PIRCH

PIRCH Chicago’s Experiential Retail Model Highlighted on Thriving Malls

PIRCH: Revolutionizing Brick-and-Mortar Retail

The letters across the entryway read Live Joyfully. When I walk inside and ride the escalator up through a sparkling atrium, I’m immediately greeted by a barista at the Bliss Café. She offers me a complimentary beverage of my choice. I request a latte and am shocked to find that this thick and creamy drink is better than anything I generally pay for.

I survey the large room inside GGP’s Oakbrook Mall and am immediately soothed by the sparkling white displays, calming music, and inspirational sayings etched into the walls that urge me to the live the life I imagine. I feel like I have entered the spa of my daydreams. Only, I have not entered a spa at all. This is Pirch, a home appliance store that is revolutionizing the way we shop.

An article by A.T. Kearney, released in July, posits that as we continue to incorporate technology into the shopping experience, retailers are growing into more than simply sellers of goods. Now, both in the physical and virtual worlds, the most successful companies have become community builders, conversationalists, and educators.

The piece began by outlining three core human characteristics that keep us so absorbed in our mobile devices: the human need for connection, the human need for self-expression, and the human need for exploration.

The features of our tablets and phones blend the natural desire to be social and have a voice with our intense curiosity. In other words, it is not the technology itself we love, but rather the way technology feeds our innate cravings. Companies like Pirch have begun to recognize this, and they are building technology-enhanced brick-and-mortar stores that can satisfy these cravings even more.

Technology, then, is actually fueling this growth of brick-and-mortar retail as it is helps us better understand the kinds of experiences customers want from a day at the mall.

Pirch is a leader in the phenomenon of “experiential shopping.” In its profile of Pirch this summer, the Chicago Tribune reported that stores are increasingly offering activities and events that go beyond run-of-the-mill buying and selling. For example, the Urban Outfitters flagship in NYC includes a hair salon, coffee shop, and an Instagram photo-printing booth. But Pirch has taken it to an entirely new level and has made home-appliance shopping—a typically daunting task—feel like spending time inside a fairytale. The company achieves this through spending most of its money on the store itself, rather than on advertising.

Inside Pirch, there are full kitchen, bathroom, and patio displays, complete with details like robes hanging on hooks and real-live chefs cooking in the kitchen. I wander past Chef Brian, who is working with a couple to help them decide which oven to buy. He asks them what they like to eat and then does a demonstration of what it’s like to cook that food inside the ovens.

This couple has made an appointment with a lifestyle advisor, who is personally guiding them through the store to help them plan their dream home. They can even go inside a “dream room,” where digital screens help them visualize their design options.

As I wander the store sipping my latte, I run my hand over the most sparkling countertops I have ever seen. I am awed by a curved sink the length of an SUV displaying over ten different faucets. I glide past the bathtub displays—and I say glide because the atmosphere really makes it feel like I’m floating—and find myself enamored with a row of dryers. Written on the wall above them: They’re even quieter when they’re on.

85% of the Pirch showroom is live. Customers can test out almost anything. On Saturdays there are free cooking classes offered in the kitchen, where a local vendor brings in organic vegetables and the chef on duty helps customers prepare a meal.

It isn’t long before I’m approached by Susan Schroeder, a lifestyle experience advisor who offers to show me around. “What I always ask is how people want to live,” she says as she welcomes me into a large room called the Sanctuary. My mouth hangs open as I observe the functioning steam room and sauna and a long line of differently curved showerheads, where people come with bathing suits to test the different pressures.

Pirch CEO, Jeffrey Sears, told the Chicago Tribune he could not be happier that shopping is beginning to resemble the high-end care that top department stores provided during his childhood. “What’s returning to great retail is truly the concept of activation and learning and engaging a customer in a way other than just the transaction,” he said.

The exciting part about Pirch, however, is that you can receive high-end treatment without paying high-end prices. The store does carry expensive merchandise, but it also carries several more affordable brands, such as Whirlpool and KitchenAid. “Regardless of what you decide to go with, we are here to give you the best experience,” Schroeder says. Pirch employees undergo a week of training at Pirch’s “University of Joy,” where they learn practices to take the best possible care of their customers.

The store even uses its showrooms to host private events. A yoga class has been taught in the Sanctuary, and the Purple Purse—a non-profit fighting against domestic violence—recently held an event in the store.

I am twenty-three years old, and owning a home is one of the furthest things from my mind. I consider myself domestic when I decide to put my drink on a coaster. Yet, wandering through Pirch, I found myself enamored with countertops and ovens and patio seating, merchandise that is usually reserved for my mother’s amusement. But something about that place made me want to run out and buy a house just so I could shop there for real. Pirch has managed to transform one of homeowning’s most overwhelming tasks into an absolute pleasure.

Pirch currently has showrooms in two GGP locations: Oakbrook Center in Oakbrook, Illinois and the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, CA. The company is, however, planning to keep expanding nationally. It already has another location in Dallas and is planning to open stores in Atlanta and New York.

Pirch “creates a bond and a place to gather and to learn, and I think that’s what human beings do,” says Jeffrey Sears, who seems to be heeding A.T. Kearney’s advice to stop thinking digital and start thinking human. Remember, it is not the technology we love, but rather the connections and ease we feel it fosters. Stores like Pirch—that use technology as part of a broader interactive experience—keep customers coming because they provide more connection and ease than any computer screen could. Pirch shows us that not only is brick-and-mortar here to stay, but also that its purpose and influence will continue to grow. A quote on the wall reads, “Embrace the awesome that is what if,” inviting all of us to join Pirch in growth and innovation.

Contributed by Molly (GGP)