"Retailing needs changes"

Jos de Vries The Retail Company is one of Europe's leading concept design companies. Based in Maarssen in the Netherlands and with offices in Dortmund, Moscow and Barcelona, the company analyses, develops and implements retail formats through-out Europe. It employs around 45 staff, who are specialists in design for retail marketing, interior architects, colour designers and concept developers in store design. Business partners include supermarket chains such as Rewe (Germany), Tesco (UK), Jumbo Euro (Netherlands) and Plus Fresc (Spain) along with hypermarket operators, DIY chains, convenience stores and shopping malls. Developing a new concept for the pet supplies chains Zoo & Co. and Welke last year also took Jos de Vries into the pet product sector for the first time (detailed reporting in PET worldwide). The goal of Jos de Vries is to offer its customers practical, market-oriented solutions with which they gain an advantage over their competitors. Creative ideas and designs are harnessed to an economic vision. In the development of successful store concepts, the identity and shopfitting concept of the store play a key role with regard to communication with the customer. Focus on the product At the latest Pet Conference, held in Wiesbaden at the beginning of November, Jens Bork, a senior consultant in the company and head of the office in Germany, explained what he believed were the key drivers in retailing. The central message was that the focus should be on the product and not the shopfitting. For Jens Bork, it was especially important that layout, store design, store graphics, façade and visual merchandising were coordinated to one another. Routing, orientation, focal points and range development were the key points in the store layout. In designing the store, colour, shape, material and spatial perception in interplay with the lighting concept formed the basis for the emotional experience of the customer in the retail area. Jens Bork considered the outside façade important, as this gave customers their first impression of the business. The façade should attract customers, and persuade them to visit the store. Recognition value, attractiveness and quality were the key terms, therefore. In the retail area of a pet product store, Jens Bork rejected superfluous waterfalls and palms that fulfilled no particular purpose but would tend instead to divert attention from the essentials, namely the products. The retail expert recommended flexible…