An ideal store furniture study for Rituals

Abstract

Rituals is a ten year old brand selling home and body cosmetics. The products are inspired by authentic Eastern rituals, like the Hammam steam bath ritual and the shaving ritual of the Japanese Samurai warriors. Due to the rapid growth of the company, there has been limited time to evaluate the furniture used in the stores and to work on an ideal concept. Analysing the context, literature, trends and similar brands and stores combined with research involving customers, the stores showed several weaker and stronger points. These points could be used to improve the efficiency of the stores, the brand experience and the shopping experience. When comparing Rituals with brands like The Body Shop, Sabon, L’Occitane, Lush and Kiehl’s it becomes clear that Rituals has something that differentiates them from the other brands: the Eastern rituals used as inspiration for the products. This differentiation could be a used to strengthen the competitive advantage. By communicating these rituals a sense of value could be created and the brand experience would be improved. The research participants describe Rituals with words like luxurious, sophisticated and quality. However, the shops are at first experienced as uninviting, dark and inconspicuous from outside and overwhelming when inside for the first time. This dark look is a part of Rituals and distinguishes Rituals from other shops, but it also creates a lack of clarity of offer and discourage people from visiting the stores. The store visits also pointed out several things that could be improved in order to increase the efficiency of the work of the employees and so the shopping experience. In order to create a new concept several pieces of furniture were designed and redesigned with the goal to improve the discussed issues. These designs include small changes, but also for example a new cash register. This design is focused on improving the efficiency and the interaction between employee and customer. To improve the clarity, concepts were created to improve the communication toward the customer outside the store, through the shopping windows and through the furniture used inside the store. Additionally a thematic concept was developed, showing the origin of the products. Finally a proposal was developed to improve the adjacencies in the stores. This proposal should also give the stores a more organized impression. Of three of the designs prototypes were made. Testing and evaluating these prototypes made it possible to improve them again and again.