Experiential Retail: What Stores Learn From Hospitality

Why would anyone still walk into a shop when almost everything can be ordered from a phone? Experiential retail is the answer many brands reach for: a store that gives people a reason to come in, stay a while and come back, instead of a room full of products on shelves. Most of what makes it work is not new: it is hospitality, applied to a shop floor.

Lotte Vink, founder of Lab Fresh, has tested this from the retail side. Lab Fresh makes menswear with built-in technology: shirts and basics that repel stains, odor or sweat. The brand started online with a Kickstarter campaign and later opened stores in Amsterdam, in Copenhagen and in the Mall of the Netherlands.

Why experiential retail starts with building a brand

In Vink's view, a business has a choice. It can just sell products, or it can build a brand. Building a brand is where a physical place really helps, she says, because it brings the brand to life in a way a website cannot. Lab Fresh first became known as the online label that poured red wine over white shirts in videos that went viral.

“I think by having a physical place, you create trust and you have an actual personal connection with your customer.”

Lotte Vink, 5:19

That is the core of experiential retail as Vink describes it. The main reason to open a store was to build a brand and to have that personal connection with customers. Hotels have had that kind of place all along: the lobby, the front desk and the bar are where guests meet the people behind a brand. A related article explains what a hotel host really does.

Staff come first in any store experience

Asked how she turns her stores into memorable experiences, Vink does not start with interior design or technology. She starts with people. How a concept becomes more than decor is the subject of a related article on the themed hotel concept.

“I think number one is the staff. I think our products can be so interesting, but if the staff is not showing it or exciting about it or exciting about making connection with the customer, you won't feel it.”

Lotte Vink, 15:11

The best compliment the brand received about its store came from a review. A customer wrote that he normally does not like shopping, but that visiting Lab Fresh is like visiting friends. That is the vibe Vink wants.

Vink sees customer service as one of the brand's real selling points, next to the technical ones. On AI her line is clear: in customer service, AI should enhance people, not replace them. Lab Fresh uses it behind the scenes, for inventory planning and forecasting.

For a hotel the lesson is familiar but easy to lose. The product can be excellent, and guests will still not feel it if the team is not excited to show it and to connect with them.

Show the product instead of only displaying it

The second element of the Lab Fresh store is a demo station. When the team built its stores, they asked the contractor for a sink in the middle of the shop floor. The contractor wanted to know why anyone would need a sink there. The answer: to rinse fabric with water and show customers what the technology does.

Red wine was how the brand went viral, but at some point the team felt it had become a bit of a gimmick and not what customers cared about most. Sweat turned out to matter more. Staff now show how a fabric absorbs sweat on one side while nothing shows on the other. The undershirt, which Vink calls maybe not the most sexy product, became the brand's number one product and, in her words, one that gives a lot of confidence to a lot of people.

Three lessons follow for anyone designing an experience, in a shop or in a hotel:

• Build the space around a moment that proves your promise, even if it looks odd to the contractor.
• Watch what customers actually respond to, and drop the stunt once it stops answering their real question.
• Let the demonstration lead to the product people need most, not to the one that looks best on video.

Hospitality habits that make shoppers stay

The overlap with hospitality is literal at Lab Fresh. The store offers coffee, and on a Friday a customer may be offered a beer or a glass of wine. Vink is careful to say it is not a standing offer. Sometimes there is something in the fridge, and with some people you feel a certain vibe and ask whether they want a beer while they shop.

That small gesture lowers the threshold. The store becomes less of a clothing shop and more of a place you can walk into for a chat. For Vink, what matters is that people feel seen and appreciated. A related article looks at what hotels can learn from private members club service.

She also sees the blend on a larger scale. The Mall of the Netherlands, where Lab Fresh opened its third store, has around 50 million visitors a year, according to Vink. It has become a day out, with a food court and restaurants where you forget you are in a mall. In the future, she expects hospitality to merge more with wellness. As more people stop drinking, she imagines that instead of cheese and wine you might get a face mask and a massage.

Make the brand personal, and make it local

A personal connection works best when there is a real person behind the brand. Vink believes customers increasingly want to know who is behind a company and who runs it.

“I think also the brands of the future are more personal, like who's behind it, who's running it. You wanna buy from people, not from corporations.”

Lotte Vink, 25:16

She admits she does not always enjoy being on camera, but she notices that customers like it. On the day of the recording, a customer in the Copenhagen store, where the office sits above the shop, recognized her and told her he had been buying the brand for years. For her, that is the personal connection in action.

Personal also means local. Vink, who is Dutch, and her Danish cofounder expected Copenhagen to feel like home. At first it did not. The store sits on a busy street with very high rent, and the team overestimated how quickly it would take off. What helped was becoming more Danish: hiring more Danish people, making the content more Danish and adjusting the products, since customers there are more fashion forward and prefer looser fits. Any hotel group opening in a new city faces the same test.

What experiential retail teaches hospitality businesses

Vink does not expect stores to change dramatically. A lot will happen online, she says, but in stores the number one thing remains a nice interaction with another person. Hoteliers know that idea well. A well-designed store simply shows it from another angle: the shop, like the hotel, is where the human connection happens. For the full story, watch the full conversation.

Frequently asked questions

What is experiential retail?

It means designing a store around the experience of visiting, not only around the products on the shelves. In Lotte Vink's approach that comes down to three things: staff who are excited to connect with customers, a demonstration that proves what the product does, and a welcoming atmosphere with small hospitality touches such as a coffee, so people feel seen while they shop.

Why open a physical store if you already sell online?

For Lab Fresh, the main reason was to build a brand and to have a personal connection with customers. Vink says a physical place creates trust and brings the brand to life in a way an online shop cannot. Online sales still matter, but she sees the store as the place where the relationship with the customer is built.

Will AI replace staff in stores?

Not in Vink's view. She says she would never want to replace the humans in customer service and sees AI as something that should enhance people. Lab Fresh uses AI behind the scenes, for inventory planning and forecasting. In stores, she expects a nice interaction with another person to remain the number one thing.