How to redesign your multi-brand sports shop to become a benchmark in the sector.

  • Sportswear shops are one of the most profitable retail sectors of the last decade.
  • The high demand for urban fashion, low product storage cost and low entry costs have led to a proliferation of openings.
  • We present the insights for a successful sports concept store design.

Sportswear shops have been booming for several years now. In 2019 they already reported 8.4% growth in sales, more than 7 points higher than their nearest sector, fashion.

Not surprisingly, with these figures, sector brands and distributors have taken the opportunity to push ahead with their expansion plans.

Another interesting fact for 2019 is that the sportswear sector already occupies 5% of retail space in most shopping centres. This suggests that we are approaching supply saturation and begs the question: What is the next step for sportswear retail? The struggle for differentiation. And that leads us to talk about redesigning points-of-sale.

What is the process of (re)designing a sports or sportswear shop?

Redesigning the concept of a sportswear shop is a process that incorporates methodology and creativity in equal parts, with the added freedom of being in a sector that can be as formal and informal as the brand wants and needs.

Furthermore, if we talk about redesign, we will also have a starting point for the project.

There are 5 stages involved in the redesign of a brand’s retail concept:

  1. Analysis of the brand, the environment and its audiences. Something that will give us insights through a series of tools to look for inspiration in the right places and begin to outline the experience that the new design will offer consumers.
  2. Brainstorming, ideas and inspiration. With what we learnt in the previous phase we start to define the general ideas on which the new concept will be based. Now is the time for a large number of proposals to emerge, many of which will be discarded and others will only partially fit but will serve as a basis for the work that follows.
  3. Definition of the experience. After sharing an initial list of ideas and inspirations with the brand and establishing a road map, we finish profiling the experience that consumers will have in their interaction with the points-of-sale. Where we want them to stop, what content each point along the route will contain and how it will help them understand the brand and the products. Above all, how it will make them fall in love with it.
  4. Choice of materials. It’s time to start materialising all of the above. Understanding the new concept and what it wants to transmit will allow us to create a “mood board” or table of materials. It is important not to digress too much, create hierarchies and give the brand personality. Each material transmits a series of values that will in turn be the values that the shop and, therefore, the brand will transmit.
  5. Creative proposal. Now we finally “put pen to paper”. The shapes appear and we define the furniture, technology and type of lighting. All the elements that will give body and presence to the brand in the physical space. We establish various options for ordering the planogram according to the flow of customers that we have defined and the importance that each point of the route will have.

What aspects make sportswear retail shop design unique?

All retail sectors have something that makes them unique and, as mentioned at the beginning of the post, creative flexibility is one of the characteristics of design applied to sportswear retail.

Nowadays, sportswear is synonymous with urban culture, so it is expected to be transgressive and daring. It doesn’t have to fit into any moulds, but rather break them.

It also has a primarily young and digitally native consumer base, so in-store technology experiences can help make the point-of-sale much more attractive and strengthen its conversion capacity.

What materials and textures are trending in sportswear retail in 2022?

Summarising all of the above, we can say that sportswear consumers are urban, young, digital consumers, increasingly concerned about sustainability and with a strong focus on culture.

This basic definition of the most common purchasing profile in the sportswear sector is reflected in the choice of materials and textures that are trending in this type of shop today:

  1. Brushed metal and mesh. In different tones, from golden varnishes for a touch of luxury to transparent varnishes to show the rawness of the material. Something that reflects one of the most basic materials in cities.
  2. Cement and concretes. The most characteristic texture of the urban environment. Mainly used as a base for floors, walls and ceilings.
  3. Light and saturated colours. They reinforce the feeling of technology and artificial materials. This trend can be at odds with the value of sustainability, so integrate it carefully.
  4. Smooth lacquers. In order not to fall into the saturation of textures, the best option to complete the list of materials is single-colour woods, either in white or black tones, which leave the protagonist role to RGB light or in saturated tones, which energise the whole.

Technology and sustainability as part of the brand language

When we seek to differentiate a retail space, we want it to appeal to consumers and convey the messages that make up the brand’s identity.

For that we must go beyond materials and textures, so we will end the post talking about two key points that cannot be missing in our redesign: channel and content.

The urban language is digital and technology is its channel. Audiovisual formats and interactive experiences are becoming increasingly important as the channel of choice for the target audience in this sector.

Furthermore, be capable of demonstrating that, despite the brand’s urban style, it is a sustainable style that aligns the retail space with the values consumers want to display as their own.

2022 Retail Trends – What do we expect from brands and distributors this year?

  • New designs, more technology and a redoubled commitment to sustainability
  • The pandemic, although not yet behind us, will not be a constraint

A new year has arrived and, as well as looking back to learn from the past, at HMY we are looking to the future trying to discern where the sales strategies of brands and retailers around the world will be heading in 2022.

The eCommerce boom, economic crises, a global pandemic… And yet, the result has not changed: Retail dominates sales. What has changed is Retail’s formula for remaining more relevant than ever.

Economic uncertainty and the pandemic have marked the beginning of the year in a society that has returned to the streets and shops with old and new habits, and the main Retail metrics point to sustained growth. According to the research portal, Statista, 6.6% growth is expected in the coming year, despite the renewed surge in eCommerce.

But how can physical points-of-sale emerge stronger in a post-pandemic society which has rapidly embraced online commerce? This is because Retail has adapted both out of necessity and opportunity.

What do consumers seek in 2022?

The eternal question and starting point for the Retail trends of each year. After analysing the projects we undertook in the second half of 2021, it is clear to our global experts.

Experiences

Retail’s great opportunity and value contribution to brands’ omnichannel strategy. The convenience of an online transaction is hard to beat, except in specific cases (such as convenience and transit), but consumer engagement can only be achieved with an experience that is enjoyed with more than two senses.

Visibility and proximity

The reach of online advertising is undeniable, but its saturation is reaching the same levels as traditional media.

This makes physical points-of-sale visually spectacular and strategically located ones have regained great value.

One of the most relevant metrics of the year is that influx to shopping centres has grown by 14%, as published by InfoRetail in November 2021.

Safety, but not uncomfortable

Something that consumers have internalised accordingly with the COVID situation and measures for each area and the individual habits. The role of Retailers has been relegated to providing the minimum requirements at all times in an elegant and non-intrusive way: keeping the point-of-sale unsaturated and without obstacles or major stoppers, making safety as automatic and clean as possible.

5 Retail trends for 2022 – The year of sustainability and technology

2021 was a key year in which two essential aspects that will mark the performance of brands and distributors in Retail began to take shape: sustainability and technology.

The main line of communication of most brands is the promotion of products manufactured from recycled materials and environmentally responsible initiatives.

Furthermore, the democratisation of the cost of technology for Retail is driving the number of points-of-sale that incorporate it. Brands are daring to create increasingly more impactful displays, especially in corners, activations and flagships, aware that this is the winning card for improving the consumer experience.

How are these inputs translating into trends for the year ahead?

1.Sustainable products in sustainable points-of-sale and recycling

Brands will apply the same strategy used with their products to their points-of-sale and activations. Sustainability initiatives in Retail will combine shops and marketing campaigns, conveying a message and creating spaces consistent with the communication.

2.Interactive shops

Having conquered the easiest part (digital signage), the level of technological spectacularity will increase at points-of-sale, where screens and one-way messages will no longer suffice and consumers will demand the ability to personalise their in-store experience through interaction.

3.Eye-catching and bold designs, together with premium formats

Points-of-sale as mere places of transaction no longer build customer loyalty. They have their space as points of convenience, but only those that offer something extra will succeed in building customer loyalty, i.e. those worth visiting… and posting on social media.

4.New materials and combinations

Light integrated into furniture has become indispensable for giving added value to traditional wood and metal, but retailers are already asking themselves: “Now what?”

In 2022 we will see a greater use of surprising materials, new textures, premium finishes… The use of ceramics, glass and vinyls will give commercial installations real personality.

5.Pure playersare redoubling their expansion strategies in Retail

The first brands born on the Internet are already in physical Retail and they have paved the way in recent years, demonstrating that it was not just a whim: online needs Retail and vice versa. Hawkers, Ecoalf, Oppo…

Their mixed selling strategies have led them to play with different shop formats to achieve their expansion strategies, but all surprising and brave. Who will follow them? Our “Keys to Expansion in Retail” guide will no doubt prove useful.

Consumers and technology have been changing the rules of the game for years, threatening the continuity of traditional Retail (mere product-currency transaction), but opening new windows and spaces that bring unique value to brands and customers.

It is in the combination of both aspects: digital (seamless and fluid) and physical (surprising, exciting and enveloping) where consumers truly connect to brands.

Each year, this panorama becomes increasingly defined in the form of emerging trends.