The benefits of Calm Commerce – a simpler and quieter way to shop.
There is a fresh way of thinking about retail which is influencing brands and retail spaces. Originally embraced by luxury retail, the calm commerce trend has been evolving over the last few years and gathering momentum as customers’ attitudes to shopping are changing.
The Calm Commerce effect comes through store layout, in-store communication, and colourways. Aggressive, competitive sales messaging is being replaced with more calm, positive language, and colour tones. Even surfaces and displays have taken on a new form – more simple, organic, and curvaceous with freeform shapes.
WHAT’S DRIVING THE SHIFT?
With online shopping accelerating at the current pace, it’s more important to ensure our retail spaces are welcoming environments and delivering what customers need and want.
In our experience many stores are cluttered, with too many messages communicated at once, all at the same volume. The key messages get lost within a sea of supplier funded displays, promotions, campaigns, education, inspiration, navigation, and loyalty communication.
Quite often the interiors and graphic communication are worked on separately which can result in a store which lacks coherence. There is usually a mixture of legacy and new store formats which adds to the problem.
In the value end of the market, it’s imperative that price and promotions stand out in store, but a common mistake is to have far too many messages – all trying to be louder than everything else – meaning nothing gets heard.
“Can I have everything louder than everything else?”
The result is a busy, stressful and overwhelming store experience. The store is a key area where customers interact with the brand so it’s important to get it right.
CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
What are customers looking for? From our research as retail experts, we’re finding customers want shopping to be simpler and easier, especially supermarkets. They want to be able to find what they need and feel reassured they are getting the best value. They want to be inspired and need help choosing in certain categories where the choice is immense.
WHAT IS THE CURRENT CUSTOMERS’ MINDSET?
According to the WGSN ‘Future Consumer 2022’ report, here are key consumer sentiments post-COVID:
Fear: Fear is a global – and demographic – unifier, from eco-anxiety to financial uncertainty, and how emotional contagion has been amplified by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Desynchronised Society: The standard nine-to-five, five-day workweek has lost its dominance, giving way to desynchronisation and the breakdown of communities due to the lack of consistent human interaction.
Equitable Resilience: Resilience is leading to toxic positivity and driving consumers to look to emotional acceptance and gravitate towards dedicating time to feel.
Radical Optimism: Optimism isn’t uncool – it’s rebellious, and in times of uncertainty it’s a brave choice.
“The growing trends, along with the impact of Covid, have created what forecasters are calling — The Value Shift. It’s one of the quickest and most significant shifts we’ve seen in recent history. Moreover, because it has affected the entire world, every demographic needs to be addressed.
THE VALUE SHIFT MATRIX
This matrix showcases the report’s details on consumer drivers (reasons consumers are acting the way they are) and the resilience strategies that businesses can adopt.
‘Financial Anxiety’ — Add Value
‘Health Concerns’ — Deliver Wellness
‘Loneliness’ — Promote Togetherness
‘Quest for Truth’ — Gain Trust
‘Safety Fears’ — Offer Comfort and Reassurance
We need to ensure stores are a destination, where customers choose to spend their time and money. But it’s not just the in-store experience – increasingly customers want to make sure the brand they’re shopping with has values aligned to their own. It’s important that retailers get these foundations right.
WHICH BRANDS ARE EMBRACING THIS CALM COMMERCE APPROACH TO THEIR RETAIL SPACES?
There are different ways to interpret this retail movement, here are a few brands who are embracing the trend, some we admire and some we’ve helped bring to life.
COLD STORAGE, ASIA
Our vision for Cold Storage was to transform the space into a modern, fresh, tactile and welcoming shopping environment with a neutral colour palette. We considered how all the in-store messages worked together to have a clear communication hierarchy and coherent experience.
BLOOMIES, USA
We love Bloomingdale’s new smaller, edited and highly curated store concept, Bloomies.
The store feels fresh, calm but still with loads of personality and warmth. The use of the mint green feels contemporary and bold, but also feels neutral, creating the perfect canvas for the store and communication.
“We’ve taken everything you know and love about Bloomingdale’s and edited it into something at once totally familiar and completely unlike anything you’ve ever seen from us.”
CONSUM, SPAIN
We also discovered Spanish supermarket, Consum. It’s very pared back, with simple lines and minimal graphics, definitely creating the feel of a calm space. We wonder if it will evolve to add more warmth and have more marketing messages as currently it feels a little cold.
SIGMA SPORTS ELECTRIC BIKE STORE IN KINGSTON, UK
Sigma Sports has created a really simplified store experience and a reduced range which helps with decision making. The wood in the store has a warm, friendly, tactile and natural feel. The bikes are displayed with soft lighting and minimal messaging to avoid overwhelming customers and the spacious arrangement allows easy exploring and browsing.
WDS WINE BEER LIQUOR, FLORIDA USA
We collaborated with Southeastern Grocers to create this new retail concept. We wanted to create an exciting destination for a new target audience, which was calm, easy to shop and engaging. We ensured the brand experience was coherent, looking at how all the communication worked together, helping customers with clear navigation and education at product level.
APPLE, LOS ANGELES, USA
The new Apple store interiors at The Grove location in Los Angeles embrace all the key elements of calm commerce. Extra high mirrored ceilings and rows of trees bring a sense of the outdoors inside. Gentle, low lighting replaces the garish bright lights found in older stores, feeling more like a coffee shop than a tech store. Messaging on fixtures is minimal, encouraging customers to browse & interact at their own pace.
TICKETY BOO VIEW
Our recommendations on how to embrace a calmer retail space:
1. Rationalise all in store communication.
2. Reduce visual and verbal clutter.
3. Have a clear message hierarchy for all message types.
4. Create a calm reduced complimentary colour palette.
5. Reduce the number of typefaces.
6. Be single-minded with any brand messages.
7. Show you care to build loyalty.
We believe Calm Commerce is a retail trend that’s here to stay and think retail spaces will be much better for it.