In an attempt to stand out from the retail crowd, Big Lots is looking to become “more of a whimsical, fun shopping experience.”
Executives at the Columbus-based discount and closeout retailer told Wall Street analysts recently that the chain is working with two local marketing firms Westerville-based Alloy and Columbus-based Big Red Rooster to come up with a new-look store.
“The two of them are now going to come together and start talking about, what does that new store of the future look like,” said David Campisi, president and CEO. “Then our plans are in 2017 to take two or three markets and, once we’re all in agreement on what this looks like, to re-lay those stores and see what kind of payback we get.”
The idea is to come up with something that will make the chain stand out in the crowded retail environment.
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“You have to do something different,” Campisi said. “We think there’s an opportunity to create more of a whimsical, fun shopping experience.”
Details are still sketchy about the new-look store, however, and the marketing firms are mum during the development stage.
“We won’t probably have meat on the bone until the middle part of next year, and then we will be ready at that point in time to start testing, in two to three markets, a complete rollout,” Campisi said.
Big Lots officials do know that the new store design will include two key elements: Both furniture and seasonal items will be at the front of the store.
But that won’t necessarily mean that stores need to be bigger.
“We believe that we have a competitive edge smaller stores,” Campisi said.
The research that Alloy did with customers revealed that the typical Big Lots shopper “believes that small is better,” Campisi said. “It’s easier to shop, it’s more convenient ‘I don’t have to get lost’ there’s all these things have been put on the table over the last five months.”
Still, exactly what the store of the future will look like is up in the air.
“I don’t have visuals to share,” Campisi said. “All I can say is, stay tuned. The last three years was ‘fix the merchandising model,’ and then the second piece was, ‘fix our stores and get disciplines in place so that we recover better’ and so on.
“Now it’s time to say, ‘OK, how do we stay relevant, and how do we differentiate ourselves from an experience point of view?’ and that’s what this work is all about.”
Date: December 27, 2016