Member Article

The new Harman Experience store, a new model for retail stores?

While the German economy maintains its strength and growth, driving wider eurozone recovery this past year, it does not seem to always be reflected in the retail sector. In March it was reported that German shoppers defied expectations and stayed home in January, making it a second straight month of declines. This has brought on worries from retailers, with two large German retailers, Ceconomy AG and Zalando SE, issuing profit warnings.

However, while the retail forecasts have not been as positive as some might have hoped, there are some companies defying expectations and opening up new stores in major cities. One such company is Harman International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. who has recently announced the opening of its first experience store in Munich. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, with a large central retail shopping district, which is where Harman has located its new store.

According to Harman, the store seeks to create a different experience for shoppers by making it a memorable visual and auditory experience, with a variety of automotive audio systems from a range of Harman family brands, and colour-changing LEDs that can wash the space in colours to adapt to different moods and atmospheres. The space is designed to have the ability to be entirely transformed for various events from lectures to small concerts and parties.

Perhaps the future of the retail industry needs to look towards adopting the attitude of Harman, by making it a unique experience and something that cannot be replaced with online shopping. Michael Mauser, president of Lifestyle Audio at Harman echoed these points, saying: “The store will truly be a place where speed meets sound, combining our automotive audio and consumer audio heritage in one place. Through it, we will continue to transform how consumers interact with our audio products and brands.”

Only time will tell whether a more interactive shopping experience is what is needed to boost the retail industry. However, by pushing the experimental dimension of retail stores with interactive experiences of luxury audio products, and creating architecture that is captivating, with a 33.5-metre glass façade designed by the same architects as Facebook’s California Headquarters. It certainly creates enough of a curiosity to go and explore the Harman Experience Store.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by HARMAN .