What caught our eye at Euroshop this year...

1. EUROSHOP 2017 DIGEST

2. All a blur?
Can’t remember what you saw?
Didn’t go in the first place?
As the world’s largest retail trade show,
Euroshop can be an exercise in stamina
as much as anything else and it’s
always interesting to try and recall what
really stood out a couple of weeks later.
Here are just a few of the things that
caught our eye.
And if you didn’t make it to any stores
in Dusseldorf while you were there, we
spotted a couple of gems which you
can read more about at the end of this
report…
Lighting
Digital
Systems
Surfaces
POP
Retail Technology
Forums
Beyond the Messe
3.
5.
6.
8.
10.
11.
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13.
2

3. Lighting
Apparent here was the polarisation of super-cool
minimal and free-form decoration. The former was
typified by Folio and the elegant frames with integral
LED found on the Klus stand.
It looks like the latter has responded to the popularity
of square metal tubes to offer a cleaner solution than
add-on lighting. On the free-form side there was an
abundance of flexible LED ropes, easy to trim to any size
and billowing cloud-like forms offered by Molo.
Also noteworthy was a really slick internally illuminated
glass display case by Turnlights. They’ve managed to
get LEDs in the corners where the glass joins but made
it super-tiny so you almost don’t read it as a frame.
3Molo

4. 4Klus Turnlights

5. Digital
Digital mirrors have come a long way and there were
several good examples. No longer the usual Leicester
Square pixilation but a sharp, crisp moving image across
the glass with amazing depth of colour.
Less impressive was a digital changing room. The notion
was that you could stand in front of a person-size digital
screen and a headless figure apes your movements
and you can change the outfits. Maybe it needed a bit
more testing but the interface (a smartphone) wasn’t
intuitive and when I had a go I had to hand it back as the
navigation went off and the demonstrators had to reset
it for me.
They told me my colleague would have to move
further away as it was “confusing” the computer – a
real problem in the (not unlikely) event of two people
shopping together. We were mystified as to how
shoppers would use this other than as a novelty. For
a start the headless, anonymous image isn’t really
sufficient to gauge whether something looks right on
you (it’s a standard body shape).
In addition if the shoppers are surrounded by clothes
they want to choose and can get a clearer idea in an
“analogue” changing room why wouldn’t they? The fact
they’ve visited a store means they’ve moved beyond
the abstract and likely online research, so the store is
when it’s time to get real. There’s a hint of something
useful here and once the technology catches up and the
customer benefit is more well-defined, it could add a lot
more to the store experience.
A much simpler and more useful application was a
camera and full-size screen with a time delay. It offered
the facility to look back at what you were doing a few
seconds ago - so if you wanted to see what you looked
like from the back or side you just had to turn round,
then turn back again to watch the delayed replay.
Angled mirrors can achieve something like this, but
with the ability to freeze poses and see movement after
you’ve made it gives a little extra reassurance for the
customer that what they’ve chosen is right for them
5Example of a gesture-based screen implemented in Superdry, Berlin (Seymour Powell)

6. Systems
The growth of pop-ups and increased frequency of
change in stores makes this area interesting as a way to
consider how we can refresh stores faster and cheaper.
Surprisingly though there was little new to see here –
but looking round the Hall 4 at the event at the exhibition
companies gave us more food for thought that could be
applied to retail.
EC Wall looks like a good solution for more architectural
changes and has the added advantage of being able to
refresh the complete look of a store rapidly with ceramic
tiles giving a greater sense of permanence. Another
system, the Advan-Wand wall system offers a slightly
more basic take on this with MDF panels that could work
for a rapid swap out of non-illuminated graphic walls.
Additionally they showed an interesting modular table
system which could be a useful principle for retailers
and brands using multiple sizes but with a common
internal structure.
6EC Wall

7. 7Advan-Wand modular table and wall system

8. Surfaces
Texture, texture and more texture.
Holzmosaik go beyond the standard square wooden
blocks that are everywhere these days offering a
fantastic array of wooden panels ranging from sleek and
modernist to rustic.
As well as felt cropping up everywhere, Molo (their light
fittings mentioned above) had an amazing stand made
out of their kraft paper Softwall.
It’s a very singular design so very niche, but inspirational
none the less. So we’re not sure where we could use it
yet but we know we like it.
8Holzmosaik

9. 9Molo Softwall and furniture

10. POP
I always find this the hardest area to take in. The
emphasis always seems to be on structure, form
and embellishment with less regard for the way that
shoppers might interact with displays. It points up one
of the biggest challenges for brands in a retail space: if
everybody is shouting loudly how does shouting in the
same way actually help?
STI Group touched on this in one of the POPAI forums.
They claimed to be using a scientific method of
assessing temporary displays in store, both through
online surveys and small store trials. There were lots of
slides with impressive looking visualised eye-tracking
data.
We could see how this worked on single units but
it really only focussed on a customer standing on a
fixed point staring at one display, when the reality for
the shopper is moving through a space in a blizzard
of competing messages and displays. A more fruitful
approach to this conundrum would be to get back to
unearthing customer-relevant insights that give you
more precise ways to target and engage.
In contrast to STI, Cheil’s campaign style approach
seemed to offer more effective ways to reach customers
by thinking through a wider approach. Although all the
forums are a pitch by another name, Cheil’s was at least
entertaining and demonstrated how we all need to move
beyond purely focussing what happens in store and
consider where else the shoppers attention might be
and how they’re influenced by what they encounter both
before and during the shopping trip.
Exploring cultural differences such as the propensity for
South Korean workers to sleep on their way to work (due
to the endemically long hours worked) they devised a
campaign that rewarded the waker with a free Burger
King coffee, claimed with tokens held within the eye
mask.
10Translation: “Wake me up at Gangnam Station”

11. Retail Technology
Halls 2, 6 and 7 are probably the most visually boring,
but dig a bit and there’s lots of stuff worth looking at.
IBM’s stand doesn’t make it very clear immediately what
it’s about but chatting with them revealed a powerful set
of tools to help collect, use and analyse customer data.
Not only that it gives a hint at how artificial intelligence is
likely to play an increasing role in retail.
Watson is their core AI platform which offers a range
of APIs that can link with all kinds of software and
hardware. Most of these aren’t used extensively in bricks
and mortar retail right now but the claims about the
ability to learn and read emotions and offer personalised
recommendations are intriguing. We’re already looking
into this more deeply to see how it can enhance the
digital experiences we’re already developing.
There plenty of companies offering customer tracking
through lasers and cameras, showing how they can read
emotions and age and combine this with heat maps to
show customer traffic. One thing we’ve always wanted
to see is a way of linking that traffic to product purchase
at shelf level. All of the systems we saw can resolve
customer movements within a metre or so which is great
for understanding areas of the store but offers few clues
to what’s happening at the buying decision point and
what effect dwell has on single SKUs.
This is one of the reasons we were excited by Wise Shelf.
This allows the store to collect real-time data of product
at sales on shelf through IoT technology. Imagine the
possibilities of combining this micro activity data with
macro customer tracking. Even if it could be temporary
for short-term analysis rather than a permanent stock
control installation it could be very revealing and
certainly something we’d be glad to see.
11IBM Watson

12. Forums
As mentioned, these can often be pitches but a
couple of things stood out. Marcos Andrade, of Expor
Mannequins clearly wanted to tell us how valuable
mannequins could be, increasing the likelihood of sales
of garments displayed on them by 42%. But the principle
he was on about is right and it goes for most other areas
of store display. At its core it’s about context. Bringing
things to life and helping the customer envision how
they would wear or use something will always help to
bridge the “imagination gap” that can often prevent a
sale.
One thing he said though really stuck. In describing
the South American market he cited research where
one shopper revealed that they viewed a store visit as
a “15 minute vacation”. It’s such a good phrase and goal
to bear in mind when we think about creating in-store
experiences.
Eric Feigenbaum, editor of VMSD Magazine, gave a
passionate defence of the physical store arguing that
new in-store digital technology has to be part of an
overall strategy rather than tacked on. And of course,
he’s absolutely right. Putting a few screens in store which
simply play the most recent TV ad or regurgitate the
retailer’s website miss the point of digital completely.
At its best digital offers a way to build on the shoppers
at-home digital activity to provide something that they
can only experience in store.
12Aiming for the “15-minute vacation”

13. Beyond the Messe
With 18 halls to get round Euroshop can often be a
time trial on a short visit, but it’s really worth trying to
take in a few local stores – the exhibition messe doesn’t
open until 10am so unless you’ve taken too much
“refreshment” in the Altstadt the night before it’s easy to
fit in.
The most obvious place is the Königsallee, a broad
boulevard of mainly luxury retailers that’s a welcome
change of pace from the exhibition scrum.
The likes of Gucci and Dior are masters of a consistent
global format so maybe you won’t see much of the
unexpected there.
It’s more interesting down at the “lower end” where
retailers like Zara start to encroach. In their case it looks
like the same fit-out as the UK but somehow the store
seems sharper and more defined. I think it’s really about
the way the product merchandising is better managed
and subtle changes to the layout and segmentation, but
it’s way slicker than its UK counterparts.
Continued...
13Königsallee

14. Beyond the Messe
Another store worth a visit is Douglas (possibly the most
unlikely name for a high-end cosmetics retailer). One of
the consultants told me their other town centre stores
are more basic and this one was more of a flagship. It’s
almost like a condensed department store beauty hall
that still manages to retain an identity of its own with a
cleverly connected set of rooms with their own distinct
feel.
But there are some real finds away from the Königsallee.
In one of the arcades you’ll come across Violas, a
spice and delicatessen store that elevates it’s goods to
something more akin to cosmetic and beauty products.
And if you want to see how beautifully brass hose
fittings can be displayed then you should head down
Steintsrasse to Manufactum. They have just nine stores
in Germany selling, amongst other things household
goods, garden tools, apparel, camping, cosmetics and
food. So it’s a mixed bag but it’s all held together by a
philosophy of making things by traditional manufacturing
methods and creating beautiful objects that last.
That same care and attention has gone into the store
design too with a real flair for display and encouraging
browsing, exploration and discovery.
Finally, a serendipitous discovery somewhere between
our hotel and the Königsallee: Jens Zapke, a traditional
shoemakers and menders. Clearly a one-off and there’s
no real cutting-edge design to see, but the way it tells a
story of traditional quality and craftsmanship is a real joy.
14Douglas

15. 15Manufactum

16. 16Manufactum

17. 17Violas

18. 18Jens Zapke

19. 19Jens Zapke

20. This is by no means exhaustive and everyone sees
things differently.
So we’d be really interested to hear what caught
your eye and how it might make a difference to
what you do in store.
Sloane is a globally supported, insights-led retail and digital marketing business.
We help brands and retailers execute their go-to-market strategies through
design, technical development, prototyping and production of retail fixtures and
furniture. Sloane is a Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway company.
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