Amazing Retail : A Case Study

This week, I was blown away by a retail experience.

I had heard about a store in Reno, Nevada. I decided to go and see it for myself. Sometimes you need to get out of your own lane to find inspiration. I wasn't disappointed.

Think of a 90's style shopping centre converted into a single store. That store is Scheels. Scheels sells sports goods.

And yes, that really is a Ferris wheel you can see in the picture below. $1 a go.

IMPORTANT NOTE : The store was VERY busy and so I was limited in the number of photos I could take. The ones you see here, I had to wait to find a clear point to take a photo.

Entering The Store

As you enter the store, you walk through an archway that is a fish tank! There are 2 entrances. Both have fish tanks! We are not talking goldfish here either as you can see in the photo below.

Navigating the store can be a little overwhelming for a first visit but you quickly get the hang of it.

The store is set out into sports categories and this is the beauty of it. It is VERY much lifestyle orientated.

It isn't segmented by products (i.e. here are your coats, here are your hoodies etc). It is segmented by how you will use the product. It appears that they have curated the brands that are aligned to that sport - so you see the products that are relevant to your interests.

Merchandising

The store has zones and everything is merchandised beautifully. Want a paddle board? Or a kayak? A great selection with appropriate price points

Want camping equipment? It has EVERYTHING you would need for a successful trip. It could be a family trip or a solo hike into the wilderness. You can get everything here.

The range is careful and concise. Not lots of products within the same category (i.e. 50 different tents, just a well selected assortment.

Want to go fishing? The category is brought to life with an aspirational sense of adventure in the form of a sea plane. Given that Reno is in the desert, it does conjure up images of taking a plane to somewhere in the wilderness.

Talking of the wilderness, there is a rocky crag built in the store with lots of stuffed animals that you might see in the area. Given the size of the gun area and the incredible number of people shopping guns, I would say hunting is quite a key past time.

Talking of shooting, there is a personalised area dedicated to the Black Rifle Coffee Company, a company founded by veterans. If you have been to the states, they hold their active service and veterans in high regard. From an air travel perspective, they are the first to board the plane with a "Thank you for your service" message. The UK would benefit from being a little more grateful for the armed forces but that is another story.

Engagement

Now, Scheels is quite clever when it comes to engagement. Unfortunately my pictures are limited due to people / children using the activities.

So how do they approach engagement?

You walk in and see the fish tank. Then you notice the Ferris Wheel and as you work your way around the store there are nodes of activity to entice and engage.

Fancy a game of Mini Bowling?

Want to have a go at shooting?

The interesting thing about most of the activities? They involve payment. It may only be $1 but it is still a payment. Some of these are clearly targeted at children, others are there for adults to be entertained.

Want to try the golf putters or even a driver? Go ahead.

Want to buy high end guns? Go to the Premium Gun Room.

But the real "slam dunk"?

The People

There were a LOT of staff on the shop floor.

If you have been following me for a while you will know that I have taken up running and so I thought I would pick up another pair of trainers (Asics Nimbus 26). The sales assistant asked if I was ok. I explained that I wanted a specific pair but in Wide (2E). He came out with a 4E and a different Asics trainer as he didn't have the ones I wanted in stock. He really knew his product despite the assortment size.

It was at that point that I realised he was actually serving 3 customers at once.

Now that is a skill I have not seen in YEARS - back when I used to work on the shop floor. My colleagues and I used to have to do that in "Peak Season".

He was polite & very knowledgeable, pleased to be of service.

In the UK people work in retail to get money. In the US, it is a profession. Retail / Sales is a noble career choice.

As I walked around the store, I could see staff everywhere, willing to help. They were actively selling, driving the transaction value up.

Whilst they didn't have the trainers, I did end up making a purchase in a different category.

In Summary

Until now, REI had been my favourite store for outdoor lifestyle but this takes the win for me.

It was a well thought out, well executed store. In some aspects, some might consider elements of it to be dated but hey, where else could you buy a BBQ, a marinade, a kayak, a tent, a firepit, a gun, ammo, a gun safe, a basket ball net and more. It felt like it had everything! Even Lego sets!!

One final observation. It didn't scream PROMOTIONS. In fact, promotions were very subtle when there was discounting to be done. The majority of the discounting was for clearance products it seemed.

Key Takeaways For Travel Retail

As I said before, this store blew me away. Great retail starts with the customer and ends with great service.

These are the Top 6 things that this retailers is doing that our industry could benefit from.

1. Excellent selling skills
2. Excellent product knowledge
3. Passionate People
4. Lifestyle categories
5. Activities not activations
6. Concise assortments / Many categories

Selling Skills

The employees in this store were actively selling. This wasn't a bored grunt from a part timer, this was active listening, questioning, matching and closing.

ACTION : Travel Retail needs to completely revolutionise its approach to selling. A radical rethink is required.

Product Knowledge

Everyone I spoke to could speak confidently about the category they were working on, could match products to specific needs and communicate the benefits. Product knowledge gives the shopper confidence to buy.

ACTION : Product knowledge is key. It gives the front line the confidence to sell. When a customer senses confidence, they are more open to buying.

Passion

The people employed here were passionate about what they do. They love the products and what those products represent. All in all, it was a positive environment that you felt happy to be spending money in.

ACTION : Find people who love the products / categories you sell. Offload those who do not. It may seem a little ruthless but we are here to get money in the till.

Lifestyle Categories

Shoppers like to buy based on their usage. Putting product into lifestyle categories will nudge shoppers to see how THEY can fit your products / categories into their life.

ACTION : A radical rethink about store design is required. Our most recent work supports this approach. Adapt the merchandising to open up shoppers to purchasing. I will be sharing more perspectives in my meetings in Cannes.

Activities Not Activations

We have assessed hundreds of activations. Some work. Some do not. Some by chance, others by design. What is clear is that creating activities in store rather than something that looks pretty or something that can be tasted (then wasted) is the key to unlocking dwell time and spend.

ACTION : Rethink activations. Go beyond looking pretty. Bring physical engagement to the table and watch how it changes the shopper.

Concise Assortments / Many Categories

So, you may be tempted to rationalise the range in the hope of reducing workload and increasing productivity however, this can be counter intuitive. Yes, rationalise the range, but within the specific subcategories. However, having many categories may be the key to incremental growth.

I will cover this in more detail another time.

ACTION: Review your assortment, look for new categories and create a small concise range within each of them. The overall range may be big but within the customer segments you are targeting, the choice can be limited.

Part of me misses being a retailer. There is SO much opportunity out there for Travel Retail to transform, change and drive step changing growth. Anyone want to give me a store to work on for a few months? :-)

I am now preparing for the series of webinars that I will be hosting in September and also for the TFWA show in Cannes. If you would like to attend the webinars or meet in Cannes, drop me a line.

Know someone who might find this content useful? Please do pass it on. It helps more than you know. Thank you!

Have a great week.

Kevin

I am the Founder and Managing Director of One Red Kite,?a commercial agency that our clients love to work with. We support our clients with Data Management, Analysis, Dashboarding & Reporting, Category Management, Bespoke Mystery Shopping. We proudly support our clients to deliver better.

One Red Kite's sister company, Recruit GTR is a specialist recruiter for the Global Travel Retail sector.