Luxury Maisons are redefining retail with "retailtainment"—experiences that transform physical stores into engaging environments designed to captivate customers beyond mere transactions. Retailtainment centers on creating immersive, interactive, and enjoyable in-store journeys. This approach not only extends the time customers spend in-store but also builds emotional connections that encourage repeat visits. As customers seek memorable and unique encounters, retailtainment becomes a powerful tool to differentiate physical stores in an era dominated by online shopping.
The Importance of Retailtainment for Luxury
Retailtainment shifts the focus from product features to an experience-based strategy. By offering customers dynamic, multi-sensory engagements, Maisons can cultivate loyalty and enhance customer satisfaction. It’s about crafting experiences that blend entertainment and shopping to engage consumers on an emotional level, driving sales and fostering long-term connections. For luxury Maisons, this strategy is especially crucial for creating unique store visits that leave lasting impressions.
Key Examples of Experiential Retail
- Farfetch’s Augmented Store of the Future
Farfetch’s London store exemplifies cutting-edge retailtainment by blending technology and fashion. Featuring connected racks, touch-enabled mirrors, and digital check-ins, Farfetch’s in-store experience connects seamlessly with its online platform, making each visit personalized and data-driven.
- Burberry’s Interactive Shenzhen Flagship Store
At Burberry’s Shenzhen location, retailtainment includes avatar creation, personalized music, and interactive displays. Through WeChat, visitors book styling appointments, earn “social currency” for exclusive items, and interact with products to unlock content—enhancing engagement in an immersive, gamified way.
- Louis Vuitton’s Ginza Flagship
Louis Vuitton's flagship in Ginza redefines experiential luxury. With exclusive, location-specific products, art installations, and a private salon, the store immerses visitors in the brand’s unique aesthetic, creating a cultural destination that connects with the city’s essence.
Key Recommendations for Leveraging Experience within the Retail Space
- Emphasize Interactivity for Memorable Experiences
Integrate interactive displays, digital mirrors, or touchscreens to foster an engaging atmosphere. By creating a space where customers can explore and interact with products, Maisons enhance engagement and deepen connections.
- Craft Experiences Unique to Each Location
Tailor store environments to reflect local culture, offering region-specific products and design. This makes each flagship a distinct experience that resonates with local clients and enhances the brand’s global presence.
- Use Data-Driven Personalization to Enhance Engagement
Utilize consumer data to personalize in-store interactions, including tailored product recommendations or exclusive invitations. This approach creates a seamless blend of digital insights and physical experience, reinforcing loyalty.
- Encourage Social Sharing and Amplify Brand Presence
Design visually captivating, shareable moments that customers are inspired to post on social media, extending brand reach organically. This not only builds brand awareness but also invites new clients to explore.
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Feel free to contact our experts for any question:
Ravouth Keuky
Ravouth is a digital transformation expert specialized in luxury retail sector and airline industry. He is the global account executive for Deloitte of two major iconic brands. He brought Deloitte Digital (one of Deloitte Consulting’s offerings) to success in France, and he is currently leading the French Practice, with teams both located in Paris and Casablanca. Ravouth spent the first 10 years of his career in the telecom industry where he embraces the major tech disruption around mobile/fixed broadband (2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, DSL, Fibre,…). For the past 10 years, he has been advising CxOs, and especially CDOs (Chief Digital Officers) of Fortune 100 companies, on their digital transformation (from strategy to implementation). In terms of thought leadership, Ravouth has contributed to research on digital transformation, like “Leading Digital” best-seller book (www.leadingdigitalbook.com). He is also a regular invited speaker on corporate events, tech conference around digital transformation.
Ambroise Rezeau
Ambroise has 9 years of experience, starting his career in operation within an automotive Tier 1 Supplier where he managed several International projects. Since joining Deloitte, he has a good understanding of organization transformation thanks to experiences in different industries (Luxury, Automotive, IT, Service) and different countries (France, Japan, Singapore). Ambroise conducted several projects designing and reviewing customer strategy for Luxury Groups (Dior Couture, Richemont), gaining significant knowledge on Consumer & Premium Retail industry. Ambroise covered an important part of Marketing and Client value chain from strategic & top line growth, Organization transformation and Operating Model design, Customer Experience Operational excellence, Pricing, Marketing activation & Salesforce projects roll-out, M&A
Agathe Flament
Agathe various academic and professional experiences in marketing have cultivated her interest in digital and customer experience. She conducted several projects for high-end fashion and watchmaking houses on client experience, activation strategy, operating model… which led her to develop an expertise on the luxury industry. Agathe has forged a strong international mindset as she daily collaborate with international teams and spent +6 years working and studying across Spain, the UK, Hong Kong and Australia