Paris Retail Landscape – First Impression

I’ve seen the glass pyramid of the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower on the left bank and Notre Dame by the river Seine on TV and in books. This September, I had the opportunity to visit Paris myself for the first time. During my short week, I was looking at Paris from a completely different angle. I visited shops and commercial districts across Paris. Like every other big city, the make-up of brands is not so different. One can find the big international brands from luxurious Louis Vuitton, Prada to the more affordable Zara, H&M.
While popping into the big flagship stores along the Champs-Élysées, one feature of these stores captures my attention. I’ve noticed many DIY/experience sections within these stores: in the adidas store, there is a creator hub and indoor testing area;

A personalised tailor and print hub in the Levi’s store; in Asics, treadmills were provided for testing their products. Retailers are trying to retain and attract customers to the physical stores by offering varied and interesting activities. This is a transformational step to the bricks & mortar. Although I am not able to see how effective it is due to the time of my visit and lack of data, I can appreciate the intention behind these attempts. I am hoping there will be more elements added not only to flagship stores but also to high street doors in the future. Who knows, we might all be going to a high street H&M for a cup of tea in few years’ time! GEOLYTIX France Retail Places are available, watch this space…

Wensi Kirkham, Data Scientist at GEOLYTIX

Title Image: Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash