The future of retail is ambience. Unveiling our new brand.
Your shop is your event space - an activation or extension of your brand experience. Every journey that a customer takes through your store, both on and offline, should immerse them in your values and heritage, and leave them wanting more.
This is what makes Stephen Spencer + Associates different: we work with you to trigger human emotion at every level, because when people love your brand as much as you do, they become engaged followers and loyal customers.
“I’m incredibly excited to unveil our new website and focus on experiential retail for visitor attractions and premium niche retailers. I, and some of our Associates, were at the coal face when cultural retail became mainstream in the 1990s and noughties - you were seeing High Street brands clamouring to partner with museums to create what we would now call experience-led, rich content.
Since then, the High Street has lost its way and, particularly after the past two years and amid the current uncertainty, it’s time for retail to make another leap forward. We believe that cultural and other visitor attractions, as well as the independent sector, are especially well-equipped to lead that leap. After all, every visitor attraction represents a discretionary spend - they have to make themselves attractive, and deliver both value for money, and for time. No-one has to visit a museum or gallery - the experience has to deliver value for them. We think shops need to think that way too.”
The great experience economist Joe Pine poses this question to retailers: "What would you do differently if you charged admission?". In other words, if you could persuade customers to part with money just to enter your shop, what would you have to do? If you think about it, if the alternative is to stay at home and shop online, then in effect that really is what retailers are asking their customers to do - to spend some money - and use some valuable time - just to travel to their shop.
So our new website represents our commitment to helping visitor attractions and niche retail businesses hone their sixth sense, so that they can be confident that they will deliver the best, and most lucrative, but also the most purposeful, customer experience. Our Associates offer a comprehensive array of skills, and unlike many other consultancies we have been there, done it, and launched the tee-shirt range, so we understand the pressures our clients face and what it takes to get things done and deliver tangible results.
We also offer a free, one-hour, initial discovery session enabling our clients to get focused on the true value they need to identify and fulfil. Above all, we're here to help - there's probably not been a time in recent memory when getting maximum return on investment was so crucial for businesses. That's our total focus in everything we do.
