Levi's NextGen
What: The new Levi's flagship store concept
Why it is important: Fully addressing millennials shopping habits (visibility, customization, online look and feel) and integrating lessons learn from Covid-19 (distantiation protocols and alternative shopping methods deeply integrated into the store mechanisms), NextGen stores come as flagships completing a territory covered with smaller stores and e-commerce, like seen at Nike, Ikea and others. It is clearly an alternative worth being explored by department stores with many regional, smaller, locations.
One month after opening in Shanghai the first Chinese Levi's NextGen store, following a 6 store opening roll-over in Europe and Asia that started in 2019, Levi's has opened its first Next Gen location in the US, in Palo Alto. Levi's seems to pursue a strategy similar to Nike, with a few highly experiential and connected stores, in flagship locations, coming as a complement of a dense network of smaller locations and efficient e-commerce. As stated by Levi's, NextGen stores are "not about transactions, they are about an experience". Specificities of this concept are:
- Tailor shop in store, with machines allowing to receive the input from customers and produce on-demand and ready to go customized Tshirts, in addition to the existing possibility to craft unique creations on a longer production leadtime
- Design is inspired from the digital identity of the brand: lighter, more impactful, simpler. The goal is to bring the same look and feel offline than online, and completement the experience with the assistance of personal stylists helping throughout the customer journey,
- All safety measures are deeply rooted in the store processes and infrastructures: BOPI (buy online, pick up in store), curbside pick-up, in store personal shopping appointments are all standard proposals in the store.
Levi's® NextGen Stores Come to North America - press release
The NextGen stores feature bolder designs
Shoppers can get clothing customised at the Tailor Shop, and work directly with a tailor on their creations.
Digital signage provides shoppers information about the available fits and styles
The fitting rooms are meant to be more open and offer what Levi's calls an "endless aisle" experience: the possibility to try on items in their size and then it if the store does not carry full inventory of that particular fit or style