How Nike Is Rebuilding Its Stores With Local Data & Personal Service

 Taking the shoppers’ needs and behaviors seriously and incorporating them into every touchpoint in customers’ visits, brands are reinventing the store as we know it, driving sales and interest using interactive and immersive technologies, displays and capabilities to integrate the best of digital and physical shopping into one enjoyable and efficient service.

Nike has been pioneering the new face of IRL retail, and the athletic retailer’s recently opened Nike by Melrose store is no exception: Described as a “neighborhood digital service hub,” the store is built on data and driven by digital, embodying the Nike Live concept in  subtle and effective ways. 

Nike Direct President Heidi O’Neill talked about the new concept they imagined. “What we’re seeing is that consumers are really fluid in their shopping and activity experiences. There’s a level of fluidity between an in‑store experience, an online experience and an app experience. More than anything, we want to respect those consumer journeys that are incredibly organic.  Customers need to be inspired. They need to take a look around. They need to browse and try on. They need to think about it. All these are steps in the journey. We’re seeing an incredible back and forth between the online and offline.” she said. 

Then she talked about the Nike by Melrose: “It is retail in a way that we’ve never done before. We see it first and foremost as a neighborhood digital service hub. It really was built for and inspired by our members. We looked at our members’ patterns in the Los Angeles Melrose neighborhood, and really watched behavior and listened to voices around engagement, activity and what they needed from Nike”.