Project R-11806

Retail Design Kick-off platform (Research)

Research conducted as part of a PhD project has shown that current ways of working in retail design could benefit from re-consideration in order to better integrate the experiential dimension which retail practice is developing into. In short, value and experience which have been shown to be closely related are currently being designed separately, while to deliver the most valuable in-store experience possible, they need to be considered together from the start of the design process. In this regard, the Retail Design Kick-off Platform aims to trigger a more experience-focused reflective process at the analysis (value creation) phase of a retail design project (e.g. pre-concept development). In particular, the platform prompts the end users to adequately consider all the elements that contribute to the value of in-store experience and asks the right questions at the right time in the design process. The platform should be completed together during a kick-off meeting, by a retail designer and his/her retailer client. The contribution of the platform to a retail design process is threefold, as it: (1) triggers the reflection process on all necessary topics before the designing starts; (2) improves communication between retailers and designers; (3) provides advice at the beginning of the process by producing a project specific guidance report.

01 May 2021 - 31 October 2022