Retail

Will Subscriptions Work for Traditional Retailers?

The subscription trend began online with platforms like Netflix and Spotify, companies that provided access to information over the internet. As delivery costs drop and customers become more comfortable with e-commerce, e-retailers have begun successfully using subscriptions to sell everything from shaving supplies to groceries. Clever bricks-and-mortar retailers are getting in on the action by […]

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Is Your Business Targeting the Right Personas?

Leave a Comment / Retail / Sebastian Maynard

The importance of customer personas is becoming increasingly recognized as personalization becomes more possible, and specificity wins sales. But how exactly do you develop customer personas, and how detailed should they be? In this whitepaper we describe the process of developing personas and explain how to communicate them to your team. Fill out the form

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How to Convert Customers into Brand Ambassadors

Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

In my book, Desire by Design, I cover in great length the power of fans in driving desire for brands. What I have learned over the many years of helping brands remain relevant is the fact that for any brand, whether it’s toothpaste or a new high-end car, having brand ambassadors promoting your product is

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Desire by Design Available for Pre-Order

Matthew Wilson

With over 35 years of experience in the design and branding industry, Shikatani Lacroix’s president, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, has gained invaluable expertise across a wide range of disciplines. Jean-Pierre has compiled some of these insights into a new book, Desire by Design: What Data-Driven Marketers Should Know About Driving Desire for their Brands, which is now

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Watch Jean-Pierre Lacroix’s RGD Webinar

Leave a Comment / Sebastian Maynard

In anticipation of his forthcoming book, Desire by Design: What Data-Driven Marketers Should Know About Driving Desire for their Brands, Jean-Pierre Lacroix recently hosted a webinar in partnership with the Registered Graphic Designers of Canada (RGD). The webinar was exclusive to RGD members, but is now available for anyone who is interested in watching. In the

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Learning from Trends in Disruptive Packaging Design

Packaging Design / Sebastian Maynard

Standing out on shelf is one of the key factors that will determine the success of a package design. However, with so many products competing for the consumer’s attention, it’s becoming harder to stand out. Whether designing for a well-known product that already has cachet, or introducing an entirely new offering, it’s critical that a

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Emerging Industry Disruption Trends and New Business Models

Retail / Sebastian Maynard

Every industry, from trucking to healthcare, is being disrupted by non-traditional competitors, or by direct competitors that have reinvented their business model. To ensure relevancy, it is critical to create effective strategies and to understand the driving factors fuelling this disruption. Disruption happens in two different varieties, each driven by specific dynamics in the marketplace.

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Four Disruptive Trends that Will Threaten Your Brand’s Relevancy

Leave a Comment / Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

Disruptive forces have been causing chaos in virtually every industry, and the retail world has been staggering to catch up. Some brands are ahead of the curve, innovating and growing while others still have some work to do. In this whitepaper we will explore some trends that are challenging current value propositions in order of

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Packaging for City Life

Packaging Design / Sebastian Maynard

It is estimated by the UN that by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas. This shift will affect shopping patterns as these densely populated urban environments influence their residents’ behavior; they are, after all, quite different than the less compact suburban and rural spaces. In communities with a high population

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Why Retail Brands Need Cross-Functional Thinking

Leave a Comment / Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

Your product is not your product anymore. Your brand experience is the real product you are selling. The good or service your customers pay for makes up one part of that experience – but increasingly, what makes a brand stand out is something quite different. An immersive experience is one that wows customers and at

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How Digital Can Help Employees Deliver Better Service

Digital Experiences / Sebastian Maynard

Robots, chatbots, virtual reality, and geofencing are some of the hottest new tech trends that retailers are testing out — but how do you know what’s just a fad and what investment will deliver lasting results? Retailers know they need digital experiences, but at the current pace of change it’s easy to put the cart

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Write So Designers Will Listen: 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Design Brief

Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

Getting what you want from your design agency can sometimes feel like a game of Broken Telephone – you think you’re being clear and helpful, the creative team thinks they’re offering solutions that work, but at the end of the day, the final deliverables aren’t quite right and no one knows who is to blame.

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Retail Immersive Experience Defined

Leave a Comment / Brand Strategy, Environmental Design, Retail / Sebastian Maynard

In the spring of 2018, we conducted an online study as a precursor to a more extensive NXT branch of the future neuroscience and VR study. The goal of this research is to better understand customers’ definition and perceived value of an immersive experience across a wide range of retailers. Fill out the form below

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Why Ugly Design Can Lead to Enormous Growth: Exploring the Strategic Benefits of Ugly Branding

1 Comment / Environmental Design / Sebastian Maynard

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it makes sense that ugliness should be as well. However, some brands are almost universally regarded as unappealing when compared to competitors. Many of those ugly packages, websites, and environments develop cult followings from loyal customers, much to the frustration of brand managers who pour their

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SLD Hosts First Executive Breakfast Summit

Leave a Comment / Sebastian Maynard

In partnership with Cineplex Digital Media, we hosted our first Executive Breakfast Summit on April 10 in Toronto. President Jean-Pierre Lacroix, and Fab Stanghieri, General Manager of Cineplex Digital Media discussed “The Changing Physical and Digital Consumer Landscape.” At Cineplex Digital Media, they believe screens have the power to revolutionize how the world does business. When used to their

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Bagged or Boxed? The Future of Retail

2 Comments / Sebastian Maynard

Experts often define the future of retail by the digital innovations shaking up the industry. But those definitions fail to consider the most important factor: how customers feel about the shopping experience. James Cook, Americas Director of Research, Retail, at JLL, sat down with Shikatani Lacroix president Jean-Pierre Lacroix to discuss the information behind “Bagged

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Building Stores for the Future – Where We Buy

Leave a Comment / Sebastian Maynard

Jean-Pierre “JP” Lacroix of Shikatani Lacroix Design shows how technology has blurred the lines between the physical and digital world, both in the store and in the retail design process. The firm uses VR tools to do fast iterative design of retail environments and test them with customers. A digital shoe display knows which pair of Adidas one is examining in the

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Is Online Shopping the Demise of (Some) Retailers?

Retail / Sebastian Maynard

How does anyone in retail sleep at night? Hundreds of retailers have filed for bankruptcy this year, including Toys “R” Us with over $5 billion USD in debt, making it the third largest retail bankruptcy in history. Some forecast that “Retail is Dead”, and with the collapse of companies like Sears it’s not hard to

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Congratulations to the 2017 RGD Student Award Winners

Jean-Pierre Lacroix

Shikatani Lacroix is proud to announce Kaitlyn Goetz of Alberta College of Art + Design (ACAD) as the winner of Shikatani Lacroix’s sponsored award in the Packaging Design category of the 2017 RGD Student Awards. RGD received over 640 exceptional graphic design submissions from students across Canada. Kaitlyn Goetz won the Packaging Design award for Loop Fertilizing Planter Pack,

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Retail Design Institute Celebrates Calgary Co-op’s Design Excellence

Leave a Comment / Sebastian Maynard

Shikatani Lacroix’s design and implementation of Calgary Co-op is being inducted into Retail Design Institute’s “Class of 2016” at the 46th Annual Awards Gala and Fundraiser today in New York City. Calgary Co-op, a strong performer in Calgary’s supermarket sector, embarked on a redesign of its stores to address increased competition from new and existing

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Will Subscriptions Work for Traditional Retailers?

Is Your Business Targeting the Right Personas?

How to Convert Customers into Brand Ambassadors

Desire by Design Available for Pre-Order

Watch Jean-Pierre Lacroix’s RGD Webinar

Learning from Trends in Disruptive Packaging Design

Emerging Industry Disruption Trends and New Business Models

Four Disruptive Trends that Will Threaten Your Brand’s Relevancy

Packaging for City Life

Why Retail Brands Need Cross-Functional Thinking

How Digital Can Help Employees Deliver Better Service

Write So Designers Will Listen: 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Design Brief

Retail Immersive Experience Defined

Why Ugly Design Can Lead to Enormous Growth: Exploring the Strategic Benefits of Ugly Branding

SLD Hosts First Executive Breakfast Summit

Bagged or Boxed? The Future of Retail

Building Stores for the Future – Where We Buy

Is Online Shopping the Demise of (Some) Retailers?

Congratulations to the 2017 RGD Student Award Winners

Retail Design Institute Celebrates Calgary Co-op’s Design Excellence

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