Designing retail - Unravelling coping strategies through emphatic interviewing owner managers

Abstract

This research aims at demonstrating how retail designers through empathic interviewing and listening to the story that retailers tell about their retail concept, can program the retail design task, identify inconsistencies not thought of using the “retail design thematic map” developed and give better advice to retailers.

Using independent retail as case, the article sheds light on the empathic interview as method, strengthens retail design as a relevant discipline for retail strategy, and clarifies the role of emotion in the client – retailer relation regarding strategizing.