We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer D'ART PVT LTD about their original and creative Retail Space design work. D'ART PVT LTD is an award-winning architectural designer, that makes our world a better place with their original retail space works.
D'ART PVT LTD ("DPL") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Studds Retail Space. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
DPL : We had to create a space where masses and classes could shop together. Hence creating a combined retail identity for premium brand SMK and Mass brand Studds. The main inspiration behind the design was “Solving The Problems” faced by Client, Channel Partners and Consumers and we saw all of that in our detailed research across all segments.
DPL : Our main focus was to arrive on the right mix and optimum balance of design language where we could make mass consumers and premium consumers comfortable under one roof. Finally leveraging on product & price point try to upsell and cross-sell for all types of consumers. This strategy resulted in driving the mind-blowing sales number for the client.
DPL : We will be turning this project as a case study and will be taught in various A.Design & Fashion Institutes – Domestic and International B.Business Schools – Domestic and International C.Professional Induction Programs - – Domestic and International
DPL : From Research to design we took 90 days.
DPL : STUDDS is an old client of D’ART. In the research paper from one of the interns of D’ART said that “why Studds sells Helmet from different Shops, Premium helmets from a different shop, Jackets etc., all biking accessories from a different shop. Why they cant open Franchisee shops where they can generate additional sales revenue by franchising the brand store as well. We pitched the same idea to our client and found that Studds was extremely excited to explore this opportunity with us.
DPL : As creating the master design we help the client to 1)Create design adaptation/Drawings/Civil details etc for new store rollouts 2)We have the authority to reject the new sites and partners if we don’t see the compliance and relevance. 3)We do outsource the production by the third party
DPL : There are two sections in our design masses and classes For Masses – In our research, we found that people buy a helmet that fits and looks the best on face + sunglasses. On average there is about 62 type of faces & we got all these dummy faces with sunglasses and used them for helmet display. Therefore the purpose got achieved when people use to walk in the store, sales guy very easily directs them to the face cut type and with digital VR gear they see themselves in almost every SKU available or not available in the store. For Classes – Premium consumer takes pride in who they are & this is why it was very important for us to give them “luxury ego massage” we kept helmets as Jewels in elite feel rectangular lit boxes and purposely we displayed very less number of SKU’s to craft the best experience. Needless to say, keeping premium consumer hygiene status we kept helmet sanitization machines to sanitize customers exiting helmet and sanitize helmets on display after every trial.
DPL : We are a core team of three directors Sameer, Shahnawaz and Deepak who takes the final call on design after research of product, market, consumer, price point and material Vs cost.
DPL : All-Age groups right from kids, teens, youth, middle & to the old age group of people.
DPL : As explained above there is no match to this concept as we suggested this to our client post detailed research.
DPL : STUDDS is a very big name, the world's largest helmet manufacturer company. We have the name of this store as STUDDS only to pull the existing customer base and attract new with a brand historic legacy.
DPL : The software we use are SketchUp, Revit, 3D Studio Max, Autocad, V-Ray, Photoshop, InDesign etc and the equipment is VR {virtual reality} platform that dramatically transforms design collaboration and communication experience.
DPL : This design gives due respect to everyone without asking how much you carry in your pocket. The experience that store delivers is of different class if even don’t want to buy a product come to this store they will connect you with a lot of biker groups and communities that in turn that leads the customer to a different world altogether.
DPL : We didn’t collaborate with anyone. Every single inch of this design got developed under the roof of D’ART only, even the tech part too.
DPL : As we are living in the era of digitalization. Connecting brick and mortar stores with digital connect points takes the experience to the next level only. 1.VR to impact brain – What happens in an accident when you wear a low-quality helmet. 2.VR to convince human brain – Zero Sales person interference – Technology with which you helmet is built with. 3.Discussion Table Cum Touch Screen table – Decreases the inventory cost and while the friend is doing his purchase the guest with him is web browsing through various product categories/Playing games/checking social media over a cup of coffee.
DPL : We did extensive research 1.Heat Map analysis of multi-brand stores – to identify the layout challenges 2.Consumer gesture analysis – to identify the probability of buying a product 3.Consumer Qualitative and Consumer Quantitative – Across Asian markets to drive the right conclusions to design 4.Channel partner – Focused Interview across all markets national & International.
DPL : Some of the key challenges that we faced were 1.Arrive of right or optimum mix to deliver desired experience to all types of customers 2.Design implementation cost should highly be cost-effective to make it scalable with compromising on the quality and premium feel of the store. 3.Getting the phygital equation correct was an extremely difficult decision.
DPL : We always believe in our effort and we felt its time now to explore global competition to check where we stand in global competition.
DPL : Every day is a learning process and every client and project evolve you as a better designer. This project taught us “Design Empathy “in a deeper sense.
DPL : "Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." D’ART is the story of three very simple friends yet highly aggressive. Sameer Khosla – Creative Director, Syed Shahnawaz Zaidi – Marketing & Retail Strategy Director & Deepak Kumar – Operations Director. Ours headquarter in New Delhi, India. Our studio consists, a bunch of crazy designers who are in the quest to creating some new yet simple. In a very short journey of four years, serving 8 countries, significant share in blue-chip clients in national & international markets. We have a vision of expanding D’ART in more than 200 countries with our global alliances by 2030.
