New Store Formats and Genuine Shopping Experiences: Agile Space Concepts for Customers and Staff

The major structural changes in retail trade require innovative approaches to meet growing customer demands. Current retail trends such as personalization, easy checkout processes and customer self-service have long since become part of reality. However, there is one factor in retail that is not managed strategically enough, namely the adaptability of staff.

Retail trade is changing rapidly

The move from real stores to online stores is part of an overall journey that is unstoppable and has long since set new standards in customer service. Thus, the most important trends are:

• Personalization

(Personalized content, individualized service offers and customized recommendations retain customers and convey the feeling of individual support)

• Easy Checkout Process

(digitally, 24/7 and from anywhere via one’s smartphone)

• Customer Self-Service

(instead of traditional customer support, shoppers are looking for ways to resolve their issues on their own, e.g. for returns)

• Customer Experience

(impressions and experiences that customers gather over the entire period of their relationship with a company or brand)

• Real-Time Customer Service

(communication channels such as live chats or social media interactions minimize waiting times for answers and reduce customer frustration through quick responses)

• Product Availability

(information on where, when and how many products are available provides real added value to potential buyers)

Worlds of experience, marketplaces and sources of inspiration for customers

Today’s customers expect worthwhile shopping experiences that go beyond mere transactions, as they want to see the whole, experience products and learn about them first-hand.

The aspiration of retailers is to create open and consistent worlds of experience that make the connection between online and stationary retail seamless. Authenticity, regionality and sustainability rank at the very top of customer wishes. Organizations and processes must therefore be customer-oriented rather than channel-oriented.

Adaptability of employees is often underestimated but significant

While retailers focus on designing worlds of experience, one crucial factor is often neglected, namely the adaptability of staff. Traditional specialist range structures and salary and incentive systems that have worked successfully for years are now reaching their limits and need to be reconsidered. The overemphasis on company-internal competition between e-commerce and distribution via stores causes resource commitments and barriers that block creativity and innovation in retail.

Reflection rooms, experimentation spaces and training environments for staff members

Agile space concepts are essential to promote the adaptability of staff members, as these spaces serve them equally as reflection rooms, experimentation spaces and training environments. For the establishment of such spaces, pathfinders and pioneers are needed, as well as a suitably adapted cultural infrastructure within the company. With this approach, staff adaptability can be developed as a meta-competence into a robust new skill.

Agile space concepts as a platform for personnel development

Agile space concepts can not only offer customers a unique shopping experience, but also actively involve the staff. The combination of marketplaces, places of experience and inspiring elements makes it possible to redefine "selling" as a core mission. Agile space concepts and new store formats enrich the shopping experience and create a dynamic interaction between staff and customers.

Fostering the adaptability of sales teams is essential to cope with the changes and challenges of the retail industry.