The proposition was brought to life through a  retail and communications strategy, which manifested itself in a new retail concept flagship store on Baker Street.

The Market Creative’s Retail Safari is a tried and tested way of observing best practice and seeking inspiration from a variety of retail sources. It involves the client and agency team experiencing a range of retail environments to observe trends and innovations through the eyes of the shopper.

First-hand observations and experiences cannot be undervalued. But part of the power of the Retail Safari comes through the analysis of the findings and how they can be interpreted in the context of the brand.

To do this job, we use BE.SHOP™, our retail communication tool, which reviews and defines what is needed to inspire a shopper to act. The areas considered are Personality, Education, Product Engagement, Social Engagement, Navigation and Promotion. 

Using our knowledge of the retail landscape, we created a tour of central London covering direct competitors including Hulsta, Sliderobes & Hammonds; the broader category, including IKEA, John Lewis & CP Hart; and out of category including: Nike Town, Audi City, Argos, Boxpark & House of Hackney

Following the safari, we held a full day’s innovation workshop to collate the insights using the SHOP™ tool to describe the key retail trends and best practice that we observed.

Then using BE.SHOP™ once more, we took these insights and combined them with our brand knowledge to take the “Created with you” principles and bring them to life in-store. The final output was a new version of SHOP™ for Sharps defined the store concept and creative development.