Battle of the Flagships: Nike and Nordstrom Bet on Experiential Retail and Services

It is not all gloom on the High Street.  Far from it,  as demonstrated by the growing list of high-profile retailers that are opening flagship stores in prime shopping locations that promise to offer unique shopping experiences.

Adidas LDN is one of the latest examples of this new type of experiential store. It replaces Adidas’ previous store next door in London’s Oxford Street and is bristling with the latest technology, including interactive changing room mirrors and over 100 digital touchpoints.

Visitors to the store can experience new products and interactive challenges in an immersive environment made from LED screens and flooring that can change mood and purpose at the click of a button.

The store also offers customization, allowing customers to specify what designs can be used on their Adidas clothing or footwear.

The customization service is not just for new products as customers can also bring in used Adidas clothing  to be customized.  Customization is one of the growing trends in apparel retailing,  as explained in this blog post by Openbravo CEO Marco De Vries.

Its revealing that Adidas has opened its high-tech London store just a short distance from  a similar store that rival Vans recently unveiled and close to Nike Town London, the flagship store of archrival Nike. See this blog post for more on how multinational brands are looking to get closer to the customer by opening high-profile physical stores that aim to offer unique customer experiences.

Meanwhile, US department store retailer Nordstrom is also betting big on a strengthened physical presence. It has opened a seven-story flagship store in New York that  specializes  in  women’s and children’s fashion,  complementing a similar Nordstrom flagship store for men’s fashion across the street.

As well as seven food and beverage options, Nordstrom’s New York flagship store offers a range of services designed to appeal particularly to  money-rich time-poor new Yorkers, including 24/7 online order pick-up and delivery, same-day delivery to eligible addresses, on-site alterations in less than an hour,  and in-store cobbler services.

Nordstrom is hoping  that by offering a more service-oriented retail strategy it can stand out from rivals as well as increase profitability and wallet share by offering higher-margin services.

Find out how to go beyond products by offering services by watching our free on-demand webinar, “From Product to Service: Putting the Customer First with a Service-oriented Retail Strategy”.