Deciding what the format should be
Before anything is drawn there is a harder question: what should this format be, for whom, and against whom? Most of the expensive mistakes in retail design are made at that point, not at the drawing board. We work with retailers on the decisions that come first.
Positioning against a real market
Who your format is for, what it promises, what it deliberately does not do, and how that reads next to the two competitors your customer will visit in the same week. Positioning that cannot be told apart from the incumbent's is not positioning. We look at catchment, competitor set, price architecture, assortment ambition and the story you can credibly tell. Credibly is the operative word: a format has to be defensible on your actual cost base, not on the one you would like to have.
Format portfolio
Few retailers need one format. They need a family: a large store for the weekly shop, a compact one for city locations, perhaps a fuel or transport format, sometimes a discount line under a different name. The portfolio question is which formats you need, how far apart they should sit, and what they share. Formats that sit too close cannibalise each other. Formats that share too little cost you twice in development and buying.
The business case per square metre
Every strategic choice lands as a number on a floor. Wider aisles, a bigger fresh offer, a service counter or a seating area each buy something and cost something. We make those trade-offs visible in advance, expressed in square metres, expected turnover and staffing, so the decision is taken by your board rather than by a design preference. This is the part clients tell us they were missing when they came from a pure design agency.
Then, and only then, design
Every strategic choice lands as a number on a floor. Wider aisles, a bigger fresh offer, a service counter or a seating area each buy something and cost something. We make those trade-offs visible in advance, expressed in square metres, expected turnover and staffing, so the decision is taken by your board rather than by a design preference. This is the part clients tell us they were missing when they came from a pure design agency.
Refresh, reposition or rebuild?
Three very different interventions get discussed as if they were the same conversation. A refresh updates the look and fixes the worn parts, and can be rolled out quickly across an estate at modest cost per store. A repositioning changes what the format promises, which means assortment, pricing and service change too, and the interior follows. A rebuild replaces the format outright. Choosing the wrong one is expensive in both directions. A refresh applied to a positioning problem buys eighteen months and solves nothing. A full rebuild applied to a format that was merely tired spends several times what was necessary. Part of the strategy phase is establishing which of the three you are actually looking at, and being willing to recommend the cheapest of them when that is the honest answer.
FAQ
How is this different from concept development?
Strategy decides what the format should be. Concept development designs it. Doing the second without the first is how you get a beautiful store nobody can explain.
How long does a format strategy take?
Typically 3 to twelve weeks, depending on how much market and transaction data is already available.
Can you do strategy without doing the design?
Yes. Some clients take the format definition and design in-house or with another partner, and we are happy to work that way.
Contact us
Not sure yet what the format should be? That is the right time to call. Contact our studio in the Netherlands or Dubai.