Adidas store NYC

The Adidas store on 5^th Avenue New York showed lots of evidence of careful visual merchandising and aesthetic. The store being in such a key location meant that it was a lot more interesting than your local Adidas store. The very large two-story building was a blend of three main aesthetics.

The first noticeable theme of the store was the clean, sleek and very modern vibe. Bright minimal lighting lined the floors and highlighted the products. I felt that Adidas being such an iconic and noticeable brand, very simple merchandising and placing all the focus onto the products, is all that is needed and is most effective. Also sportswear is generally a very practical item, rather than a statement style choice, drawing the eye straight to the product, in a way that displays its purpose, is ideal.

The second theme in the store was pushing the calculated science side of the products. Adidas pride themselves on being one of the leading sports brands in innovative modern sportswear. With this merchandising the brand has emphasised the mathematical accuracy in creating each item, to help enhance sports performance. Even if a person simply buys from the brand for comfort/leisure, seeing the mathematical symbols and calculations, and the slogan ‘performance calculated to the millimetre’ gives the impression that the products are high tech and valuable, due to the effort and preciseness that went into the making of it.

 

The third, and potentially most prominent visual in the NYC store was the sports ground/stadium décor. While walking up the stairs there where full-size stadium style bench seating, looking out onto the busy NYC streets. This not only reinforced the sporty core of the brand, but also reminds customers of the location of the store, and its prominence and importance. The statue of the Adidas founder on the sports ground seating also hinted to the brands heritage, and implied that the brand has a lots of experience and status. The theme was continued into the paying tills around the stores, that where created to look like stadium ticket booths at sports events.

  

All these factors defiantly made the store and shopping an experience. The different themes made you think about the brand, its history and its core purpose, and overall made the experience of shopping in that particular store more memorable.