How to Redesign the Store for Services, Experiences & Community Connection

A PSFK Guide is a store as service report for brands and retailers to help them generate new revenue streams, cultivate brand community, boost traffic and dwell time, and strengthen consumer loyalty.

Executive Summary

After two years of rapid acceleration, ecommerce is cooling off as consumers look to trade convenience and utility for the sensory experiences and connections that can be found within physical stores. As consumers deal with digital fatigue, retailers and brands are luring them back through a new host of IRL services, experiences and tools.

Report Overview

In this report, PSFK iQ researchers analyze how leading retailers are rethinking their offerings, and catering services to generate a new revenue stream, cultivate brand community, boost traffic and dwell time, and strengthen consumer loyalty.  Through the lens of six innovative strategies, understand the evolution of physical spaces, and examine how retailers in different verticals are leveraging and designing services that organically complement their ethos and product assortment.  

What You’ll Learn In This Report

• From discovery to post-purchase needs, how retailers are layering in everything from brand activations, to on-demand access to subject matter experts and full lifestyle programming in order to better connect with consumers beyond digital clicks.
• The new expectations around service (i.e. personalization, expertise, immersive browsing) that are setting the stage for the next chapter of retail. 
• To differentiate themselves and drive consumer interaction, retailers need to reconsider the store’s role within their brand ecosystem, and how they can leverage their physical footprint to better support consumers and their communities.

What’s In This Report?

Through the lens of six innovative strategies, understand the evolution of physical spaces, and examine how retailers in different verticals are leveraging and designing services that organically complement their ethos and product assortment.  

This store as service report includes:

• 6 store-as-service strategies to leverage store-as-a-service to deliver better consumer experiences
• 18 best-in-class examples of how brands and retailers are using ‘store-as-a-service’ models to align with the desires and expectations of their consumers.
  
• Statistics and consumer insights into changing behaviors and expectations of the consumer mindset around in-store engagement
• Case studies from Hyundai, IKEA, Shopify, Buy Buy Baby and more

Who Prepared This Report?

This store as service report was developed by the same PSFK research department that since 2004 has provided trends-led innovation consulting advice to Apple, BMW, Facebook/Meta, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Volkswagen.