Explore the characteristics of distinctive, premium retail in Fashion, Beauty and Personal Care

Context

Health and beauty giant, Watsons, asked us to carry out some exploratory research on premium retail experiences that stand out within some of their key categories.

Ask

Undertake first-hand research on distinctive retail experiences in Fashion, Beauty and Personal Care and identify common characteristics they exhibit.

Process

I carried out extensive desk research of leading retail experiences in the relevant categories in London, and whittled it down to a shortlist of 30 retail concepts to visit.

I carried out these visits over the course of three days, gathering observations I categories in 5 areas: product, service, messaging, imagery and environment.

I then gathered all the visual and written observations and mapped them out into a series of overarching characteristics.

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Findings

I uncovered 7 key characteristics premium retail brand use for distinctiveness:

1. Visual branding and aesthetics: strongly emphasise their own visual identity or create a differentiated visual environment for the customer.

2. Provenance and heritage: emphasise where they, or their products/services originate – in order to stand out as authentic.

3. Personalisation and co-creation: enable the customer to
 take part in the creation of their end product or the brand’s content.

4. Engaging experience/content: go beyond the standard product/service offer, allowing the customer to access and experience the brand/product at a deeper level.

5. A unique signature or characteristic: create something differentiated or iconic that they become known for – a characteristic, product or service.

6. Focus and consistency: maintain a single-minded position, sticking to what they know and doing it consistently well.

7. Exclusivity: premiumise and differentiate their offer by limiting access to their product or experience – creating heightened desire.

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