COVER STORY, JULY 2006

THE ART OF PROTOTYPE DESIGN
Branding a retail concept can make all the difference.
Kevin James

There is no debating the fact that we live in an ever-more complicated and sophisticated age, one that is reflected clearly in our contemporary retail landscape. The retail marketplace has changed dramatically over the past 50 years; where a simple sign, four walls and a door were once acceptable for a retail location, today the market is all about “brand image,” “environments,” “differentiation,” and “traffic flow.” This complex age makes the design of a prototype essential for multi-unit retailers who expect to compete successfully in the modern retail marketplace. A prototype allows a retailer to design a template for its locations that incorporates its brand throughout the built environment, but that allows for adaptability and optimal operational efficiencies.

A successful brand becomes both a physical and emotional trigger that creates a relationship between consumers, the company and its product. A brand is more than a logo, it is the essence of the company, and it must be present throughout every aspect of the retail experience to be successful. A good prototype weaves the brand through the built environment, providing a design that separates a company from its competitors and providing for a pleasant and inviting location for customers. The store becomes an extension of the brand, and helps to establish and grow an emotional attachment to the retailer. Lacking a proper prototype design, multi-unit retailers can easily lose this attachment and damage their overall brand.

Starbucks, the eponymous coffee retailer, is an excellent example of prototypical store branding. With more than 5,000 locations scattered across the world, a typical Starbucks is just that — amazingly typical. Whether in New York, Tokyo or Vienna, each Starbucks store is strikingly similar to the next. The Starbucks prototype goes beyond simple “look and feel” by establishing a comfortable and inviting atmosphere that attracts people across the globe. Copying certain design elements at each location is the simple part, but going beyond a few stores and successfully retaining the experiential part of the Starbucks brand is the genius of its prototype.

Starbucks’ amazing ability to extend its brand — one store and one cup at a time — successfully across the world is a testament to a prototype design that allows for flexibility. Prototypes cannot be all things to all people — a target objective must be identified from which the prototype can be designed. Many times a prototype will require a variety of design changes depending upon the community the facility is entering, and upon the nature of the built environment. The prototype must allow for variances, and must evolve to adapt successfully.

A properly maintained prototype will allow for flexibility of a company’s brand to adapt to local demands while still communicating clearly to its customer base. The design team needs to develop a structure in which the retail client can convey lessons learned in the field into physical adjustments to the prototype in an effort to continue to  better serve the customer and the community. The smallest of adjustments on an individual store when implemented over multiple locations can yield significant results. The relationship between design team and the retail client is constant: the more aware the design team is of meeting its objectives with regards to the retail client, all the more valid are the design solutions being proposed.

Of course, the prototype also must address the operational reality of the stores. After all, how the store works is just as important as how it looks and interacts with customers. Prototype designers must consider energy requirements, traffic patterns, maintenance, durability, security, distribution, and other infrastructure issues in order to optimize efficiencies and generate a positive impact upon product delivery to its customers. When you consider a company’s ability to save fractional cost by controlling the amount of lighting required to illuminate a product properly during various times of the day, multiply this by hundreds or even thousands of locations, and considerable savings can be generated.

Studying customer traffic flow in existing locations can yield a treasure trove of information for a new prototype, as well. Identifying these patterns can allow designers to group products better, change adjacencies, and increase the overall effectiveness of the store layout to help improve sales and promote more effective customer service.

The Sports Authority, the nation’s largest sporting goods chain by a wide margin, has been undergoing an aggressive remodeling program to a store-within-a-store design intended to create a specialty store environment. The remodels are intended to alter the store environment significantly and bring associates out of the back room. According to chief executive officer Doug Morton, “Our goal is to free people from tasks that are not associated with customer service. The amount of labor that goes into these stores at night and in the back room is staggering.”

The prototype for The Sports Authority melds the branding function and operational requirements that all good prototypes must address. The new store in Paramus, New Jersey, features elements that are evocative of classic sports stadiums: a welcoming entry canopy that provides a strong visual theme and operational design features like a high roof with clerestory windows running down the spine of the building to bring in natural light. It is an excellent marriage of visual and operational design that will entice customers to enter and stay, while providing for operational savings and efficiencies.

A good prototype is a must for multi-unit retailers. For success to extend across multiple locations there must be a template that successfully weaves the company’s brand throughout the chain. Absent a good prototype, the brand can be damaged and lost easily. Just as importantly, a successful prototype will provide an optimal operational design that will result in improved efficiencies, customer retention, and overall company strength.

Kevin James is a principal with MCG Architecture.

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