Saturation, and why eccentricity is undervalued in retail

What really matters in today’s retail world is being memorable

Last year, in keynotes and on retail tours around the world, I banged on about saturation to anyone who would listen.

The idea that customers are overwhelmed with choice is not a new one. We all see and feel it. There is a palpable sense that we are drowning in products, brands, channels, marketplaces and adverts.

And almost every day, we hear about a new innovation or business that will supercharge product or brand choice. Or in other words, supercharge saturation.

Retailers understand that the market is saturated. But they don’t pay enough attention to it - and its consequences.

Saturation on the high street

One of the most interesting consequences of retail saturation is how it shows up within physical retail.

Saturation is forcing an increasingly difficult fight for customer attention online - and it’s no different offline. It is manifesting in a wide variety of ways, as I witnessed first-hand throughout 2024.

A great example is the rise of collaborations. Once upon a time, collabs were occasional and selective. They were surprising - and as a result, fuelled a sense of exclusivity and even scarcity.

Today, collabs are so common that they get lost in the blur of brand activity. I remember seeing Keith Haring collabs with Uniqlo and Pandora two stores apart, right in the entrance. It was remarkable how much it cheapened the creative brilliance of one of the world’s greatest illustrators.

Another example is how mass market stores are premiumising - and how similar they end up looking to everything else.

Brands like H&M and Zara are, rightly, trying to premiumise in order to escape the Shein-led race to the bottom.

But in doing so, they are sometimes falling into a kind of mid-market minimalist trap. I enjoyed the revamped H&M flagships in New York and Stockholm, and the beautiful Zara makeovers happening in Paris, Milan, London and beyond.

And yet, on reflection, they now look remarkably similar to so many mid-level fashion brands. Sleek, minimalist, metallic and a little beige. Much less saturated with product - but just as much a product of retail saturation.

Perhaps most of all though, as I reflect on the hundreds of stores I visited in 2024, what really matters in today’s retail world is being memorable. A visual identity that stands out and cuts through matters more than ever.

The value of creativity, and even eccentricity in retail design, has risen enormously.

Eccentric retail

Many of the stand-out stores and brands I witnessed in 2024 were memorable because they were unique.

From Gohar World’s almost comical kitchen creations in New York, to Lynk & Co’s ludicrous car showrooms in Berlin and Amsterdam, eccentric concepts at the periphery of physical retail are everywhere if you look hard enough.

But they’re right there in the mainstream too.

Trader Joe’s is a genuinely successful, profitable supermarket in the US with more than 500 stores - and every one of those stores hires a dedicated, in-house artist. Every price label is handwritten at a time when most supermarkets are digitising shelf labels. Every display is hand-painted when everyone else is building digital displays for retail media purposes.

It’s a complete outlier in the American grocery market - and it’s maybe the most loved.

Take Gymshark, too. Its London flagship offers free fitness classes, on Regent Street, all day every day. It’s an idea that makes no sense to a traditional, sales-per-square-foot-focused retail mind. But it’s propelling them to global success. Who knew people would willingly lift weights in one of the world’s busiest shopping streets?

And then I think of Lush, too. A brand that is Barbie one minute, and gothic the next. A brand that pumps scents into the street that tend to alienate half of its potential customers. A mass market brand that is opening high-end spas and hairdressers, and wins over doubters every time.

But what all these brands have in common is that they stick in the memory. Their identity is unmissable and unforgettable. Their stores are great at both selling and marketing, and always fuel online activity.

In the age of saturation, brands like these demonstrate the power and value of being different - and not being afraid of eccentricity too.