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Hyperphysical State
The most emerging macro trend of post Covid -19 era is the rise of Hyperphysical stores. It reenergizes the shopping experience delivering the customers a sense of exclusivity and larger than life experience. The concept of such stores includes multisensory reactions like senses of sight, sound, touch and potentially even smell and taste.
“These pop-ups are a manifestation of that and are in response to the other side of the coin, which is digital and the rise of the metaverse, a parallel universe where consumers can increasingly socialize, work, shop and play.”
says Jacqueline Windsor, UK retail leader at PwC and a partner in the Strategy& Deals team.
At this transitional phase when customers haven't returned to physical retail fully and the growth of the same has not yet been steady instead it is slowly rising. At this hour Hyperphysical stores can attract multitude of people even from the young Gen Z generation.
Some 56 per cent of global Gen Z shoppers head to physical stores for a fun experience, according to a 2018 survey by IBM and the National Retail Federation, which interviewed 15,600 global consumers between the ages of 13 and 21.
As e-commerce websites and e-tailers are adapting a plethora of virtual interactions with customers in terms of virtual reality,
Hyperphysical State EXAMPLES
It is presenting itself with lots of splashy blue at Le Bleu, a fun pop-up that opened at London’s Selfridges. Designer; Simon Porte Jacquemus has reimagined his bathroom, as a retail concept which elucidates the senses of playfulness in a surreal and holistic structure.
Le Bleu, is located in the Selfridges creative retail space, called The Corner Shop. It features an edit of the Spring/Summer 2022 Le Splash collection shown in Hawaii alongside a selection of exclusive hoodies, T-shirts and towels and the brand’s Marseille je t’aime photography book.
Jacquemus can be witnessed in Selfridges Mews, situated just behind the Oxford Street store. It is placed there as a 24-hour vending machine that dispenses its top-selling Chiquito and Bambino bags. At the Old Selfridges Hotel, Jacquemus presented an immersive experience that transports customers through a surrealist interpretation of a swimming pool and rooms with 3D sensory experiences and the title is : Le Vestiaire.
Jacquemus has dressed the Selfridges Corner Shop in blue, and has brought his bag vending machines to London in an exclusive blue colorway naming it Le bleu
Balenciaga pop-up store dedicated its grandeur to the ‘Cagole’ handbag, at the label's Mount Street shop in London. The ‘Cagole’ pop-up store is on its world tour with 10 more cities after London until July 15, from China to Macau, the USA and Dubai, each celebrating the ‘it bag’ . It is the choice of many leading influencers and celebrities like Kim Kardashian, who became a Balenciaga brand ambassador in a recent advertising campaign.
It has made a flashy appearance in the Fall 2021 pre-collection, ‘Le Cagole’. It is named after a slang term used in Marseilles to describe a vulgar, provocative woman, from then, it has basked itself in unprecedented success. Balenciaga has introduced ‘Le Cagole’ in a range of colours and leather types, thus creating a line featuring a variety of products like wallets, clutches, sandals, boots and more, all of them showcased in the ‘Cagole’ pop-up stores.
The products in the range are completely positioned in shaggy pink fake fur shelves to display cases to the floor, chairs and walls - in a quintessentially ‘Cagole’ style. At the stores, customers have the opportunity to customize their ‘Cagole’ products.
‘Le Cagole’ is a crescent-shaped shoulder bag made in soft leather. There is no logo in plain view, and the bag is studded and decorated with biker-style details such as mini pockets, leather straps, zips, eyelets and metal buckles.
Fashion brand Balenciaga has transformed its Mount Street store in London, creating a maximalist look to launch its Le Cagole collection.
Conclusion
It's not just about design, some luxury marketers are looking at new features to make physical store an all-round multi-sensory experience, including the integrating ASMR, following the trends of YouTube and TikTok. The idea is that shops should no longer be simple shops for the purpose of selling, but meeting places where memories and emotions are framed even in the mind of window shoppers thus creating aspiratonal buying possibilities in hyperphysical experience in its most material and sensorial form.
