WOW Concept, how to improve the model

Today I wanted to do something different, and I decided to write my first article on LinkedIn. So far, I have made my regular posts and a newsletter. But I wanted to go further and this is it.?

In order to assess how articles work, I am not going to publish one but a few of them. I want to see how many people read it and how it converts to LIKES, SHARES and leads. I will tell you later on about it.

My first set of articles is going to explain my opinion on current topics. It is not going to be explanatory, it's going to be my opinion. The format is going to be What would be your top priorities if you were the CEO?

So let's go.

MAKING WOW REALLY PHYGITAL

WOW is the latest store in Madrid. It is the must-visit store of the month. If you happen to be around Gran Via, you have to go and visit. It is located in Gran Via 18 at the former Hotel Roma. This new outlet has been set up by former El Corte Ingles CEO Dimas Gimeno together with a team of really good professionals.?

The idea behind the WOW concept is to create a new type of store combining the best of the online and offline worlds. This is exactly what is called Phygital, which stands for Physical + Digital store. This strategy entails bringing the best of online to physical, but the best of offline to online. But, does WOW really do that?

WOW has done an outstanding job with:

• Great marketing campaign creating a sense of mysterious edgy exclusivity. Using a group of people dressed in green chromakey walking in Madrid's city centre was a clear example of guerrilla marketing, which is in resonance with WOW's message.

• The best shopping experience in town at the moment. The visual merchandising and furniture is shocking and immersive. Anyone entering the store feels something different. This is not just "another store". WOW has something special to tell.
• Curation of great Digital Brands and bringing them to physical stores. If you didn't trust a digital brand because you haven't seen it physically, now you can go to WOW and check the product by yourself. To name a few: Closca, Olivia Palermo, Mate Bike or Pols Potten.
• Bringing special collections from established brands. Such as the collaboration of Lacoste with Mindcraft, or special products by Tag Heuer.

• The image in Instagram, store visual merchandising, shopping bags, external fa?ade and website use the same leitmotiv. Instagram uses shocking messages such as "if you love me, bring me croissants" or "Do you speak fluent emoji?", avatars and VR images.

Now it's the "but-part". However, WOW misses bringing some essential features in the phygital world. To name a few:

• It's a concept store, not a store for buying such as an H&M or a Mediamarkt. You can see products and test them, but you cannot take them with you. You will buy them and they will be delivered to your door. This is precisely what most of us do when we ask about the latest TV and eventually buy online. There is a name for it: showrooming. And it is such a problematic thing that some brands are starting to charge for assisting in their stores. In my own experience, concept stores do work in certain sectors (furniture for example), but the result of using them for a wide public in all sectors is disappointing.

• A great idea about WOW is replacing brands in the physical stores. So, in this way, all stores are online, but they fight for their space in the physical store. This competition creates a bargaining power of WOW with the brands. However, visual merchandising is so powerful and rigid that the overall shopping experience is going to be the same. There is little room for brand customization in the store. Most customers are not going to notice if you replaced Olivia Palermo cosmetics with Westman Atelier. WOW's store furniture has not been designed with visual merchandising rotation in mind.

• There is a thing about WOW that keeps me up at night: Where's the website? This is a serious thing, dude. How could you open a phygital concept with the digital? Does that make sense? The idea behind the omnichannel vision is that there is no such thing as on or off. Everything is off and on at the same time. No matter where the stock is located, it is available for the customer wherever he/she might have the need. Any operation in digital requires its counterpart physical and the other way around. Without an online counterpart, a phygital store is just a standard concept store. The current store took 20 days to be open and it is just a WordPress with a poor customer experience.

• Digital content creation is crucial for entertaining and bringing customer attention week after week, after week, after week, ad infinitum. If there's a specially curated collection of Lacoste and Minecraft which is super difficult to find. Both digital and physical customers should feel the scarcity with the same intensity. I once heard that successful retail companies in the future will bear similarities with Netflix and HBO with regard to content creation.
• If phygital is about digital, bring the address to the logo, especially if the website is not wow.com. This is a quick fix. I made a short sample but graphical guys can make it look nicer.

I hope you liked this article and remember to SHARE, LIKE and COMMENT!

#operations #strategy #dtc