ReportWire

Tag: experiential

  • Toronto’s New Adidas Store Is Setting The Stage For Experiential Retail In Canada

    Toronto’s New Adidas Store Is Setting The Stage For Experiential Retail In Canada

    [ad_1]

    Experiential retail is becoming ubiquitous across the United States, especially for athletic brands. In the last year, Champs Sports, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Wilson’s have created experiential stores. But, Canada, as a much smaller market, tends to get left behind when it comes to new and trending retail.

    Adidas aims to fill that void with its new 13,000-square-foot location at the Toronto Eaton Centre. Beyond the wide selection of Adidas lifestyle and sports products, it features a lounge, community activation space, a Toronto shop with unique products inspired by the city, and multiple digital touchpoints for customers to learn more about the brand and its connection to Toronto.

    Canadians want to interact with and experience brands, not just transact with them.

    According to the 2022 Ayden Retail Report by KPMG, 67% of Canadians prefer to shop in a physical store, compared to the global average of 59%. The report also outlined that those consumers think stores need to be exciting to visit and offer more than goods and services. Adidas’ new store aims to meet that demand. “We hope to see more of these types of stores start to open across Canada,” said Alim Dhanji, President of Adidas Canada, adding that “for Adidas, an experiential retail model provides consumers with the opportunity to freely explore our wide range of products in a way that isn’t offered solely online or in-store.”

    In addition to its in-store features, the store will host various events with musical performances and guest appearances and have pop-up events throughout the year. “In celebration of our store opening, we’ll be hosting a series of in-store workout classes led by Toronto-loved instructors, a shoe customization pop-up, and a World Cup activation ahead of the upcoming tournament this month,” shared Lesley Hawkins, VP of Retail at Adidas Canada. The company will communicate more details on these events over the coming weeks.

    The demand appears to exceed the supply for experiential retail in Canada.

    Toronto, specifically, is a unique market. Although the Greater Toronto Area has close to seven million people, there are only a few critical retail shopping areas, most of which house traditional retail store experiences. And any experiential concepts that do exist are primarily produced by Canadian brands. For instance, in 2019, Canada Goose launched a no-inventory experience in Sherway Gardens that included various cold rooms with fake snow to test the product in the applicable climate. Lululemon also has an interactive store on Queen Street West that consists of a coffee shop, a co-working space, and various fitness classes.

    Beyond that, there’s Stackt Market, which like London’s Boxpark, is built out of 120 shipping containers on 100,000 square feet of land and is a mix of shops, food, and community events. It quickly became a hot spot for Torontonians seeking a new weekend hangout or shopping venture. The success of Stackt and the few branded experiential concepts indicate the Adidas store will likely do well in the market.

    That said, contrary to other experiential concepts, Adidas has focused on designing and programming the store to the traits of the city. “Toronto is a multicultural hub filled with vibrancy across so many areas – arts, sports, fashion, design. Adidas has proudly been a part of the city for many years, building connections within its communities and working with local designers, artists, and athletes to collaborate on projects. We wanted the new space to feel even more personalized to the city and our pride being here,” shared Hawkins.

    Although the brand hasn’t said where it would open stores next, it does plan to expand its physical footprint over the next four years. Canada has become a target market for many brands since the pandemic, with Reformation, Allbirds, and Alo Yoga all opening locations in the Toronto area over the last year. But the opportunity for experiential retail remains vast. So, perhaps Adidas’ new store will spark a wave of exciting and engaging retail concepts in the Canadian market.

    [ad_2]

    Brin Snelling, Contributor

    Source link

  • What Solana Spaces Means For The Future Of Crypto-Based Retail

    What Solana Spaces Means For The Future Of Crypto-Based Retail

    [ad_1]

    Yesterday, a new retail experience launched in the heart of Miami’s Wynwood district. Surrounded by digital brands like Warby Parker and Marine Layer, boutique coffee shops, and some of the city’s best restaurants and nightclubs sits a 4,500-square-foot space called The Solana Embassy. It aims to attract similar customers to its neighbors, with Supreme-like exclusive merchandise drops, a cozy FTX co-working lounge, a Degen Ape Café NFT coffee shop, and a sound and light system that converts the space into a trendy Miami nightclub. However, its primary purpose is to lure the crypto inquirer, the Web3 enthusiast, and the purely inquisitive passerby. In essence, it unites the mysterious world of crypto with the familiar realm of physical retail.

    The Solana Embassy is the second location to open by a company called Solana Spaces, which, counter to the belief of many, has no direct association with the cryptocurrency Solana. It was founded earlier this year by Vibhu Norby in collaboration with The Solana Foundation, which funded and incubated the store. Norby is an entrepreneur known for co-founding B8ta, one of the first retail-as-a-service stores that charged a monthly fee to brands to showcase products in its store and receive data. Before the pandemic, B8ta had about 20 stores in the US, several abroad, and extensive funding from prominent investors like Macy’s. However, because of the pandemic’s effects on business, the company closed its doors earlier this year. Although Solana Spaces is new, it’s a concept Norby has been thinking about for some time and plans to expand domestically and internationally.

    Crypto Is Uniquely Prepared To Take Advantage of Experiential Retail

    The Solana Spaces locations act like B8ta in educating potential consumers and users on what is unknown to those not active in the crypto community. It has a similar purpose to the stores of most digitally native brands. For example, a study from 2019 called Customer Supercharging in Experience-Centric Channels found that these retail spaces “supercharge” customers, increasing spending per order by up to 60% and increasing the frequency of purchases. In another study looking at Warby Parker, the same professors found that about 80% of store visitors were new, and opening a store increased sales in the market by 7.4%. Although these examples refer to digital brands, they’re indicative of the power of the experiential concept.

    The variable that can alter this effect is the experience quality, which Norby and his team have thought through extensively. “Stores have to be interesting, fun, and engaging,” he said, adding, “The core idea behind crypto is what if the thing we use, we also own? That idea has some powerful notions for retail. In addition to being fun, there’s a huge component of loyalty and community.” While the company’s NYC store focuses on educating, the Solana Embassy is wholly unique, also acting as a physical gathering space for the existing community.

    Crypto Players Want and Need a Physical Presence

    The idea of crypto in the physical world may seem like an oxymoron, but the reality is it’s here. And there are many ways in which it’s tangible. For example, the Solana Embassy experience involves getting set up with a Phantom wallet (if a visitor doesn’t already have one) and going around the store to interact with different Solana blockchain players. In addition, visitors can collect NFT badges at each station for completing tutorials and exchange them for money – acting as both a game and an incentivized learning method. There’s also an NFT gallery that includes physical products available for purchase.

    News about big companies like Nike and Gucci entering the metaverse and creating NFTs has become ubiquitous. Still, little is being said about digital-first designers in the crypto space starting to make a mark with a lot to offer in the physical realm. As Norby said, “there are going to be a lot of NFT native communities breaking into the mainstream. You could argue Bored Ape did that, but there’s a lot more to come on that front, and many of them will end up being fashion brands and other types of viral experiences. We want to build a playbook for that to happen.”

    As Norby mentions, The Bored Ape Yacht Club has initiated some physical events for its community members, including various meetups and an event called “Ape Fest,” featuring famed musicians and comedians. However, it’s a highly exclusive, mainly wealthy, club, and there’s an opportunity for a more accessible and welcoming physical space—an opportunity Solana Spaces has grasped.

    The company’s two locations in New York and Miami are just the beginning. There will be more spaces and exciting developments announced later in the year. But, for now, crypto enthusiasts or skeptics, these spaces are likely the inception of crypto-based retail.

    [ad_2]

    Brin Snelling, Contributor

    Source link