STORY Reinvents Itself With Video Analytics

By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1

August 2014 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

This one-of-a-kind retailer uses heatmapping technology to garner precise merchandising data to better position the store on a daily basis.

Rachel Shechtman, founder of STORY, a 2,000-square-foot retail store in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood has turned traditional retail on its head. STORY is a retail space that has the point of view of a magazine, changes like a gallery, and sells things like a store. The idea was to create a retail store that could serve as a matchmaker between brands and consumers, integrating strategies of marketing, merchandising, and business development. Indeed, STORY changes its layout, its merchandise, its fixtures, and its design every four to eight weeks. You read that correctly; STORY completely changes everything every four to eight weeks. STORY launched in beta as a “Startup Store,” spotlighting emerging digital retail concepts and has gone on to tell a series of retail narratives including Color, Making Things, and Made in America. As of press time, STORY’s narrative is “Cool.” Until August 17, 2014, STORY is all about cool — from how it looks and tastes to what it feels like. The current narrative is aptly fitting, as cool is one of the best words to describe Shechtman’s extraordinary retail concept. “Every day, we interact with stories, and that’s what we wanted to do — be in the storytelling business,” explains Shechtman. “Traditional retail is always sales per square foot. I call it experience per foot — not only to the consumer, but also to a brand.”