Netflix Steps Out of the Screen into Experiential Houses

In a rather exceptional move, Netflix, the prominent streaming company, reaches its customers-viewers beyond the screen and enters the physical space in newly created experiential hubs, titled each a Netflix House. When we say ‘physical’, it actually means that the House harbours a virtual world of fiction and fantasy by tangible means within the physical… Read More

Putting the Brand Name in Its Right Place

Companies are often preoccupied with the task of choosing a name for a brand. It can be a delicate task with different considerations to make (e.g., cognitive, legal, cultural). However, there are three basic requirements that a brand name must hold to at the outset: being memorable, having a sound pleasant to the ear, and… Read More

How Things Have Changed in Hotel Booking

It is doubtless that the online (Internet) domain has considerably changed the practices of hotel booking. Still, consumers-tourists may not be fully aware of how dramatically obtaining lodging in hotel rooms has changed over the past thirty years (i.e., compared with the 1990s and earlier). Moreover, the transformation is mostly felt when it comes to… Read More

Retailing From the Viewpoint of Young Bright Talents in Design

It is the 13th year in a row that VMSD magazine (Visual Merchandising & Store Design) publishes its annual list of winners of the Designer Dozen award (March 2025). The young designers chosen (age 35 and under) are considered the best and brightest designers in retail in their generation. The 12 designers specialise in interior… Read More

The Rising Wonder of Smart Vending Machines

A new generation of automated smart vending machines, including refrigerators and coolers, is taking its place within stores (e.g., food, pharma, convenience) and in public spaces (e.g., train stations & airports, malls, service waiting lounges). There is variation in their models and features, but they have some common characteristics: they are AI-augmented, data-driven, and often… Read More

When Aesthetics Meets Neuroscience: Neuroaesthetics

Seeing or hearing a beautiful creation — of art, design, or nature — usually makes us feel good, bringing in us a feeling of pleasure, elevation, calm or thrill. Often enough, the aesthetics of a scenery, artefact or person is realised almost instantly (i.e., astounding beauty). Neuroaesthetics, a young field of the neurosciences, is devoted… Read More

Digital Price Display: Opportunity & Risk

The landscape in food stores is gradually changing with a transition of retailers from printed price labels to digital price tags, formally known as electronic shelf labels (ESLs). When looking from some distance, shoppers may not notice the difference in appearance of the label, but the digital price display can have implications that shoppers may… Read More

Getting Closer to Consumers Through Ethnography

Marketing and consumer researchers need to employ a dose of curiosity for understanding, more closely and deeply, groups or communities of consumers that are less familiar and more different from them. It can be sought by observation of individuals from the group of interest, listening to and talking with them, and possibly interacting with them… Read More

Jelmoli Prepares for a New but Different Chapter in Its Retailing Legacy

Jelmoli is a Swiss department store in Zürich well-known to residents and visitors of the city. Last year (2023) the retail brand celebrated “190 Years of Jelmoli” with the tagline “Full of Stories” (e.g., posted on the store’s front windows). However, this celebration also marks in all likelihood a conclusion of its function as a… Read More