Retail is theatre

Retail is not just like theatre. It is theatre.

It’s been Fashion Week in New York…  I was there just a week afterwards.   The perfect moment to see the Retail Show. Up and down 5^th Avenue and through Soho, all are competing to be the hottest ticket in town….   The sales people are the actors, and they have their scripts….  of course they can ad lib, but they need to stick to the broad outline of the plot.

They have all the scenery and backdrop that you would expect from the best of Broadway, designed by companies in Milan, Paris, and London, and shipped to all corners of the earth. Each player has the props they need to put on the show and the lighting sound and smells are carefully choreographed to help the player deliver the story.

Why is this a useful analogy? Because we all know how much care and attention is put into every night on Broadway, how everything is exactly how the Director intends it to be.  No room for mistakes, or half-efforts…. And yet every week I walk into stores with the owners or guardians of retail brands who are under-whelmed by their own performances.

A true brand customer experience should be three things:

• •The way you intend it to be, always
• •Consistently your highest standard possible
• •Differentiated and unique to your brand.

The show should be how the Director wants it to be.  Everyday.  Every performance.