How to get people through the door

I’ve written several times this year about the rise of online retailing and the decline in same-store sales experienced by some retailers. Earlier in the year, I referenced research from BDO International in the UK, which pointed to a drop in store visits in February, corresponding with a huge increase in online sales.

I also talked about the clever retailers and mall operators that are creating great retail environments which remind us just how good a great shopping experience can be.

These new retail spaces are proving so compelling that we go out of way to visit them. In Australia I talked about the extensive revitalisation of Pitt Street Mall in Sydney – and not just the arrival and opening of the new Zara store.

This week I was privileged to see the fruits of six months’ labour, and outstanding design thought, in a newly refurbished men’s fashion store in Bondi, Sydney.

I am privileged to be able to work with David Koch and the team at Kochie’s Business Builders on Channel 7. Last year I undertook a review of a very clever men’s boutique called The Annex, located at the back of Campbell Parade, adjoining Sydney’s Bondi Beach. The program looked at how the owner, Steph, was building her retail business ahead of a major investment in a new store in a new location.

Six months on, I finally got to see the new store. And just like everybody else who has visited – including professional store designers and shopfitters – I was hugely impressed by the innovative selling fixtures tailored to displaying denim, linking heavy wooden railway sleepers with aged cast-iron to create a distinctly male, industrial and sophisticated fashion store. The Annex is a small-footprint men’s fashion store that is true to its owner’s design DNA, its brand and its location.

Cutting through the noise of a busy shopping area is crucial to creating footfall from walk-by and destination shoppers. And being visually enticing for any small format store is a big challenge. Doing it in an area like Bondi, where bohemian, edgy and clever independent retailers breed, is tougher still.

If you have the chance to visit Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall and The Annex in Bondi, you won’t be disappointed. If you want to see a great retail environment, clever use of materials and be reminded of how great a good shopping experience can be, go to Bondi and visit The Annex. It’s a retailing space that’s compelling enough to entice you to go out of your way to visit again and again.

In his role as CEO of CROSSMARK, Kevin Moore looks at the world of retailing from grocery to pharmacy, bottle shops to car dealers, corner store to department stores. In this insightful blog, Kevin covers retail news, ideas, companies and emerging opportunities in Australia, NZ, the US and Europe. His international career in sales and marketing has seen him responsible for business in over 40 countries, which has earned him grey hair and a wealth of expertise in international retailers and brands. CROSSMARK Asia Pacific is Australasia’s largest provider of retail marketing services, consulting to and servicing some of Australasia’s biggest retailers and manufacturers.