THE PROBLEM
Plenty of video games also have accompanying console accessories and collectibles that fans can buy, however, these items are often located throughout the sales floor of a retailer. This can lead to a missed opportunity for the consumer to purchase merchandise that featured their favorite games and missed sales for the retailer that they could gain from an add-on buy.
THE SOLUTION
The main goal is to create a central shop-in-shop experience for the consumer to see what console accessories or collectibles are offered for the game and be a place where others can play a demo before deciding whether or not to purchase. These shop-in-shops can be a single, branded place to meet all the consumer's wants and needs while providing numerous benefits for the retailer and brand.
THE WHY
A shop-in-shop is a partnership between a brand and retailer to create a small store or display area to sell products. This partnership can produce many benefits for both while serving the wants and needs of the consumer. Some of these benefits can be:
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One-stop shop for consumer
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Create a positive consumer experience
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Increased foot traffic to stores
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Brand & retailer share resources with the same goal in mind: attracting customers
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Engage with the consumer
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Create brand awareness
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Increased sales
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Test new products, markets, and store concepts
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Create consumer cross-shopping for retailer
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Brand can benefit from retailer's omni channels and retailer can offer new products
To create a successful shop-in-shop, there are three things a retailer must first explore: finding the right brand, figuring out the best location, and understanding the consumer. Once those pieces have been figured out, the next step is to plan what products will be offered in the shop-in-shop and what kind of experience both the brand and retailer want the consumer to have.
THE SHOPS
For this project I create examples of what a shop-in-shop could look like for a launch of a popular game for three different console brands: Playstation, Nintendo, and Xbox. These shops all share a few sections that I believe would create a positive experience for the consumer while benefiting both the brand and retailer.
Console branding and graphics from the video game are a great way to catch the attention of the consumer while also creating brand awareness for both the console and video game. Once at the shop-in-shop, someone would be able to try out a short demo of the game in-store before purchasing which can help drive sales of the game.
Underneath the graphics would be the gaming section that includes copies of the game and console accessories. Some games have branded products like controllers and headsets, that are launched at the same time and can be great add-on purchases. Additionally store-specific best-selling accessories that are not related to the game can be featured in this area if there are no branded gaming products.
To finish off the shop-in-shop experience for the consumer, collectibles relating to the video game or franchise can be featured here as well. This space can flex at times depending on the volume and variety of the products offered. Having one location where the consumer can find different products relating to a favorite game creates a positive shopping experience for them while also helping increasing sales from add-on purchases.
LEARNINGS
This project started out as an idea that my former team and I never got to fully execute the way we wanted to. I've taken all they taught me about visual merchandising over the years we worked together and decided to test my 3D skills by creating my version of what that idea looked like. The biggest challenge in this project was not having financial data to help guide how much space was allotted for each product type, which is something I would have in a real world situation. However, after doing some research about what products are typically offered for each of the games I chose for these examples, I was able to come up with renders I was happy with, knowing that parts would change based on sales and on-hand product.
Additionally i've learned some different perspectives retailers look at when trying to create a positive shopping experience for the consumer. If you give someone a positive and easy shopping experience then they are more likely to become a repeat shopper. That person can also help spread brand awareness by talking about their positive experience to others and hopefully leading to more people visiting the retailer. Knowing this, I can now apply it to designs I will create in the future for the retail industry that not only meet the needs of the retailer but also make a good impression on the consumer as well.