The Switch is a trend report seeking out interesting things retailers are doing, spotlighting innovations in retail across a wide range of industries across the globe.

1. The Switch Innovations in retail Issue March 2011

2. Welcome to the Switch List The Switch List was born to seek out interesting things retailers are doing and to spotlight innovations in retail across a wide range of industries across the globe. The retailers presented here make us think differently of what a store can look like and provoke fresh ideas on how to engage shoppers. We can’t always be chasing the new without taking actions, so let’s learn from these pioneers to switch to new ways of retailing.

3. Locally Sourced A look at how The Gap succeeds at local

4. © 2011 INFERNO LIMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL Gap + Cool Hunting, New York

5. Gap and CoolHunting.com have partnered on a unique gift shop, which was open for the holiday season in Gap’s rotating pop up space on Fifth Avenue. Curated by the staff of CoolHunting.com, the store stocks the work of New York based companies known for offering innovative products with a high level of craftsmanship. The shop hosts a schedule of events in store with designers and local producers, such as an Amy Sedaris book signing and tequila tastings. Within the space, you’ll find everything from custom made kimono-covered skateboards to pickles. Locally crafted, Cool Hunting curation is the point of the shop – and it's nearly impossible to go wrong with gifting here. What’s the point? A singular purpose shop with a locally crafted theme succeeds in making choice easy for the customer.

6. © 2011 INFERNO LIMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL Gap Flagship, Shanghai

7. Gap opened its first ever store in China in Shanghai's Huaihai shopping centre. The grand opening on November 11, which just happened to coincide with the celebration of Singles Day in China (11/11 - China's one day) was a clever marketing strategy to promote the brand's "wearing passion" image. Gap will be expanding its offerings specifically tailored to Chinese customers, following the trends and sizing of Gap Japan, rather than the US. By offering specially designed jeans for the Chinese market (only 3000 units of the China Limited Edition Jeans will be made) Gap hopes it can develop a collector niche market in China. Togetherness. An international company’s clever nods to local customs and audience are appreciated when forming new relationships.

8. Gap’s Groupon Offer Groupon is known for local daily deals, but marking the group-buying platform’s largest national effort to date - Gap offered $50 worth of clothing on 19 August for $25 in 85 U.S. and Canadian markets. By the day’s end, 441,000 Groupons were sold, bringing in a little more than $11 million. At some points, selling 10 Gap Groupons per second over the course of the day. The Gap's Groupon offer went viral and was wildly purchased, but it wasn't merely due to the lucrative 50% discount offer. A marketing mix involving social media, affiliates and an ad on Digg supplemented Groupon's e-mail program in the effort. Group buying is not just for manicures and hot air balloon rides anymore. If the Gap can experiment with this platform, so can other big brands.

9. Show Off New roles for retailers

10. © 2011 INFERNO LIMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL Wolf & Badger, London

11. Each of the 75 designers sold at Wolf & Badger rents their very own space from as little as £35 a week - ranging from chic white wooden display cabinets to larger 'wardrobe' areas. The lifestyle boutique provides a launch pad for emerging and semi-established design talent from the UK and abroad to showcase their work. Along with the space on the shop floor, the weekly fee gives designers access to guidance and mentoring from industry experts, a marketing and PR assistant and an e-commerce page. This is what you get when you cross a shop with street stalls and a self help group. Retailers can provide a real added value by being active in the business development process for emerging designers.

12. © 2011 INFERNO LIMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL Lane Crawford, Hong Kong

13. Hong Kong department store, Lane Crawford dedicated the atrium of their store in October to an exhibition of their collaboration with New York fashion designer, Phillip Lim. The installation featured behind the scenes videos and photos of the films shot by international new generation artists. Each artist created a short film documenting a unique journey of the modern day Phillip Lim woman as she enters a symbolic red door and discovers her sense of time and place in each city - all worn with a Philip Lim trench coat. Showcase original artistic content. You may expect a hip fashion brand to create a cool film, but having a retailer exhibit it, elevates both to trend setter status.

14. © 2011 INFERNO LIMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL Galeria Melissa, Sao Paolo

15. Galeria Melissa’s flagship store in Sao Paolo sells brightly coloured plastic shoes. Inspired from old school jellies, they’re made from recyclable PVC in a socially responsible factory (where 99.9 percent of waste is recycled). Displayed on bubble-shaped stands, the shoes look like art objects from outer space. The shop aims to be Sao Paulo’s go to place for cutting edge styles and ideas. The most striking feature is the store front - designed to be constantly updated with new graphics both on the exterior facade and on interior walls every three months. Rio-based designer Muti Randolph creates the bold compositions on a computer and prints them on a Vutek inkjet printer, a process that takes 24 hours. Become a cultural institution. Create photo-worthy opportunities that can rival the Tate Modern

16. Retail Theatre Shops that become a performance peice

17. © 2011 INFERNO LIMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL Eataly, New York

18. The original Eataly opened in Turin, Italy in 2007. As you enter the new Eataly in New York, there is an information desk with maps to help you navigate all 50,000 square feet of this Italian food heaven - a maze of grocery aisles, on-site artisans and 12 restaurants. Owned by chef, Mario Batali, he recently described Eataly as a "temple where food is more sacred than commerce.” At its core, it's a fancy Italian grocery store with individual retail departments offering the best of everything (pastry, bread, a butcher, a fishmonger, pasta, cured meats, vegetables, hand-made mozzarella, etc.) some of which are directly connected to their own specialised sit-down restaurants with waiter service. Shopping for the mundane becomes fun again. Where else can you buy vegetables and have them cut and cleaned at your request plus get recipe tips by a vegetable butcher?

19. © 2011 INFERNO LIMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL Farm, Rio de Janiero

20. Farm is a Brazilian brand which captures the lifestyle of Rio in vibrant colours and prints. With sales girls as models, they walk around the store showing off the best way to wear Farm’s clothes, bikinis, shoes, and bags. All stores around the country have Radio Farm playing in the fitting rooms, where customers can be their own DJ according to their mood. Farm is also famed for it’s partnership with different food suppliers. On special days and seasonal launches, Farm forms different partnerships to bring the collection concept to the stores through food. Stimulate the senses. Create a brand point of view on aesthetics, music, food, scents and textures.

21. © 2011 INFERNO LIMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL Levi’s Craftworkers, London

22. Levi’s UK flagship store on Regent Street is designed to be a journey through an artisan’s working environment. It is visually captivating, while providing expert knowledge, product offering and storytelling. The first area you step into at the front of the store is the ‘Origin’ gallery, which is an 80m curated space. For Christmas 2010, interior designer, Gary Card, created a denim funhouse. The Christmas labyrinth is complete with intricate shelves, a stairway to nowhere, a small house with video screens and a set of denim elves – all covered in a polka dot denim. They wanted to create something that would evoke childhood memories of searching and discovering, without having obvious symbols such as Santa or the Christmas tree. Holidays seen through the brand lens. Give the customer a peek into how the brand would uniquely interpret the holidays.

23. © 2011 INFERNO LIMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL 1111 Lincoln Road, Miami

24. Architects Herzog & de Meuron’s development at 1111 Lincoln Road is a car park meets retail complex. At it’s base is a planned ring of curated retail, including glossy sex-and-style bookshops and high-class lingerie and sportswear boutiques. One shop, Alchemist, is placed in a glass box high and alone on the 5th floor. At 1111, there are plans for art installations, events, wedding parties and whatever else people want to do with it. It is rumoured that people are asking taxis to drive to the top of the building and down again, just for the fun of it. Retail as the icing on the cake. You park your car and get to shop for guilty pleasures along the way out.

25. Social Shopping Digital trends in shopping

26. © 2011 INFERNO IMITED | CLIENT CONFIDENTIAL Spain trials the mobile wallet using NFC The “Mobile Shopping Sitges 2010” project (carried out by Spanish bank La Caixa, Telefónica and Visa Europe) was the first of its kind. The initiative lasting six months (May – Nov), entailed shopping via a mobile phone equipped with Near Field Communication technology. 500 merchants and 1500 customers participated,each were given a free Samsung Star Touch device linked to their bank account. Mobile shoppers made the largest number of purchases at supermarkets (57%) and restaurants (14%). Also noteworthy was the acceptance of the technology by all groups of people - the average age of customers using their mobile phones to pay for their purchases was 46. This is going to be huge. Expect to see rapid adoption amongst retailers who want to get on board.

27. Recommendations – social, not automated The most exciting social shopping services are taking the trend offline, letting you “like” products you see in retail stores, as well as online. Nuji is a web service which allows users to tag a product by scanning its barcode or snapping a photo with your phone. On retail websites, users can download a bookmarklet to tag desired items. Nuji essentially creates a shopping social graph, linking people with similar tastes in products. Further, they offer deals only on the products you have explicitly said you want, making the service a utility, not an advertisement – i.e. Groupon, which offers you a deal on a pedicure because you live in a certain city and Foursquare, a free coffee because you have checked into a cafe enough times. Bringing a bit of personalisation to your online shopping experience.

28. For one day, digital died Diesel’s “Be Stupid” campaign platform continues to appeal to the young generation. Diesel engages with the target audience to bond with their emotional side, instead of their rational. This time they’ve said that Digital is smart. Analogue is stupid. And with that, Diesel has created a social event called Facepark. A live event in Berlin where thousands turned up in the park to create an analogue version of Facebook, simulating everything you can do on Facebook in a physical format. At the end of the day, I would imagine digital prevailing - leading to people following Diesel on Twitter/Facebook and doing some shopping on Diesel’s website.