Digital technology is making physical retail more important than ever. “As the world becomes more digital, people are craving more physical retail,” said Showfields co-founder and CEO Tal Zvi Nathanel. “People become more thirsty for physical interaction.”
Tal Zvi Nathanel and Zak Normandin at ICSC New York Deal Making
Showfields, marketed as the “most interesting store in the world,” is a four-level store in New York City’s NoHo neighborhood. There, pop-up shops, events, exhibitions and performances help brands raise their profiles and sales. On Wednesday at ICSC’s New York Deal Making, ICSC President and CEO Tom McGee moderated a keynote discussion with Nathanel and Zak Normandin, founder and CEO of Iris Nova, a direct-to-consumer company that sells beverages in high-tech, staff-free stores.
Both concepts harness digital technology to enhance both the effectiveness and customer experience of their stores. Showfields shares data with the brands, showing them how customers move around the store and interact with the merchandise. Showfields is host to some 50 brands at a time.
“Retail as it is today is very hard for brands. We host brands and serve as a landmark””
Similarly, Iris Nova uses text-message technology to interact with consumers and transact sales. The company has two Manhattan locations for a concept called The Drug Store. There, a customer removes a bottle from a refrigerator and texts a dedicated phone number. The purchase is charged to the credit card linked to the customer’s phone. New customers are prompted to set up accounts.
Iris Nova is expanding the concept to meet consumers’ need for convenience as well as their appetite for experience, said Normandin. At the newer Drug Store site, which opened in Manhattan’s massive Hudson Yards mixed-use project last March, a cocktail bar serves alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. The company also is looking into other products, including such sundries as toothpaste.
Tom McGee at ICSC New York Deal Making
Physical retail fulfills consumers’ need to be stimulated in a way that online retail never can, Normandin said. It is also vital to the survival of brands, said Nathanel. “Retail as it is today is very hard for brands," Nathanel said. "We host brands and serve as a landmark.”
McGee reported to attendees that physical retail is alive and well, with an expected 4.9 percent increase in November and December sales relative to a year ago. Roughly 160 million people shopped in stores during the Thanksgiving–Black Friday holiday weekend, and 62 percent of U.S. adults visited a retail center, according to ICSC Research. “This holiday season will be a very strong one,” McGee predicted. “We are in a Retail Renaissance.”
By Edmund Mander
Director, Editor-In-Chief/SCT
