Customers sit at outdoor cafe tables at the Ralph Lauren store on Bond Street in London, England. [+] Kingdom.
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Following the lead of luxury brands such as Dior, Prada and Ralph Lauren, other fashion brands are also leveraging hospitality experiences to create new retail offerings for shoppers. Tapestry, the group behind Coach and Kate Spade, is the latest company to move into lifestyle with culinary experiences, giving consumers new opportunities to interact with brands. Why are fashion retailers getting into the hospitality concept, and what are the clear benefits of doing so?
Coach and Kate Spade enter food retailing
Following the growth of its wholesale business in the Middle East, Kate Spade is entering the hospitality sector to connect with fans and attract new customers. From April to June, Kate Spade is running a café pop-up at Bloomingdale’s Dubai Mall in The Dubai Mall.
“The café pop-up is testing a new lifestyle concept for the brand that offers a fun experience and sparks an emotional connection with fans of the brand,” Kate Spade New York CEO Liz Fraser told Fashionnetwork.com. She added, “The food and drink options are sprinkled with Kate Spade joy and infuse our brand codes. Some favorites are the custom-made packaging, the iconic spade engraved into the coffee, and sweet treats made with Kate Spade’s green, black and cream stripes and polka dots.” The brand’s initiative has also been adopted by sister brand Coach, which opened a restaurant and Coach coffee shop in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, in March this year. Both venues are inspired by the brand’s New York roots, with replica yellow taxis hanging from the ceiling and cues of the brand hanging throughout the venues.
Activating your brand beyond the product
Why are so many brands trying to create hospitality concepts that go beyond their core retail expertise? Last summer, luxury brands like Dior and Jacquemus flooded Instagram feeds with pictures of beautiful restaurants in trendy European summer destinations like St. Tropez and Capri, while Ralph Lauren famously expanded its Ralph’s Coffee shops around the world. While opening a food and beverage outlet seems like a stretch for a clothing and accessories brand, the post-pandemic era is putting a new spin on the retail experience, driving brands to think outside the box to create and deliver unique experiences for their target consumers.
For fashion retailers, there are many benefits to operating branded hospitality venues. First, it expands the brand ecosystem beyond the stores and products, engaging with customers in new ways and keeping them engaged with the brand for longer. This helps build spontaneous brand awareness and can encourage future purchases, especially since the stores and products are often located in close proximity to these eateries. Another undeniable benefit of such initiatives is the social media exposure they generate. Such concepts require significant investment to make them memorable, beautiful and fun, but they are designed with the intention of being posted on Instagram and TikTok. This increases the brand’s reach and awareness, expanding equity and helping to engage with a wider audience and drive younger generations to these venues and branded stores.
Coach and Kate Spade may be the latest fashion brands to focus on food hospitality, but they won’t be the last. As summer approaches, we expect more brands to open pop-ups and unique hospitality concepts to expand their ecosystems and engage with consumers in ways that increase brand appeal and value and encourage subsequent store visits. As retailers work hard to deliver unique, thoughtfully designed customer experiences to stay relevant and competitive, forays into hospitality have become a popular move. Now, where will brands take them next to entertain and engage their customers?
