I’ve seen the glass pyramid of the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower on the left bank and Notre Dame by the river Seine on TV and in books. This September, I had the opportunity to visit Paris myself for the first time. During my short week, I was looking at Paris from a completely different angle. I visited shops and commercial districts across Paris. Like every other big city, the make-up of brands is not so different. One can find the big international brands from luxurious Louis Vuitton, Prada to the more affordable Zara, H&M.
While popping into the big flagship stores along the Champs-Élysées, one feature of these stores captures my attention. I’ve noticed many DIY/experience sections within these stores: in the adidas store, there is a creator hub and indoor testing area;
A personalised tailor and print hub in the Levi’s store; in Asics, treadmills were provided for testing their products. Retailers are trying to retain and attract customers to the physical stores by offering varied and interesting activities. This is a transformational step to the bricks & mortar. Although I am not able to see how effective it is due to the time of my visit and lack of data, I can appreciate the intention behind these attempts. I am hoping there will be more elements added not only to flagship stores but also to high street doors in the future. Who knows, we might all be going to a high street H&M for a cup of tea in few years’ time! GEOLYTIX France Retail Places are available, watch this space…
Wensi Kirkham, Data Scientist at GEOLYTIX
Title Image: Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash
