retail | In Your Head

taking stock

May 30, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

East meets West at Totokaelo's latest Seattle boutique in Capitol Hill.

The cult concept, created by Jill Wenger, captures a casual, calculated refinement with exceptional merchandising. The architectural space is the perfect canvas for an expanded product assortment, which now includes the sister concept ‘Totokaelo Art—Object’.

Totokaelo (pronounced TOH-toh-KYE-oh) peeked the interest of many LA boutique owners during out market visit last year and we're delighted that this new move is not only an expansion but an evolution.

Tags: retail, merchandising, visual merchandising trends, apparel, housewares

it's a small world (after all)

May 23, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

IKEA smallest store

Here's a new spin on mini-momentum: “The smallest store in the world” by Swedish housewares retailer IKEA.

Blending smart commerce, augmented reality (AR), and digital merchandising within a 300 X 250 (10.5cm x 8.8cm) web banner, the eCommerce store makes the most of space while representing the entire IKEA assortment. The video below explains the concept.

“With city populations on the rise, living spaces have become increasingly limited,” the company explains. “IKEA believes that no matter how cramped your space, there’s always a solution.” To demonstrate that belief, the company — generally known for its oversized retail spaces — has packed a full store with 2,800 products into the space of a small web banner. Shoppers who visit the diminutive store by hovering their mouse over it can then browse by department, choose what they want, and buy it online. “We targeted people looking for studio flats as well as one/two bedroom apartments by placing our tiny stores in the real estate section of community websites,” IKEA notes.

While this is certainly not the most practical way of browsing, we love how the messaging plays on brand-centric ideals which are meant to shift consumers perceptions away from from a mega-store mentality to an omni-channel experience.

Unlike a virtual retail installations, the IKEA "smallest store in the world" symbolizes thoughtful consumption while decreasing workload and span of design within the online and offline worlds.

{source: Springwise}

Tags: retail, eCommerce, housewares, branding, SmartCommerce, AugmentedReality, new media, merchandising

merchandising as a customer service

April 12, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

How do you elevate the categorization and organization of products? Simply make it easier for customers to spend money.

Over-the-top window displays may be decorative, beautiful, and extravagant — but it's often the product merchandising that helps to educate and sell products. Unfortunately, there are limited opportunities to reconfigure fixtures or revolutionize displays. Until now.

According to a new patent application discovered by Apple Insider entitled "Active Electronic Media Packaging", Apple may be working on an active packaging system that would supply power and data to devices, allowing them to display content and show off features to customers while on display in a store. The proposed invention aims to replace the typical labels and other advertising that is found on the outside of product packaging. Instead, Apple's method would let the product sell itself.

{Photo: AppleInsider}

"Although typical packaging for an electronic media device may be designed to adequately protect the device from shock or damage, the packaging is extremely limited in other respects," the filing reads. "For example, the ability to fully view or interact with the electronic media device while still inside the packaging is severely limited in most packaging designs. Although unobtrusive packaging designs have been developed, these designs typically do not allow electronic media devices to be interacted with while inside the packaging."

We love the idea of a wireless powered charging merchandising system that would allow products like the iPhone and iPad to charge while sealed in packaging.

It's the ultimate in customer service.

{source: Apple Insider}

Tags: merchandising, retail, customer service, innovation, visual merchandising trends

Agrarian: upscale products for your DIY projects

April 5, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

Homegrown and homemade are two lifestyle trends spurring product ranges.

Williams-Sonoma is the latest retailer to launch a new product collection “for customers who want to go beyond cooking by cultivating a healthy awareness of where their food comes from.”

{source: Williams-Sonoma}

Rooted in Global Locality & Less-ism (see our 2012 forecast here), the Agrarian line includes upscale gardening and cultivating supplies such as heirloom seeds, gardening tools by Sophie Conran from London, cedar raised beds from Farmer D, chicken coops, culinary herb seed bombs, and home canning & preserving supplies from Europe. For the customer who does not have time to visit the local nursery, live fruit trees, organic herbs, and heirloom vegetables can be delivered to customers’ front doors, ready for planting. Tapping into the DIY trend, cheese-making, kombucha, and sprout kits are available as an alternative to the new range of similar products at Whole Foods.

“Agrarian is yet another way for Williams-Sonoma to bring people together around food,” said Richard Harvey, President, Williams-Sonoma brand. “We’re excited to provide our customers with a collection of products that will enrich their culinary experiences, all while helping them to lead a healthier lifestyle.”

As part of the launch, all Williams-Sonoma stores will offer an “Intro to Edible Gardening: Seed Starting” class on Earth Day, April 22, with the $10.00 class fee donated to the Edible Schoolyard Project.

We like the retailers cause marketing tie-in and applaud efforts to raise awareness about healthy foods but question whether customers need to forgo local hardware store and nurseries for glossier versions of well-made products.

For example, while we feel that canning is a growing trend, we're concerned that the Weck jars within the range of canning supplies are not recommended by the USDA for water-bath canning. According to Canning Across America, an online resource committed to the revival of the lost art of “putting up” food, these jars are tricky to get a good seal with unless you are an experienced canner.

What's your take on Agrarian? Tweet us your feedback or comment on our Facebook page.

{editors note: In Your Head founder, Shannon Kelly, is a member of Canning Across America.}

Tags: food, retail, DIY, canning, housewares, trends, GlobalLocality, Lessism

forecasting beauty (with an ace of spades)

March 19, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

{photo: Sephora.com}

Color can be the ace of spades when launching new products...

Color forecasting company Pantone and Sephora previewed their collaborative beauty range and featured Pantone 2012 color of the year, Tangerine Tango, in the email campaign.

What do you think about color authorities launching for-profit products?

[UPDATED 3.22.12]

The duo will launch a pop-up temporary store in NYC today to promote the range, according to Racked. Read about how Sephora and Pantone plan extend the promotion at retail throughout the year with summer, fall, and holiday collections that put tangerine in a more seasonal context here.

Tags: color trends, beauty, collaborations, retail, eCommerce, campaigns, promotions, trends, popup retail, nyc

a familiar concept

March 10, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

When the Huffington Post shared photos of the new Starbucks 'Concept Shop' in Amsterdam, more than a couple elements in the design looked familiar.

We're not talking about the "U" shaped wine bar or food offerings at the three neighborhood named Seattle "concept shops" which popped up in 2009.

Oddly enough, the Amsterdam store looks much like the cafe in Ketchum, Idaho which opened in November 2011. Both locations feature sustainable design elements, like reclaimed wood, and are located within newly renovated historic buildings.

Perhaps the brand wanted to test the design back home before launching overseas.

Tags: coffee, retail, food, design, QSR, trendscaping, visual merchandising trends

is this the next Downton Abbey?

March 5, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

{Photo: Architecture.com - by Sydney W. Newbery, 1929}

Set in London in 1909, can a new series about the American founder of the Selfridge department store lure viewers with retailing hijinks?

ITV promises to “make shopping as thrilling as sex” following the success of Downton Abbey.

Based upon the book Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge by Lindy Woodhead, the ten-part series with the working title Mr Selfridge centers around Harry Gordon Selfridge, the “showman of shopping” who opened the Oxford Street store but was undone by addictions to gambling, mansions, and mistresses.

“I read Harry Selfridge’s biography a few years ago, and remember thinking ‘we’ll never be able to do this on TV as it would be far too expensive’,” recalls Kate Lewis, executive producer at ITV Studios. But the series got the go-ahead, joining a recent raft of period dramas exploring British social history, including the BBC’s "Call the Midwife" and "Upstairs Downstairs."

Mr. Selfridge with his daughter, Rosalie {photo: News World Digest}

Focusing on the spicier side of Edwardian culture, the drama will switch between the private poker games of the wealthy and the daily struggles of working men and women. Part family saga and part workplace drama, Ms Lewis promises “a fresh spin” on the genre. She says the series will be “heavy on the glamour” and “a little bit sexier than Downton."

According to the ITV press release, ‘Mile a Minute Harry’ was on a mission to create a theater of retail that was open to everyone – regardless of their social class. At this time, London stores including Fenwicks and Liberty employed “walkers” whose job was to eject customers who were merely browsing.

Clearly ITV has a lot riding on the series, which is expected to go into production this year for airing in England in 2013. Until then, we will be reading Ms. Woodhead's novel to gain understanding how this eccentric American transformed the world of London retail into fantastically rich territory.

The nostalgia and escapism of the period drama genre has us hooked.

Tags: fashion, Culture, retail, london, TV, trends, trendscaping

another trend arrival

February 28, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

Airports are looking beyond kitschy souvenirs and lack-luster decor. In the Marseille airport in France, we spotted this creative waiting area adjacent to our British Airways gate.

As far back as April 2008, we wrote about the untapped opportunities at captive venues and pointed to examples at Heathrow, Sea-Tac, and Hong Kong. Since that initial post, a variety of businesses have stepped up their game in an attempt to woo a temporarily beached demographic. Just in the last month, San Francisco International Airport unveiled a yoga room for travellers and the Los Angeles Times reported that airports are becoming classy shopping complexes.

It's not often that we toot our own horn, but we're firm believers that trend projections are only as good as the concepts they inform. To learn more about how we convert consumer insights into made-to-measure strategies for you and your business, inquire about our custom trend reporting.

Tags: captive venues, food, fashion, shopping, france, Culture, SF, trend projections, visual merchandising trends, retail

virtual beauty

February 16, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

{Photo: AdAge.com}

Remember the Procter & Gamble virtual grocery store in Prague that we mentioned last November?

Tapping into two of the top 5 consumer trends for 2012, Glamour Magazine has created a similar installation devoted to beauty products across from the Standard Hotel in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, according to Advertising Age.

Customers simply scan barcodes with an app on their phone to buy real products for home delivery from the Glamour Apothecary Wall. Brands represented in the pop-up presentation include C.O. Bigelow, John Frieda, Elizabeth Arden, Clearasil and Versace.

While the concept of a virtual shopping wall may not be new, we are loving how Glamour Magazine is engaging with customers using innovation in unexpected spaces.

{source: AdAge.com}

Tags: beauty, nyc, retail, popup retail, trends, SmartCommerce, eCommerce