Brick-and-Mortar retail isn’t going anywhere…but seas of parking are out
I thought this piece from Bisnow was interesting, not only because it confirms what we at COHN have been saying for years (Brick-and-Mortar ain’t dead, people!), but because it smartly discusses the decline of vast parking for retail. While Mallory Wilson’s piece details customers’ preference for walkability over a “sea of parking,” there’s obviously more to the parking lot/structure conversation than simply customer experience. With ride-sharing platforms playing the disrupter role in every vertical, and the high price of parking real estate in many markets, we could be looking at a new age in retail real estate design with regard to parking.
CJ Powell, Writer
Designers should learn marketing
This week I read a short, cool article on why designers should learn marketing by Eric Karjaluoto. There has always been a debate on whether or not designers should learn to code, but this is not barking up that same tree. Rather, this gives awesome reasons why understanding marketing is important to the creative process.
Jeffrey Steffonich, Art Director
YouTube goes brick and mortar?
We’ve found yet another example of the lines blurring as YouTube is opening a retail outlet called Creator Store in London. This store will allow YouTubers to sell their merchandise in a traditional, off-line setting — and also contain facilities to make more (you guessed it) videos. Interestingly, YouTube won’t take a commission on sales — all profits go directly to the sellers.
Anne Wright, Senior Account Director
Design in the age of “Everything All the Time”
I, for one, am totally guilty of this, so this article really hit home—we all spend so much time on our devices and it’s interesting how the push-back against being constantly distracted is becoming a movement from within the digital and creative communities. Are we really doing the end user a service by constantly bombarding them with information?
Chris Thomas, Creative Director