Fashion retailers have long been struggling to figure out how today’s new youth marketplace of teens prefer to shop. At Label Networks, we’ve concentrated on asking questions about such changes in spending and shopping patterns, and the differences between shopping in malls, stores, and online among 13-25-year-olds across the United States in our 14th Annual Spring Youth Culture Study 2014, which is being released Wednesday, April 9.
Over the past few years that we have been tracking shifts in shopping among youth, it’s important for fashion retailers to understand that it’s not just the challenging economic climate that has changed the direction of shopping habits, but a multitude of social shifts and lifestyle patterns that are bringing on a new type of youth “shopper” in general. (For information about our Spring Youth Culture Study, contact us at info@labelnetworks.com.)
For Adidas Originals, they’ve launched a new concept which they showcasing starting in Berlin, Germany. The idea is to get young people to come to their stores, and essentially, hang-out. The blueprint includes mobile charging stations in a digital bar, Wi-Fi, plus a new design that’s sleek, concrete, brick, with an urban feel and cool attributes such as areas to lounge and talk, unique vending machines, and art.
“Shopping for this generation is very social. They need to have a place to hang out. The longer the consumer stays in the store, the more likely they are to buy,” said Ted Mager, Adidas global head of retail environments, to Reuters.
The other shift for Originals is recognizing the importance of the female sportswear shopper. This is obvious within our data, but many retailers are catching on, for example with H&M, Uniqlo, and the Gap all producing sportswear collections for females. New areas in the Originals stores showcase their high-heel sneakers by Jeremy Scott, collaborations with fashion brands like Top Shop, and a focused area promoting the World Cup of soccer which begins in June.
The plan is to bring the new Originals concept to 30 cities over the next year including London, Shanghai, Seoul, Paris, New York, and Moscow.
Mager added, “We engage with our consumers through our product, our staff, our marketing activations and with our store spaces. We aim to be part of the fabric of the city’s neighborhood and create a destination for our consumers. Therefore we created our new Originals store concept to celebrate the best features of the space we have and ensure we remain part of the landscape of the city and we added in elements such as a lighting system reminiscent of the transit grids in a city and fly-poster’s for communication that will organically layer.”
For the Originals store in Berlin, they’ve added a “manifesto” which has been used to inspire street art, photography, and design for the store, turning it from a plain retail location to what may be an experience worth stepping into.
