Retail design and strategy solutions provider the greater group (styled in lower case) has expanded into New Zealand. The agency, with existing offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Hong Kong and Shanghai, now has an Auckland branch, in the Mt Eden district of the city.
In the past, the greater group has worked with Samsung, Optus, Google, JB Hi-Fi and Vodafone to create immersive consumer touchpoints, such as store-in-store concepts, interior designs and kiosks.
Danielle Barclay, general manager of global brand and strategy at the greater group, said wearables will be a major trend for the retail sector in 2015.
“Many retailers internationally have started using smartphones and tablets in-store, often through apps, to connect customers to more product information,” Barclay said. “As a retailer, if you haven’t done this you will need to hurry up, because the next big thing is wearable technology. It’s still early days for this technology, but retailers will need to start thinking about how they engage with customers using this platform, which will soon become more attached to a customer than a smartphone.”
Barclay also trend-forecasted that retailers will need to work harder in 2015 to capture meandering customers’ attention.
“Audio quality, graphics and displays are becoming far more sophisticated, allowing consumers to immerse themselves in this type of content like never before. With customers experiencing better quality entertainment at home, retailers will need to lift the bar even higher to capture their attention in-store, and should look at ways to create more captivating displays utilising some of these techniques.”