designed, choreographed and perhaps even ‘curated’ but it certainly has the gravitational pull to attract the right audience and keep them coming back for more. The evidence is certainly there for all to see with successful ventures like the Hoxton group expanding each year.

Hoxton now has two hotels in London and one each in Amsterdam and Paris. Actually inspired by a neighbourhood, closely associated with graffiti artist Banksy and the original White Cube Gallery, the Hoxton ‘brand’ majors on the looks and ambience that intellectually, emotionally and physically engages both the laptop and latte hotel guest and locals who come to enjoy the restaurant and bar. Hoxton and other brands like Ace are taking design to a hyper-local level by using themes that closely mesh with the locality of each site.

Firmly in the vanguard of hospitality’s new radical chic they both challenge their designers to create a venue for guests and locals and above all to create something that enriches the neighbourhood itself. Like others in the new hospitality vanguard, the brand realises that it needs to imprint a strong brand on each of its venues and this is done largely through typography and a ‘look’ that is rendered, albeit with a twist, in every venue. LEON has even dedicated a page on its website to its changing faces which beautifully illustrates the point.

In conclusion, by tapping into the ‘zeitgeist’, with good interior design and excellent service, hospitality brands will be able to deliver the surprise, standout and authenticity that Millennials want, creating a unifying brand that will fit both the times and the audience.

the future of student accommodation

Overseas students currently represent 1 in 5 of the student body in the UK and have been prepared to pay more than £160 per week for accommodation where concierge services, private gyms, pools and cinemas are considered standard. Post BREXIT, has seen the numbers of foreign students falling, with 41,000 fewer wanting to study in the UK this year. Developers face the prospect of empty accommodation or slashing rental fees.

Future projects will have to adapt to a rapidly changing market. The challenges differ across the regions. Like other areas, London still suffers from fundamental levels of undersupply, with The London Plan suggesting a need for up-to 31,000 additional bedspaces by 2025. In the capital, development has been impacted significantly by high land costs and competition from other uses forcing developers to acquire secondary stock to recycle, rather than build from scratch.

rpa:group have long been involved in repurposing buildings such as redundant office blocks, as well as refurbishing existing student accommodation schemes in response to the demand for elevated student living. We are now involved in addressing a more affordable future where cluster flats of 2 bedrooms and more are proving popular, creating a communal living opportunity rather than isolated studio “boxes” and breakout spaces that reflect the needs of modern students, such as raised seating and work stations with multiple power supplies to support their technology.

As the Huffington Post recently pointed out, when they surveyed students’ expectations; “ students just want good wifi, a large bedroom and a double bed. Even a dishwasher and a tumble dryer could not crack the top 5 student accommodation desires let alone the desire to have a porter service, a gym and a nightclub on the ground floor. ”

Clearly, higher end design will still have a place in some parts of the country but going forward, a more streamlined version also needs to be considered.

If you would like our help with your next student accommodation project, please contact us on 01784 256 579 or send an email to s.cuff@therpagroup.com

Seismic changes can help secure retail’s future…

With so much happening, so quickly, in the world of retail we thought it was high time to delve deeper into the seismic changes affecting our industry, what they really mean for bricks and mortar retailers and how they can be leveraged to improve the future of retail, both for brands and customers. So, in October we held our first ‘Retail Indaba’, staged in Amsterdam, which met with a very positive response from some of the world’s leading retail brands.

Based on a Zulu word, literally describing a gathering for discussion, our ‘Indaba’ was designed to provide an opportunity for brand owners to put some tough questions to both rpa:group and its partners. To this end we selected an expert panel that included a retail psychologist, our own head of design James Breaks and a technology specialist, all under the watchfull eye of Matthew Valentine, the Editor of Retail Design World, who acted as Chairman.

Our overall aim for the Indaba was to stimulate discussion that could be taken back to boardrooms to inform strategies that would drive positive real life applications. It soon became clear that attendees were grappling with some big issues, ranging from ‘omnichannel’ to AI, and that for some these represented untold opportunities whilst for others they represented challenges that must be met head on. We were delighted not only with the willingness of attendees to share experiences and talk frankly about their business challenges, but also with the challenging questions this led to such as, ”How do we ACTUALLY make fundamental changes within big business?” I think we all agreed that change now typifies retail. In the last ten years the humble high street store, still the preferred destination for 85% of shoppers, has gone through more changes than in the past one hundred.

Now a union of online and bricks and mortar, the once simple store is now an immersive brand theatre, incorporating a glorious cocktail of showrooming, digital entertainment and ‘sharable’ experiences. To deal with this change however requires not just a new mind set from retailers but also a new skill set, one that goes far beyond the old transactional paradigm. There was a general feeling from attendees that the Indaba broke new ground for them and that working collaboratively with our expert panel provided the strategy and insight to help them come to terms with some of the tricky issues that can affect all aspects of their brand identity.

“Knowing the unknowns” has become a constituent part of 21st Century problem solving and our Indaba addressed plenty of unknowns presented by the audience. For many attendees, it signposted a way to investigate complex areas such as brand development, retail design and store function. Above all the event illustrated how a team of experts, all from different disciplines, can address retail challenges in real time, delivering insight and strategy into how brands can interface with their customers.

If you would like our help with your next project, please contact us on 01784 256 579 or send an email to s.cuff@therpagroup.com

crossing cultures…

The countries that I grew up in are a melting pot of many nationalities living and working together in relative harmony. It is testament to the human desire (and necessity) to collaborate for the common good that obligates people to understand and respect different cultures, before putting into practice various coping techniques.

Language is the obvious main difference, but surprisingly has the least impact as most of the educated workforce speaks English. While making the effort to learn Arabic is rewarded with great affection from the locals, it is largely unnecessary. What can cause greater impediment is being unaware of the different nuances of communication needed when engaging with different audiences. There are enormous benefits to interactions between people of different faiths, backgrounds and experiences and I look upon my time in the Middle East with enormous affection. As expats we often expect people to adapt to our way of thinking and approaches to work and life, but we would be very well advised to embrace cultural differences for the benefit of all.

Above I outline some customs and etiquette to bear in mind when doing business in the Middle East.

the mutual benefits of taking on interns…

Not only do they enhance their practical applications such as Revit/Drawing and how the industry works, they gain more psychological and no less important skills such as time management, communication and confidence building. Says Emma Sharp, HR Director at rpa:goup, “During their placement with us, our interns are able to put their skills and theories into practice and we support them in gaining invaluable, hands-on experience in the field of Architecture”.

Nicola Szczepaniak, studying at the University of Portsmouth and coming to the end of her one year placement with us agrees. “In my time here, I have gained more knowledge about the industry than I could ever have hoped for.” She adds, “The wide range of expertise amongst my colleagues has helped me develop many skills, from learning how to use the software more efficiently, to managing myself to complete various tasks professionally, on time and to a high standard” Nicola was also able to gain practical knowledge by visiting construction sites, in order to experience how the work produced in our offices is applied on site.

Michael Pearce, studying at the University of Brighton, and also nearing the end of his one year internship says, “My time here has been extremely important in terms of progression for my career. I was urged to begin working on live projects from my second day so I could get a feel for these kinds of projects. In only a few months this allowed me to become an integral part of the team producing work to a high standard”. He emphasises that his responsibility has been no less than any other person in the team, which has been hugely important to his development and learning. As a company, we will continue to give interns the opportunity to work with us for many years to come. It is without doubt a mutually beneficial exercise. Mark Cherrett, Director of Architecture elaborates. “Interns bring with them new perspectives, fresh ideas, and skill sets. We in turn benefit from the “injection” of fresh thinking and it can ultimately help us gain valuable future employees.”

Our interns can certainly face their future with confidence, after their time with us. Says Michael “This internship has taken me to a new level and it has allowed me to feel confident about going back to finish my degree. I have no doubt that it will improve my work efficiency and my final product. Also, as I have experienced full time working life, it has prepared me for the future before I have even graduated, which feels like a head start.” Nicola agrees. “I think that working here has given me a great advantage when it comes to completing my degree and hopefully achieving the highest grade possible. I believe that it will also make me more employable after I graduate, as not many other graduates will have had a whole year of real experience in the workplace.”

We are currently recruiting replacements to continue this process. If you are an architecture student seeking an internship, please visit our contact us page for further details and contact information.

chain reaction takes fast food to a new level

The ‘one look for everywhere’ approach, which traditionally made sense and helped to underscore a brand’s identity has begun to look downmarket rather than consistent, and impersonal rather than recognisable. Consumers expect a more premium experience and the cookie-cutter strategy that dominated the sector is rapidly losing traction. Part of the reason is the artisan ethos pioneered by the smaller players. Brands like Bill’s and Leon – both of which have less than 100 UK sites, tapped into the zeitgeist by borrowing design cues from aspirational domestic interiors and as a result made ambiance the essence of the brand. Fashionable industrial lighting, quality natural materials, quirky buildings, intriguing props and unusual artwork give customers an authentic sense of place.

Big brands are tapping into the trend and are making the expression of their identities far more nuanced. KFC, the epitome of a fast food brand – have also been able to make the strategy work. It’s Bracknell outlet launched a radical new look with brick panels, copper lighting fixtures and handwritten signs. The sense of stylish domestic interior is evident through ‘kitchen tables’ with pendant lighting, which evoke the idea of shared family meals, while the semi-open plan kitchen makes food preparation feel more intimate. The iconic KFC colourways, graphics and visual identity take a back seat and allow the environment to become the brand hero. Burger King has also chosen to move away from full on corporate statement with a new scheme that combines copper, brick, bamboo and reclaimed wood. Branding is subtle with logos embossed into solid wood tabletops. These sorts of environments pick up on the UK consumer’s longstanding love affair with property design and interiors.

We have become less impressed with monolithic faceless corporations and want businesses to demonstrate honesty, authenticity and a more personal service. Branding is now about capturing an ambiance rather than corporate colours and a logo count. The fast food sector is particularly vulnerable to this change in consumer expectation and we can expect to see the trend for more intimate, almost domestic environments to continue in the future.

Nigel Collett – CEO, rpa:group.

“Phygital” – blending the physical and digital worlds of retail

The real purpose of phygital design is to create meaningful transactions and here I mean not only the exchange of money but the exchange of information, a limitless transaction without boundaries of physical space and time limits. The presence of this transaction extends into home, work, leisure and all the spaces in-between. Smart Technology is the means of harnessing this endless transaction in our lives, through smartphones, tablets, PCs, TV’s, wearable and even kitchen appliances. By far, the most important part of this connected culture is the two-way nature of the modern Transaction. In exchange for ultra-personalised service, the consumer trades with their personal information. The retail ecosystem uses this to target future transactions and perpetuate the phygital relationship. How then do we harness the power of this Transaction in a Phygital Design? The answer requires a true understanding of the consumer, the shopper tribe frequenting your store and a willingness on behalf of the retailer to embrace change.

First, we must create an experience, not a website, not an environment. This experience needs to deliver three desired outcomes: immediacy, immersion and interaction. Immediacy and Interaction are relatively easy to provide. Immersion, on the other hand, can be delivered through retail theatre, creating incredible environment and amazing spaces. Truly effective, phygital brand immersion needs to be linked with emotion: a bond made at a sub-conscious level and therefore stronger than any consciously generated suggestion. Understanding and addressing all the senses at this level drives massive commercial potential and it’s the clever use of technology that enables it. An unforgettable retail experience is what we are aiming for here, as the visionary Seth Godin said, “If we’re going to shop, then, there’s an imperative to make it engaging, thrilling and worth the resources we put into it.” With a fresh outlook and the willingness to think outside of the retail box, we can create compelling phygital environments. We certainly have the right audience in the 21st century. The tech literate generations X, Y and Z are ready to engage with something new. We live in a world where customers have grown to expect as opposed to desire. Now shoppers simply expect 3D environments to ‘raise the bar’ of retail experience year on year. We are rapidly reaching the point where a lack of phygital innovation will seriously impact the bottom line of brands that can’t keep up. As ever it will be the innovators who set the pace of change and therefore of consumer expectations.

What constitutes excellence in customer experience is being re-defined by the shopper and often goes far beyond a friendly greeting and helpful service. However, I would sound a note of caution here. It’s easy to be led by what you think the consumer wants, or by fads and fashions. There is no substitute for knowing the shopper who buys your brand. Don’t take them on a journey they feel uncomfortable with and don’t disappoint them when they show interest in a destination you have never heard of! Ultimately, Phygital is flexible but you must always make it meaningful.

why are stores being redesigned more often?

This means individual elements have to be completely compatible with existing products, so that they can be used without difficulty and facilitate the renovation and remodelling of the store with as little time and effort as possible. Today’s stores no longer just have to stand up to comparisons with other retailers on location, but are also in a global competition thanks to the Internet. Merchandise and products are available anytime and anywhere thanks to modern mobile devices. Customers get updated with frequently changing content and have come to expect the same in a physical store environment. Flexibility and engaging retail design are by no means irrelevant; customers still want individual and pleasant shopping experiences. Even if many retailers are now also online, the store remains an important component in the marketing mix.

Through store design and store furnishings, central marketing messages can be directly communicated to customers. In addition, they are indispensable to create unique incentives to buy that differ from those on the Internet and from other competitors. Environment, product and customer service defines brand and forms the connection. More than ever, retailers today have to worry about which target audience they want to reach and which channel enables the best and most direct sales approach in certain cases. However, modern shop-fitting does not just cater to the customer, but also to the purchasing situation and the type of products.

In any case, digital presentation media and a comprehensively arranged, flexible shopfitting concept facilitate a perfect target audience adaptation of the store and enables for quick remodelling to support special sales campaigns. This flexibility is also more economical and allows for continuous engagement with customers because it can be evolved and also allows for bringing in local relevance to the environment. With a direct focus on the customer and their needs, retail design creates emotional buying incentives and effective need satisfaction, which online retail is not able to offer customers. After all, sales promoting emotions are still best created directly at the point of sale.

school rebuilds should be about collaboration, imagination and budgeting…

Time and time again we have found that it is entirely possible to improve older buildings, retain their intrinsic character, and even incorporate current and future trends in teaching. As a team we are no strangers to innovative repurposing of buildings to create outstanding educational spaces that deliver a ‘wow factor’ for both educationalists and students. All it takes is inventive and resourceful use of budgets and real collaboration between all stakeholders.

So, what delivers a great school and what are the ingredients that make something leap beyond the mundane and enter the territory of the inspirational? First of all, partnership is vital. Architects, consultants and designers need to work together in a truly symbiotic way and they all need to work with (and understand) those who will use the school – namely the teachers and the students. Understanding their requirements, desires and challenges will go a long way. Secondly, the team needs to both understand and embrace change. All parties should address where teaching will be in say 10-20 years time. This throws up all manner of topics such as, will we still have classrooms as we know them or will we have more flexible spaces?

Our work for King’s Maths School supports a ‘break-out’ strategy, with brightly coloured pods allowing students to work alone or in small groups. We also need to think about some real fundamentals like the use of walls in the classroom. Currently walls are a vital teaching aid that provides show-space for students work, particularly in primary schools. However, walls can be made to slide and fold so that space can be reconfigured. The question is whether this adds to or subtracts from the ameneties on offer to teachers? Overall It’s vitally important that architects and designers challenge schools to think outside the box and if they do, some great things can be done. All it takes is collaboration, imagination and a sensible budget.

How to reach customers not interested in in-store technology

Do we really understand who uses technology and how they want it to operate within a retail environment? Does everybody want their store to have the latest gadgets? Having taken an initial ‘giant leap’ for customer-kind, many stores have become a committed part of the technology vanguard, pioneering in-store solutions that have the ring of science fiction about them: iris recognition, smart changing rooms, near field communications and clothing that can read your moods. They have seen the ultimate promise of ‘big data’ and are working on how to personalise their stores in order to get to know their customers better than anybody had ever dreamed possible.

All this is exciting territory, however, despite the overall trend, it’s inevitable that a significant number of customers will feel disgruntled and even at odds with a brand to which they have previously been loyal. This group will be quite diverse in attitudes: some will not want to fully embrace IT in their own homes and daily lives, let alone want to experience it in-store. Others may actively enjoy technology but be turned off by it in certain situations or environments. Retailers have to think carefully about how to respond to this situation – after all some ‘techno-phobics’ may be their best customers. For a retailer, it’s now all about understanding ‘tribes’ that make up their customer base. Tribes are not brought together by age, gender or geography or even income, but by being like-minded.

We have identified over the past year or so a number of key tribes to assist our clients: the ‘style-conscious tribe’, the ‘value tribe’, the ‘urban chic’, the ‘collaborators’, the ‘iconoclasts’ and many others. Within any tribe there will be sub-tribes and there will also be members of the tribe that cross over between their tribe and another. For example, research has revealed that 63% of shoppers welcome a mobile app personalised to navigate stores and 43% find in-store location deals (where their location is tracked in order to trigger personalised promotions whilst shopping) positively “cool”. Some are delighted to have intelligent fitting rooms that ‘talk’ to them but would be horrified by the prospect of a salesperson greeting them by name when entering a store, after receiving a signal from the consumer’s mobile phone.
In fact, an overwhelming 73% found the thought of that service ‘creepy’ when asked. In addition, 68% of UK shoppers find facial recognition unnerving.

In the light of findings retailers need to identify the tribes in their customer base and create the ultimate retail environment for them, based on an understanding of their motivations, IT habits and general psychology. That is just as important as being up to speed with the latest techno inventions.

impulse purchasing – creating the right store environment for impulse buyers

First and foremost, you need to define the values that make your brand relevant to your customers and differentiate it from competitors. Then it’s about developing an interior concept that communicates those values, attracting customers and enticing them to spend more in-store, via both planned and impulse purchases. To achieve this the store must become a seductive, compelling environment that tells the “brand story”. Getting the right interior look is critical and interior architecture has got to be exactly on brand.

Creating a unique ‘signature’ environment is often about creating an aspirational environment, a sense of belonging.Tommy Hilfiger for example recently converted a listed building in Berlin, which the design team loaded with beautiful antique light fixtures, interesting pieces of furniture, beautiful rugs and comfortable leather sofas and armchairs. These make some parts of the store feel like a very chic home, one that you are excited and privileged to be in. In fact, the store is so beautiful that you ache to take a part of it home with you, and of course you can, because the gorgeous clothes hanging on the rails are for sale! Also, make sure that your store has “speed bumps”: merchandise displays that work much the same way as speed bumps in parking lots: they slow customers down.

One of the best ‘speed bumps’ is the changing room area. If the customer has made it this far, they intend to make a purchase and one might assume that all spontaneity has now been used up. However, this is vital impulse territory. For example, ‘smart’ changing rooms, that suggest items to go along with the one selected by the customer, frequently unlock our impulsive side, bringing what retail anthropologist Rich Kizer calls “merchandise outposts” back into the customer journey. Although, they may have passed the handbags five minutes earlier with no interest at all, having a compatible handbag suggested at this point can often promote the “I need that!” response, which goes on to secure a sale. If you own a retail store you will undoubtedly understand the simple idea that if customers spend more time in your store, they are more likely to spend more money.

US company, Path Intelligence, recently published a report that shows that extending a customer’s visit by 1%, will see a 1.3% increase in sales. Basically, the longer they stay in store the more unplanned or spontaneous their purchases become. So, get the look right, bear in mind dwell time, make people feel happy, indulged and relaxed. You have now set the scene to encourage very profitable impulse behaviour!

showdown… or showroom…

A recent article by market observer TNS claims that mobiles can be used to tame the risk of showrooming by boosting brand interaction with consumers and converting them from browsers into customers. Of the 38,000 people surveyed across 43 countries, 33% had visited a store to try out products without buying them, with 21% using their mobile devices to showroom. This represents a huge opportunity for brands to approach consumers in a buying environment, as these activities say loud and clear that they are ready to interact with brands whilst in a store.

A staggering 20% of mobile users participating in the poll said that they were willing to receive mobile coupons during their shopping trip and 13% would be interested to use the services of a ‘virtual sales assistant’, which could provide additional information about items. Rather than being the IT devil incarnate, showroomers generally just want to find out more about the price of a product and its suitability and they successfully achieve this by reading reviews in social media, from friends and family and sales staff. This suggests that brands need to adopt a more integrated approach that allows for reaching consumers and meeting their needs at all touch points.

Matthew Froggatt, Chief Development Officer at TNS, rounds it all up quite nicely when he says, “Rather than seeing mobile as a threat to in-store sales, brands and retailers must embrace it as the most immediate and personalised way to engage shoppers to ensure that they don’t leave empty-handed.”

Another interesting piece of research, this time from retail training company Beyond The Box, makes another point that can easily be tackled by retailers. It claims that consumers showroom not just to save money, but because staff are unhelpful and ill-informed. The majority of those surveyed felt that retail staff, were failing to ‘connect’ with them or their needs, and that staff failed to ‘explain products and services’ to them. If this is true, there is one major dynamic being overlooked by retailers, today’s customers want information, lots of it, they are price savvy and, both online and in-store, they are looking for exceptional service. Sadly, the research shows that if customers are unable to find an empathetic and informed retail professional to talk with, there is a very good chance they’ll take their business online.

To sum up, UK retailers need to culture showrooming, encourage it, embrace it, and if they do they will benefit, honest. Make friends with the mobile, encourage people to use your store in a more high tech way, and make sure your staff deliver the experience that today’s consumers are looking for.

restaurants: high street newbies get a slice of the action

Established chains like Pizza Express, Mr Pretzels, Hummingbird Bakery and Starbucks are doing well, but there’s no doubt that restaurants still need to find exactly the right interior design recipe in order to succeed. More than ever diners are looking for added benefit, both in the food they eat and in the restaurant environment itself and it’s only those that can tap into the zeitgeist when it comes to their look that will survive the choppy waters of an uncertain economy. Two of the most interesting eateries that we have come across recently are MASH and Moment.

MASH, or the Modern American Steak House, may just be one of those right time right place offerings. The hugely successful Copenhagen Concepts, plumped for Soho as its first foray outside of Denmark and looks like its got a hit on its hands. However, restauranteur Peter Trauboth comments that the brand is going to take it’s time considering whether to stick or twist when it comes to a UK roll out, “it’s one thing to play like a world champion at home but it’s another to go to Wembley,” he says modestly. However, at the moment with rave reviews, things are looking good and the 300 seat restaurant that brings style to steak, is a far cry from your local Angus. But, having said that, a big hit calls for broad appeal, and MASH’s interior design has set out to appeal to women, an American inspired trend that is happening throughout the steak world at the moment.

Can we support the growing numbers of steak restaurants? It would appear that MASH is not life threatening to London’s other high end steakeries although its kind could just sound the death knell for the few remaining Angus Steak Houses. Also, on the wave of a new look is Greggs which has launched ‘Moment’, a Newcastle coffee bar concept that leaves the doughnut and the almond slice far behind. More restaurant than corner cafe it sports chesterfield sofas, discreet lighting, and elegant
coffee tables. It deserves to catch on, but I cannot think why they have retained the Greggs identity on the fascia.

All of this is a far cry from the bakery I knew and loved as a 6th former and, as I pause through my first bite of a perfectly frosted cupcake, I wonder if I’ve fallen into a parallel universe. It’s only the picture of Greggs fascia board, uploaded by a puzzled Geordie onto the brand’s Facebook page and succinctly captioned: “Explain?”, that brings me crashing back to earth. With its low cost food and high comfort surroundings, Moment is right for an age of austerity where people are looking for alternatives to expensive high street coffee shops. But does it have the magic that’s needed to hack it on the high street? Some soul searching is obviously going on as Tony Rowson, formerly a senior executive at Costa Coffee, has been asked to look at the brand’s potential for a UK roll-out. So, we shall see.

…the future of retail

Apparently women in their 30’s are most likely to rage at the unsatisfactory space allocated for trying on clothes (72%). The study, commissioned by isme, found that fully 75% of women are so fed-up with cramped, cluttered and exposed fitting rooms that they’ve stopped trying clothes on altogether, and 60% of women admit to angrily leaving garments on the nearest rail rather than endure changing cubicle. This is surprising given that according to separate research, 71% of those who try clothes on buy (according to London consultancy Envision Retail), as opposed to just 10% of those who do not try the clothes on in store. And retailers widely acknowledge the importance of the changing room experience. Therefore, stores need to really step up their game in respect of dressing rooms, because that is where the emotion happens with a product. A display can make you fall in love with something, but when a shopper can try it on, in a beautifully furnished and well lit space, then they fall in love with the item on themselves.

Stores need to be designed in a way that features the changing room as the focus of the experience – and added value services are being provided to shoppers as they make their way through their purchase paths. Yet when asked about their emotional state upon visiting a high street changing room, 58% of women expressed feeling disappointed in, and 48% feeling frustrated with, their experience. The major changing room gripes highlighted include curtains that don’t shut properly (55%), long queues (41%), no hooks to hang own clothes on (41%) and not enough space (40%). Other top ten gripes include ‘poor lighting’. But this is a good example of how a seemingly simple expectation by customers may not be all that it seems… While studies have examined lighting on the sales floor, there is very little data on the effects it has on shoppers in dressing rooms.

A recent study by Baumstarck, of female shoppers aged 18 to 35 who tried on clothes, showed a clear preference for frontal lights (those installed along the sides of the mirror) to overhead lights, which were ceiling mounted. Women complained that overhead lighting created shadows on their face and made them look unattractive. To avoid these unwanted shadows, shoppers had to step back from the mirror. Overhead lighting also makes a room seem smaller, creating a ‘claustrophobic’ experience. With frontal lighting, dressing rooms appear bigger and shoppers are willing to stay longer and even try on more clothes. Adult behaviour psychologist, Susan Quilliam says: “Beautiful clothes will always make a woman feel more beautiful and therefore more positive about her appearance, and more optimistic in general. We often use shopping to offset disappointments in other parts of life, or to balance out the negative emotions we feel about ourselves and others.

But if the shopping experience itself is negative, the whole event can be utterly destructive. Instead of boosting our self-esteem, it saps it; instead of making us feel good about ourselves and our lives, it brings up frustration, irritation and anger.” At a time when retailers are looking to every part of their businesses to improve performance, there is no substitute for good design based upon research. The use of space, lighting and brand identity within the changing areas have to make it easy for the consumer to buy into the brand ethos as much as the clothes themselves. The whole experience has to be appropriate for the shopper and their expectations of the brand. Outside of the changing rooms, the lobby needs to be inviting and designed to facilitate an attentive interaction between staff and customers. And in the era of multi-channel retailing, interactive technologies such as the magic mirror, virtual closet and other interactive dressing room technologies need to be appropriately integrated into the shopping and brand experience. In changing rooms and adjacent areas the application of expert design and input will, it seems, inevitably reward retailers with higher sales and happier customers.

a luxury retail bric in the wall

Part of the fall-out of such rapid economic growth is that the established rich and emerging BRIC middle classes are now enjoying their wealth through buying into Western luxury. According to Euromonitor the BRIC economies accounted for 11% of all global luxury sales by value last year, and will achieve 16% by 2017. China, by far the star of this trend and the big prize in the luxury goods market, has seen its consumption triple over the last five years. Forecasters say that by 2017 China will double in value again, overtaking Western Europe and Japan and establishing itself as the second biggest luxury market in the world after the US.

The country is the Holy Grail for luxury retailers, with innumerable Western store launches, not just in the major cities, but also in second and third tier markets too. Some names dominate: the forty year old Mulberry brand has a Beijing flagship and plans thirty more stores for the region, Dunhill which opened its first store in Shanghai twenty years ago now has one hundred stores and Burberry has fifty five stores across the country and nine in Beijing alone. But, will the High Street brands be able to replicate the success of their designer and luxury counterparts? Many American and European clothing brands have ambitious plans for China and others are entering the market for the first time this year. They are competing in an apparel market that was worth £150bn last year and if they get it right there are undoubtedly profits to be made.

Inditex, owners of Spanish fast fashion brand Zara, definitely lead the pack with 350 stores across mainland China. Sweden’s H&M opened 32 outlets last year and now has 78 stores in China. Analysts believe the brand will treble its store numbers over the next 3 years. Meanwhile, Gap aims to have 45 stores by the end of 2013. Others have so far embraced expansion on a more modest scale. M&S opened its first store in Shanghai in 2008 and now plans to increase numbers to 18 across the country. Top Shop has been even more tentative, making do with a pop-up store during last year’s Beijing Design Week, albeit a move that could herald a more permanent foothold. Hollister, a sub brand of Abercrombie & Fitch, is also eyeing up the Chinese mainland and Forever 21 has flagships in both Beijing and Shanghai. John Lewis Partnership is also exploring shops in China, a move which would mark its first foray outside the UK.

Closer to home, western retailers have not been slow to grasp the opportunity presented by Russia’s fast growing economy. There is also very good news for challenger European and American brands, as pointed out by Per Kaufman, chief executive of Russian operations for Ikea, who says, “It is a bit like the Wild West a hundred years ago. There is such demand and dynamism in the market that you can succeed even if you’re not the top retailer.”

Our own involvement in Russia with Nokia’s Vertu brand and Tommy Hilfiger shows that upmarket stores in Moscow and St Petersburg are already no different from those of any other major capital. Russian consumers, like their Chinese counterparts, see Western brands as a means of self definition. With the average Russian income having increased sixteen fold in the past 12 years it’s no longer only those on the biggest salaries that can wear foreign clothes and use foreign cosmetics, even though it may still be the preserve of the rich to drive one of the 15,000 Jaguars and Landrovers that will be sold in Russia this year, or to own an i-pad. Again, like China, brands such as Zara have responded to the increasing middle class desire for western fashion with aggressive growth plans. The company has a plan to open 50 new shops a year, and names like Hamleys and Debenhams are rushing to join early entrants like M&S.

It will be interesting to see what other developments take place in the two most dynamic BRIC markets over the course of the next 12 months. But, one key thing is evident right now, western retail expertise will be in high demand alongside the influx of western products. rpa:group for example have been working with a major Russian retailer on their corporate identity and the retail concept design of one hundred plus stores. And the message is clear, Russians like the reassurance of western design, even if the goods they are buying are Russian.

Big Data or Big Brother?

Maybe too many retail brands are so heavily focussed on the sophisticated techniques which can slice and dice data, that they are beginning to overlook the ‘softer’ skill of understanding the customer? An American professor was explaining on the TV just this week how a mobile phone switched on in somebody’s pocket or handbag, can gather endless data on consumer behaviour patterns in a cityscape. How and when consumers travel, where and what they eat and drink, where and for how long they congregate – there was no end to the information. The spy-like invasion of consumers’ everyday life is compelling, but what happens when this intelligence is put into a retail marketing strategy?

It is easy to assume that once the complex task of analysis has been completed, all that remains is to attach a logical marketing communication and your work is done.

For instance, mobile-watching might reveal the group that walk the least and spend the most time in fast-food outlets and would therefore be high risk for obesity and diabetes. It would make sense to target them with ads for diet foods according to the data.

But data is ultimately meaningless if not informed by insight into the customer. No one likes to think they are being tracked down by the data’s Big Game Hunters and if you happen to be overweight, with a weakness for a Big Mac and fries, you are probably going to be insulted by finding diet food ads dropping through your letterbox or popping up on your computer screen. “Why me?” you might think, “Are they trying to suggest I’m too fat?” Equally, if you are over 50, it makes for a depressing self image to be bombarded with offers of life insurance, care homes, and incontinency products! You may be overweight and you may be getting on a bit, but you don’t need to reminded of it every time you log on to Facebook!

Mary Portas, the British retail guru made a comment this week on national radio that shops are frequented by people. That may sound a bit daft, but think a moment. Regard your customers as people and treat them with respect and you can’t go too far wrong. Regard them merely as ‘targets’ and see them only as a possible quick sale and you run the risk of alienating them forever.

Big Data is all well and good, but be careful about the insights you take from it and the actions that arise from these insights. Quantitative data is a useful tool, but at the end of the day advertising is about real people connecting with real people in a meaningful way.

Advertise to people with too much surgical precision and you may risk causing them annoyance and these days, when customer reaction is quick and far reaching, you may run the risk of unleashing the darker side of the social media genii. Personally, I have always believed the old adage that a happy customer tells three people whereas an unhappy customer tells ten, and now, in the age of social media, the ten carries on to be hundreds if not thousands.

So, don’t hunt your customers down and get too much into their personal space. Don’t make them feel that a Retail Big Brother is always watching them and has cynically sliced and diced their habits to reveal every strand of their shopping DNA. Be polite, be friendly and respectful, and consign the pushy and too familiar side of marketing to the wastebasket.

a load of old crystal balls?

Apparently, Argos shoppers are in for an in store treat soon when they will be offered the chance to shop via an interactive crystal glass ball.

The retailer claims that the ball will measure body temperature and moisture to assess stress levels and then using unique ‘destiny’ algorithms it will read the customer’s mind! Once the crystal ball has calculated what product the customer desires it sends an order to staff in the stockroom who will prepare the product. The plans follow Amazon’s move, revealed in January, to send packages to customers before they have ordered them using predictive demand analytics! The technology has been developed in its Future Purchasing Lightbulb Eureka lab, located in a converted warehouse off the Silicon Roundabout in Shoreditch.

Argos chief digital fortune teller and innovative innovator of technological solutions April Day said: “It’s going to transform the way retailers react to customer needs, customers won’t want to waste energy making up their minds on what type of ear phones or food processor they buy next, they can just use the crystal ball to tell them what they need.” Argos plans to trial the technology in a handful of stores before rolling it out. Spoof or not one thing in this story sounds really good – the Eureka Lab – more companies should have one!

olympic torch lights up the economy…

After playing our own small part in the mega event of London 2012, RPA is settling down, like so many others, to evaluate the legacy of the Games for Britain.

The euphoric wave of medal winning, creativity and showmanship delivered by The Summer of Sport gave us something more fundamental and longer lasting than a few weeks of top class entertainment. It gave us back something of the confidence and self-belief that had been slowly ebbing away over the past few years of recession. And, perhaps more importantly, it gave us an excellent opportunity to rebuild ourselves, not just at home but abroad. Now British business needs to work hard to take advantage of our new found confidence and build upon it. We need more initiatives like the ‘British Business Embassy’ run at Lancaster House alongside the Olympics. The “embassy” arranged for 4,000 business leaders to attend the biggest trade event ever held in the UK, and helped to generate £1bn of the £11bn of trade and inward investment so far expected as a result of the Games.

As we officially leave recession behind us the economic benefits of the Games have started to kick in. Now, something needs to underpin what we have achieved so far and it’s the perfect time for British brands to embrace being British, associating their products and services with the fundamental values of heritage, passion and style that were illustrated so well in Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony. Maybe it’s time that we revisited the advertising campaign, created by Mother for the British Government in 2011? The campaign, centered around the word ‘Great’ was intended to send out the message loud and proud that this is a great place to do business. Then, against a backdrop of rioting hoodies, it didn’t strike the right note, but now it would be a perfect fit. If there was ever a time and a place to put the ‘Great’ back into Britain it is here and now.

The feel good factor should also help lift the mood on Britain’s High Streets, as the success of the Games is predicted to bring more visitors to the UK in coming months and years. Stores should be planning to take a leaf out of Danny Boyle’s book. After all, he showed the world how impactful ‘theatre’ can be, and that theatre can be translated into the retail environment. It’s important to remember that we are not just feeling different about ourselves we are also being viewed differently overseas. Feedback from colleagues and clients across the globe all boils down to buzz words like quality, innovation and success. There is a universal feeling that Britain can punch above its weight and still has what it takes. Once again global investors are prepared to listen and willing to invest in BrandGB, and that is a legacy worth having.

a brit of luxury….

Until now that it is.

Britishness is definitely hip again and companies like Burberry are steaming ahead with spectacular growth revenues up nearly 30% last year, Mulberry profits are up over 300 % and even huge ticket item like Rollers are seeing huge growth with the luxury car company reporting 40% growth thanks to high demand in the emerging BRIC economies. Some of the smarter old wave Brit luxury brands are reinventing themselves nicely on the back of this new wave of cash and popularity. Barbour for example has collaborated with a series of very “now” designers such as the Japanese Tokihito Yoshida, and is in such demand that Anne Pitcher, managing director of Selfridges, says she “can scarcely keep it in stock”, so fast is it selling.

Whilst over at Barbour’s headquarters, figures confirm another success story – turnover has risen 20 per cent. Everywhere one turns, one sees Britishness being celebrated: Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher, the cast of Downton Abbey feted like rock stars in the US, then of course there was the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. It’s interesting that sometimes it takes a foreigner to see what’s so great about being British. Ed Burstell, an American who is now managing director of the London department store Liberty, which has always leveraged Britishness as one of its great themes, is convinced something new is in the air. “I see many customers who want to own a piece of something British, and they’re willing to pay a premium price for it.” Changing tastes certainly seem to be running in Britain’s favour.

Throw in a bit of heritage and genuine quality and 2013 could be a great one for all that we do best.

launching the bim revolution

Colour coding would vary from organisation to organisation. Designers wishing to share information with contractors would have to explain their standards on each project. There would be no continuity from job to job, massive duplication of effort between parties and inevitable conflicts between designer, contractor, facilities managers and clients. Clearly such a system would be unworkable. A common standard is a must to optimise efficiencies, safety and cost effectiveness. Pity then the architects, engineers, contractors, clients, et al, who are tasked with working from shared BIM information…

Designed to avoid conflicts, optimise efficiency through materials and time savings and provide valuable data after the initial build for the operation, maintenance and modification of the buildings, the lack of standardisation (or “social BIM”) makes the full realisation of the BIM’s potential impossible. “My business was an early adopter of BIM and we have for some time been realising significant efficiencies on behalf of our clients. Nevertheless, the lack of common standards outside of our organisation can be extremely frustrating. So who is going to drive this need for standardisation?” asks Derek Pratley, director at rpa:group.

Government is capable of forcing the issue, of course, through legislation or economic imperatives. David Philip, Head of BIM implementation for The Cabinet Office, has stated that government tenders will soon require BIM. “We are developing simple guidance and templates through the first tranche of our (funded) work packages, which will be complete by Q1 2012, allowing BIM tenders to start entering the pipeline… towards full adoption by 2016”. Adam Matthews of Autodesk’s Government Affairs team and supporting the BIM Task Group, asserts that while the Government is not saying BIM is mandatory, it is specifying outcomes and deliverables that add a commercial imperative to the adoption of BIM for those wishing to work on public sector projects, and so creating impetus for change.

Matthews points out that, in a quest to meet its target of reducing the cost of constructing and running public buildings by 20% by 2016, the Government has, as part of this strategy, adopted a five point plan. The idea is to look for savings in the key areas of inter alia procurement and facilities management, something that BIM lends itself readily to the pursuit of. Accordingly the Government now requires building information to be offered in a format called COBie (Construction Operations Building information exchange). It’s a long description for something quite straightforward: the COBie file contains the information required by an owner/operator to manage a building through its operational phase. Additionally traditional drawing submittals to public clients are not going to be acceptable simply in PDF formats; going forward BIM models will be required in native file formats along with the COBie file. And in June the British Standards will publish the new PAS1192:2 standard: a guidance note for how the supply chain on public works can share information and collaborate with themselves.

But if the Government, while falling short of making BIM mandatory, is encouraging its use by the construction and FM industries, who has the influence necessary to put BIM centre stage in the private sector?

An example of large organisations making the running would be the BIM For Retail forum. Comprising Asda, Waitrose, John Lewis and 3 others, with advice from architects HOK and engineers Romboll, the forum is designed to “agree standards and processes for BIM that will improve the quality of design information, what standard to work to and how to manage it”, according to James Brown, head of model and specification for Asda. Wal Mart, owners of Asda, is of course an American company. It is worth noting that in the US the application of BIM has been more readily seized upon and the level of advancement there is now some way ahead of UK practice. There companies in the Retail, Healthcare and Education sectors have readily embraced the value realisable from BIM, in terms of the supply chain, and are much more inclined to mandate the delivery of BIM.

Another view is that contractors themselves should be responsible for agreeing common standards. Chris Gilmour of BAM Construction UK, says “contractors need to accept the responsibility of being the integrators.”

“There is no doubt that there is a swell of activity across the industry responding to the government’s BIM strategy. The clear message I hear from those already adopting it is that it’s better to start early and gain the internal efficiency and value benefits from BIM rather than trying to play catch-up”, says Adam Matthews. Whoever drives it, there needs to be a standard for BIM. There’s a convention for AutoCAD; everyone knows that. If you pick up a drawing anyone can work from it. And with an estimated 68% of firms stating that they have shared BIM information with firms outside of their own organisations, the urgent need for common standards is clear.

an “olympic year” for the hotel industry

However, Michael Saunders, of Citigroup, has examined the data from ten Olympics held between 1964 and 2008. He finds that growth tends to rise in the run-up to the tournament, but the effect starts to fall away even before the games begin. Then afterwards, growth tends to be weaker.

Visa Europe’s report concedes: “This is a first for an Olympic Games host market, which usually experience a domestic spending slump during the Games. This will be driven by the public’s enthusiasm for the Games, demonstrated by the high demand for Olympic tickets.” Who is right? We shall see. It is perhaps ironic that a year that brings the largest sporting event that the UK has ever seen may also herald a break up of the Euro. The hotel industry is, of course, international by its nature. If a Eurozone break up was to occur it has been estimated that we could see national currencies devaluing by up to 40%, impacting profits derived from Euro transactions. Fingers crossed…To add to the litany of others, there is the potential threat of the “staycation”, where people choose to spend their vacation time at or near home in order to save money.

However, “holidaying at home” has boosted UK demand, with Butlins and Haven holiday parks seeing a 6% rise in pre-tax profits to £93.4 million in the year to December 2010, thanks to Britain’s ‘staycation’ trend as the weak pound makes it relatively expensive to go overseas. So actually, perhaps that is a good thing. Whatever your take on prospects for the future, it is a fact that the UK leads the way in hotel property sales and investment. In 2010 it topped Europe in terms of hotel transactions, with a figure of €1.9 billion.

In recent years, private equity firms have made big profits through aggressive acquisition strategies. However, they no longer have the influence they perhaps once did at a time when funds are hard to borrow and valuations declining. Some funding is moving back towards traditional models, such as the Feathers Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel chains in the North West of England. They announced in October 2011 that they are to invest further money into their portfolio of three
and four-star hotels with the continued financial support of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Corporate and Institutional Banking (RBS CIB) team.

Other funding models, increasingly popular with the value hotel chains, are a little more complex. The concept is that a developer, who is often also a contractor, builds the hotel and then leases it to an operator for 25-30 years at a predetermined rent level. The operator never actually owns the hotel. Containing cost is an essential part of making these arrangements work, and so a particular approach is necessary. Planning costs can be minimized by an appreciation of the appetite each planning authority has for such schemes, be they new build or the increasingly popular conversion of 1960’s and 70’s office blocks. An understanding of the necessary occupancy levels and room numbers, together with an operator’s preferred location criteria, footprint and mix of retail and accommodation on a development avoid wasted time and money. Construction utilizing modular techniques may cost a similar amount to that using conventional techniques. However, construction times, even on complex projects, can be substantially truncated – perhaps by as much as 60% – greatly reducing the overall cost of the building. This innovative approach can make otherwise unworkable schemes viable for both developer and operator.

One such value hotel chain, Travelodge, announced in December 2011 that they would target 146 new UK sites for openings in 2012, including 26 new hotels throughout London to be opened ahead of the Games – all within walking distance of the Olympic venues. So clearly the model can be successfully employed. The boutique hotel sector, after undergoing a period of expansion over the past few years, is also proving resilient. Smaller properties commanding higher revenue per room have proved attractive to operators grappling with the economic downturn. Research suggests it is the fastest growing hotel segment in London and is expected to have doubled in size by 2013. In conclusion, it has been said that if you took all the economists in the world and laid them end to end… they still could not reach a conclusion!

Despite uncertainty in the market, smart hotel operators are continuing to invest; to take advantage of the many opportunities that come their way, and to build their businesses. Now is the right time for all operators to identify what opportunities are available to take advantage of, whether through acquisition or redevelopment. Every operator should be looking for a positive advantage, not just preparing for the worst, which may never happen.