Looking Back: Retail
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While it was surmised that the retail apocalypse would decimate the high street, as we explored in our macrotrend, Storefront Salvation, stores this year actually continued to open and succeed. This year has seen retailers reconsider the value propositions of bricks-and-mortar, as well as rethink the metrics they use to define a store’s success.

In some cases, new metrics such as impact on brand impression, inspiration per square foot and customer experience have taken precedence over metrics such as sales per square foot and year-on-year sales. In March, online fashion marketplace Depop opened its first store in Los Angeles, citing the main drive in going physical as marketing, rather than profit.

Previously, retailers have not taken enough of a considered approach to opening physical stores, but we will likely see this shift. ‘Too many retailers have used the scattergun effect – get in as many centres and streets as possible,’ Debra Templar, retail expert and founder of The Templar Group, told LS:N Global. Moving forward, Templar said retailers ‘need to be highly strategic in deciding where to open their stores’.

Coal Drops Yard, a retail development that recently opened in King’s Cross in London, brings together small boutiques, luxury brands and cultural programming in a historic setting. Created by Droga5 London, the eclectic launch campaign combined culture and commerce, much like the space itself.

The visual identity was inspired by the location and the iconic architecture of the site. ‘We used the same shapes that are the very fabric of the building to frame everything you can find there: the history, the culture, the community, the retailers, the spaces and even the people who built it,’ Chris Chapman, head of art at Droga5 London, told LS:N Global.

‘The entire design system also reflects the experience of exploring the layout of Coal Drops Yard itself,’ he explained, noting that different styles and points of view were key to communicating this diversity. To achieve this, the campaign included the work of 20 illustrators and photographers familiar with the King’s Cross area.

In November, future-facing store Neighborhood Goods opened in Plano, Texas. The 14,000-square-footspace represents the next evolution of the bricks-to-clicks movement, which has seen direct-to-consumer brands flocking to the physical storefronts they originally disrupted.

Billing itself as ‘a department store with a story’, Neighborhood Goods stocks a range of digital-first brands such as Hims and MeUndies. But what sets the store apart is the way it looks to improve the physical shopping experience with layers of content and technology. Designed to be used in-store, a supporting iOS app not only enables shoppers to learn about brands as they browse, it also serves as a platform to make purchases.

The company is also trialling the use of advanced camera technology to provide personalised product recommendations through its app. ‘It’s worth emphasising that we don’t really delineate between e-commerce and physical channels,’ CEO and founder Matt Alexander told LS:N Global.

Now that you know the best in the year for fashion, find out what is on the horizon for 2019. Download our Future Forecast 2019 report here.