In order for retailers to better understand the process of experience-first luxury design, co-founders Jeremy Bergstein and Dave Skaff outlined five steps for architects, designers and retail companies to create thought-out spaces from the onset of the build process:

1- Consider the ‘New Retail Architecture’ – Physical architecture and digital architecture have to get to know each other. Enterprise technology influences almost every element of the modern customer experience. These systems are too critical to the core service the store delivers to ignore early on. You need to build on a strong foundation before you can architect any type of shoppable brand space.

2- Think Beyond the Space – Customers are interacting with your brand inside and outside of store lease lines. Understand early on how your customers are engaging with the brand so you can enchant them and build experiences to meet them where they are.

3- Leverage Historical Data – Don’t underestimate the power of data, and be prepared to make changes along the way. Data can inform everything from hyper-optimized regional store marketing and assortments to store displays, experiences and layout.

4- Give Customers What They Want – Now that you know your customer, “architect” your space so guests will stay longer and give them an opportunity to have a personal moment with brand and product.

5- Allow For Flexibility – Remember that key elements like flexible checkout and fulfillment are now table-stakes for a complete customer experience. Flexibility impacts physicality in an store environment.

The Science Project (TSP) is a luxury retail design firm based in New York City. From Kate Spade to Perry Ellis and Barneys New York, they have continually pushed the boundaries of what truly defines “experience” in meaningful, well-thought-out ways that work across the digital, data and built environments and push the traditional boundaries of architecture.

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Everybody wants a piece of the Miami luxury market.

Aventura Mall, the third-largest shopping center in the U.S. with 2.7 million square feet, has been adding luxury brands to its mix. Givenchy and Gucci will bow in the summer and fall, respectively. St. John and 120 percent Lino, an Italian brand of linen apparel for men, women and children, recently opened.

Aventura in 2017 will add a new three-level, 315,000-square-foot wing. The Carlos Zapata-designed extension will have a rooftop garden and VIP concierge area.

Due to its size, Aventura has a broad array of tenants, the majority of which are not high end. The center, which is anchored by Nordstrom, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s features other luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Burberry, Fendi, Bally and Emilio Pucci.

The competition in Miami started heating up in 2012 when Louis Vuitton, Céline, Emilio Pucci and Christian Dior closed their stores at the Bal Harbour Shops and relocated either to Miami’s Design District or Aventura Mall. Hermès, which also defected, operated a temporary store in the Design District before unveiling its 10,000-square foot flagship there last year.

While several luxury brands operate more than one unit in Miami, the city’s tourist trade has been dented by the strong U.S. dollar, Brazil’s economic downturn and Russia’s prolonged recession. Tourists from Brazil and Russia have been conspicuous consumers of luxury and contemporary goods.

Jackie Soffer, co-chairman and ceo of Turnberry Associates, owner and manager of Aventura Mall, said the property attracts 28 million visitors a year. “We cater to a much larger audience,” she said, referring to other retail venues. “If you’re selling a $5 million ring, you may not need that. We have a lot of customers buying $10,000 or 20,000 handbags.

“Tourism is down in Miami,” she added. “The Brazilian market hasn’t been as strong. We’re getting a lot more U.S. tourists. That’s made up for it a bit.”

“It will be interesting to see what gets built and what works,” Craig Robins, the primary landlord in the Design District. “Some projects will succeed and some won’t do as well. Miami’s such a big, powerful market; there’s room for retailers to have more than one location.”

The district is owned by Miami Design District Associates, a partnership between Dacra and L Real Estate, a global real estate development and investment fund, General Growth Properties and Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp.

Bal Harbour Shops wants to expand with a new wing that would nearly double its size to 850,000 square feet. Whitman Family Development, which owns Bal Harbour Shops, needs voter approval for a land swap deal in order to go forward with the plan.

New construction in Miami includes the 500,000-square-foot Brickell City  Centre, which will be anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue. It’s part of a $1.05 billion, 5.4 million-square-foot, mixed-use Brickell project that’s being developed by Swire Properties Inc., Whitman and Simon. Valentino, Chopard, Guiseppe Zanotti, Bally, Kiton, Vilebrequin and La Perla are among the retailers expected to bow in the fall.

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Luxury car manufacturer Bentley has released designs of a concept car that features a holographic butler to service the needs of the occupants inside (pictured).

It also features organic LED touchscreens built into the cars panels and sofa style seating with a table in the middle of the cabin

Stefan Sielaff, Bentley's design director, told Car and Driver that the virtual bulter is one of the aspects it is working on to set its cars apart from others.

He said: 'Luxury is always related to service. People don't like the idea of just talking to a hidden microphone, we are thinking of how to personalise the next generation of communication.'

Mr Sielaff did not elaborate on what the virtual butler could be used for and Bentley has insisted the designs are not necessarily an intention of a definite product.

However, he added that as cars become more autonomous, luxury customers may want to have their own private vehicle while others use shared cars.

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By Forrest Cardamenis, Luxury Daily, March 09, 2016

In a reversal of the more materialistic tendencies of their parents, almost 95 percent of Chinese Generation Z consumers say it is essential for brands to be sustainable and environmentally conscious, according to a report by RTG Consulting.

The continued growth of China over the next several years will ensure that its consumers remain prime targets for brands for the foreseeable future, as even a slowed China exceeds the growth rate of western nations. As a result, brands will need to make a connection to this group, the first born in a fully modern China, in the interest of long-term success.

“We have noticed that the meaning of success is being redefined where career and financial achievement are no longer the main drivers,” said Marc-Oliver Arnold, head of research and business consulting divisions at RTG Consulting Group. “Our research shows that more than 62 percent of Gen Z already believe that ‘success no longer means financial wealth’; instead, there is an emerging shift in mindset where it is more about how you live your life that matters.

“Not only does this mean they want to live a multi-faceted and enriching lifestyle, but that they also see the value in taking responsibility for caring for the world and their environment,” he said. “This awakening fuels this generation’s desire to be mindful of the present moment and rediscover the meaning of happiness in daily experiences.

Generation gap
As millennials have begun to accrue wealth, they are now the target market for many brands, which recognize that making the connection could sustain several decades of good business. However, the potential of the subsequent generation, particularly in booming market such as China, is enormous.

Additionally, the present reliance on Chinese tourists, a result of the country’s enormous population and booming economy as well as laws, taxes and limitations of distribution that raise the price of luxury goods in the country, means brands must be equipped to reach these consumers when their behaviors and desires change.

While Chinese millennials are heavy travelers and see luxury items as status symbols, tomorrow’s Chinese consumer will more closely resemble today’s western youth, a worldly, socially conscious consumer with alternate definitions of success.

Good news for brands is that many of the techniques currently being used to court millennials, namely emphasizing sustainable measures, will prove effective on China’s Gen Z. Brands that have not yet begun to prioritize sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint and have instead banked on a globalizing economy and/or Chinese tourists will only be more pressed to adapt as time goes on.

Although environmental concerns are the largest marker of China’s Gen Z consumers, it is far from the only one. Barely a quarter of these consumers object to same-sex marriages, an opinion that is at first glance divorced from consumer culture but is in fact important to note for marketing materials, which still overwhelmingly suggest heterosexual couplings.

While “word of mouth” was and remains the best form of advertising a brand can hope for, the phrase is quickly becoming an anachronism. Only 10 percent of consumers surveyed spend more time interacting offline than online with friends.

Marketers are already going after consumers on social media, but proficiency with the various platforms and a quick adoption rate will be crucial moving forward. With interaction moving online, brands will need to find ways to generate buzz in an organic an unobtrusive way even more so than they do today.

Chinese consumer using WeChat

“As digital natives, China’s Gen Z currently lives and breathes mobile, and so [a brand’s] approach must be inherently mobile, with the goal of becoming part of their digital lifestyle,” Mr. Arnold said. “This means offering engaging, meaningful and inspiring creative content as well as distinct experiences.

“In addition, we foresee brands to increasingly become more of a platform for people to build deep and personal human connections.”

Perhaps most alarmingly, around half of respondents say that a more interesting job would be preferable to a high-paying job and only 11 percent agree that wealth indicates success. The overall shift from materialism to mindfulness could be a major obstacle for many sectors, which will need to find a way to tell consumers that a handbag, jewelry or a car is more than a product or sign of wealth.

Brave new world
Although this data connects China’s Gen Z to global Gen Y consumers, China’s own millennials are generally far more consumerist than those in the United States and elsewhere.

Following Gen X’s economic breakthrough, Gen Y was presented with a world in which they could buy previously unthinkable luxuries. Those born into such a world, however, have turned their attention to non-material aspects of happiness.

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Kitty Knowles is a Staff Reporter at The Memo. Kitty previously worked as an online journalist for GQ. She can be found tweeting @KittyGKnowles.

Counterfeit crackdown: Microchips hidden in luxury heels & bags

From skirts that live-tweet and electric shock dresses to platforms that let you design your own shoes and bags, we’re used to the worlds of fashion and technology colliding.

Now luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo has got in on the act, but this time it’s not in the name of aesthetic innovation: The Italian brand is microchipping its products to clamp down on counterfeiters costing the European luxury industry an estimated £5bn a year.

Hidden microchips
In the future your new shoes or bags won’t just come with smart buckles, bows or tassels, but with hidden microchips hidden inside. Footwear will conceal this smart device in the heel, while leather bags will hide chips discreetly within their lining.

Rather importantly, the chips are discreetly invisible, cannot be imitated, and cannot be tracked (they can only be read at a distance of 4cm or less).

Better for the brand and buyers
It’s not only hoped that the move will help the company to identify fakers selling subpar goods, but that it will help customers to make the most of their luxury purchases.

Many shoppers regularly update their wardrobe and attempt to sell the last season’s models online, but fear of fraud means that although Ferragamo shoes sell for up to £1,500 (and handbags at around £2,000), the resale value online is usually only about £1 for every £100 of the original price.

Being able to guarantee that items are genuine means you can bring the price back up to £30 or £40 for every £100 it originally cost.

“People who can afford to spend thousands on a purse often get tired of them after six months and tend to sell them on eBay,” Greg Furman, of the Luxury Marketing Council in New York told The Times.

(....)

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