in Italy, rather than giving it an Australian twist.  The store design epitomises something that luxury brands have long understood, which is the importance of creating an immersive environment that enables customers to escape the noise and congestion of everyday life, and fully experience and connect with the brand on an individual level.  But the idea of experiential retail is not just for the top end of town. Brands at every price point can emulate this approach, if they understand exactly what makes luxury stores so successful. Detail, detail, detail The primary way that luxury brands differentiate themselves is through an “air of exclusivity”, according to retail design agency McCartney Design’s creative director Gary McCartney.  “At its simplest level this can be achieved by limiting the amount of visitors at any one time, thus creating a queue outside the store – roping off the area is the finishing touch, and groundbreaking architecture and design takes it to another level,” McCartney told Inside Retail.  For example, French luxury house Hermès placed giant woven timber sculptures throughout its Rue de Sèvres store in Paris, creating a unique and extravagant environment for shoppers to explore.  And attention to detail is key in luxury.  Dolce & Gabbana’s local store design was signed off by the fashion house’s executive team in Italy, who spared no expense when it came to ensuring the quality of the fixtures. The staircase between the ground floor and eveningwear floor on the second storey didn’t meet the international team’s standards initially, and had to be rebuilt with the same Sicilian basalt as the rest of the store. The interior of Dolce & Gabbana’s Sydney flagship. Of course, most brands can’t afford to ship hundreds of square metres of stone across the world.  “The main impediment to non-luxury retail adapting these ideas is budget,” McCartney explained.  Although not a luxury brand, Zara behaved like one in the design of its Champs-Élysées flagship, which opened earlier this year, McCarney said. Materials and detailing suggest luxury, along with state-of-the-art digital and holographic displays. The only non-luxury element is the pricing.  “However, Zara can afford their Champs-Élysées store only because of their huge global volume. With massive inflation in the cost of fitting out stores there is increasing pressure to simply deliver well on the basics. But with clever store design there should be room to create an engaging environment on a budget, then add a layer of technology and that all important personal service to complete an accessible and immersive world for customers,” McCartney said. Aspire to inspire Beyond the grandiose design of their stores, luxury brands are also intensely focused on the connection between their brand and their customers.  The General Store’s chief strategy officer and partner Danny Lattouf told Inside Retail that many customers develop emotional connections to luxury products, and said that smart retailers know how to tap into them. “These retailers have created environments that are just as aspirational as the products – and brands – themselves,” Lattouf said. “It’s not just about high-quality fixtures and beautiful visual merchandising, though. It’s about the attentive customer service, the complimentary drink on arrival, the exclusive product collection, the monogramming and repair services, perhaps the bespoke fragrance imbued within the store.” These elements come together to tell the brand’s story, and create a world for customers to immerse themselves in, Lattouf said. However, these elements are easier for non-luxury brands to implement, and they are already becoming more common across the industry. For example, appointment-only and private shopping experiences became more widespread throughout the pandemic, as well as personalised styling sessions. Honey Birdette, for example, implemented a number of these initiatives when physical retail was restricted in order to keep contact between customers to a minimum while making its shopping experience more exclusive. Australian fashion house Cue also implemented Zoom styling services when customers were locked down, and has kept the offer going after stores were able to reopen – delivering a taste of personal service to customer’s homes.