The 17th edition of India Fashion Forum (IFF 2017) – which was held from April 12 – April 13, 2017 in Mumbai – witnessed top honchos of the fashion industry sharing some notable insights on the current trends through various interactive sessions.
The event also played host to the Images Fashion Awards (IFA), 2017, presented to some of the top retailers of the country (both Indian and Foreign), amidst a venerable gathering of the who’s who of the retail industry.
One of the award categories was Images Most Admired Design Concept of the Year – Flagship Store (Indian Origin), and the nominees with their exemplary store designs, more than excelled. The award was a tie between three stores, which impressed so thoroughly, that the jury couldn’t decide between them. Here’s a quick look at how the unique concepts in their store design that helped them make the coveted nominee list:
1. AND Flagship Store, DLF Mall of India
Inspired by the New York style of living for the modern woman, the store has a French-window style forefront leads which into an environment that delivers a congruent in-store experience. A luxurious home interior palette, augmented with black and white tones in bold patterns across different zones;
Fixtures and services in the store are as defined as the New York character of the store. The printed imagery of Hollywood stars, framed fashion shoots and style tips combined with minimalistic VM give the store a very international feel.
The wall panels are painted glass with metal frames to give the space a more defined look and a very contemporary feel.
2. Global Desi Flagship Store, Khar, Linking Road, Mumbai
The brand says that they have noticed that the customer experience has been substantially better pre-and-post the change, as has been noted from their consumer feedback analysis. It has also been noticed that the store’s new identity has helped in achieving a higher through put – better sales with lower depth of inventory.
3. Wills Lifestyle Flagship Store, Connaught Place, New Delhi
Wills Lifestyle created a new store identity with a new signage for their premium store at Connaught Place in New Delhi. The store has a browsing friendly floor plan and flexible display mechanisms for multiple display ideas with minimal alterations. The store is visually appealing, with judicious use of space that offers an international shopping ambience.
It also boasts of error-proof, colour-coordinated, cross merchandise hangs, VM versatility in space and fixture design. The management highlights mannequin styling with merchandise versatility and elegant wardrobe shelving is their USP. Apart from this, micro fashion stories to generate merchandise interest are encouraged.
New product launches and EOSS collaterals are introduced periodically in seasonal styling. Consumer styling and branded image spots across social platforms for enhanced awareness, Facebook campaigns, pictures on Instagram, Blogs, and Vlogs for real time consumer engagement and feedback are an important part of the brand’s strategy.
4. Raymond Store, Khar, Linking Road, Mumbai
Unique and ultra-luxurious, this Raymond showroom aims to provide a modern shopping experience to the consumer, fusing the best in class technology with unmatched hospitality to redefine the consumer’s retail experience.
The store layout is designed to highlight style, and hospitality. A unique fitting room experience in different organized zones is a radical shift from stock-based experience to style-based experience. The store showcases 30-40 per cent higher product assortment than competitors. It has an asymmetric design for a clean and minimalistic look. The fixture design emphasizes modularity especially in its unique slant shelves.
There is an efficient use of floor space – the store uses 40 per cent less floor space for merchandize display for a non-cluttered boutique hospitality look.
The Raymond team says that within two months of operations, the store is delivering an ATV of 7,500 (almost 50 per cent higher than COCO TRS average). In the month of January (the second month of operation), the store achieved Rs 25,000 revenue per sq.ft. It has been delivering in excess of 110 per cent on monthly targets and a reduction in fitout costs from Rs 5,100 to Rs 4,200 (with some blended fixtures) has been observed.
