Typical industry practices for approaching the design of an upscale store interior.

Considerations
1. Design research design efficiency that is not just about logistics and layout but about reflection of
the brands principles and attitude. The design should aim to provide not just a utilitarian space but
also a great user experience.
a. This would further determine spatial layouts
b. Colours, graphics and messaging
c. Materials and finishes
d. Furniture size, look n feel, etc.
e. Lighting schemes architectural and decorative
f. In some instances even music
2. Modular approach Time, cost and quality being of paramount concern in the delivery of any retail
outlet, the processes involved need to be as streamlined as possible and development of modular
construction elements that are adaptable to any shape and size of outlets can reduce turnaround
times considerably while ensuring a consistent quality.
3. Selection of materials, specifications and developing guidelines for the same basis ease of availability
over a large geographical area and not just the local market.
4. In store graphics, signage, visual messaging etc should all be designed to reinforce the brand value
proposition by lending themselves towards creation of the brand experience.
5. A popular practice is to use locally available materials as much as possible. This ensures better control
over quality and avoids delays.
6. Selection of Partners
a. Vendors - The selection of vendors should be based on their production bandwidth and their
network across vast geographies.
b. Contractors Selection of contractors should be basis their credentials/reputation as well as
innovation.
7. Yet another practice is to create a benchmark outlet by partnering with high quality construction
partners and then through that disseminate learning to future construction partners to ensure
consistently efficient deliveries of future outlets. This in turn also promotes knowledge transfer.
Criteria for contractor/ Vendor selection
1. The ability to understand design is a great advantage. This further enables value additions by the
contractor/ Vendor
2. Pedigree and credentials should inspire confidence with respect to deliverables like time, cost and
quality
3. Scalability is another important factor since most upscale retail outlets especially in the F & B category
have multiple outlets and partnering with fewer partners ensures consistency in the output
4. Professionalism especially in south Asian countries is a very important consideration as the
construction industry is still not as organised and streamlined as its western counterparts.

Materials
These can be broadly classified into two:-
1. Structural materials materials that are used to lend support to the superstructure. These are
materials that are not visible by the end user of these spaces such as false ceiling/flooring
superstructure.
2. Facia materials materials that lend themselves to the look and feel of the outlet. Examples are steel,
aluminium, wood, glass, acrylic, stone fabric etc.
3. Of late the trend has shifted towards sustainable design practices that includes store creation using
materials that are
a. recycled/recyclable- given that many outlets are built and rebuilt over relatively short
periods of time the environmentally conscious chains are now inclined to use re furbished
components like furniture, casework and lighting.
b. Materials that can be sourced locally which ensures smaller lead times and consistency in
stores look and feel in a particular region.
This is clearly reflected in some stores like Reebok and Levis in Bangalore.

Mindset of Starbucks in India
The global template of customising each and every store to the local flavour, finds resonance in the Indian
stores as well. While there is a certain level of cookie cutter approach for driving cost effectiveness that is
visible in the kind of furniture, casework, architectural lighting, wall graphics etc., yet within these there are
customizations. These could be in the form of Decorative lighting, Accent pieces, surface treatments (mostly
confined to walls and ceilings) and also custom furniture depending upon the location and the audience in the
micro location etc.
Every fiscal has a set number of target new stores within a country and therefore the complexities become
more while dealing with a large country like India or China which typically have larger number of stores
earmarked per fiscal.
Vendor Selection
1. With respect to furniture casework and lighting it is always better to have more than one vendor
since the production strength of vendors in most cases is not enough to handle large requirements.
2. Preference is also given to local suppliers and vendors even if their costs are marginally higher than
materials that are imported due to the after sales service that is available and the ease of periodic
quality checks.
3. It also helps to monitor any kind of compliance issues like use of child labour by the
contractor/vendor.

Mc Donalds practices

They have an empanelled list of vendors and contractors who are selected as per compliance standards set
forth by their internal team. These vendors and contractors are periodically vetted and their performance is
evaluated for consistency and sustained quality.

Their format in terms of usage of furniture and lighting to create a localised flavour has seen a couple of twists.
They initially had a set format across all their stores to begin with but wanted to innovate and thus moved
towards sustainability and customizations across their stores. This lead to escalated costs and overheads while
they felt a dilution in their retail identity sine they could not effectively control the level of customizations.
Thus they have now moved back to a cookie cutter design across their stores to minimise costs and create a
brand synergy.




Furniture vendors:

1. They are mostly local partners who have built equity with the retail chain and are awarded contracts
consistently on the basis of their quality and timely deliverables.
2. They mostly import their furniture (unassembled parts) from China and then assemble them in the
country.
3. They also have the skill and knowledge base to provide after sale support to these F and B outlets.

Lighting

The lighting fixtures in Mc donalds is almost entirely architectural. The lighting scheme is designed as per the
store design manual wherein the quality like the warmth and colour and level of lighting is predefined. Their
vendors are also local players and essentially assemble the various parts of the luminaire including the light
source and the shell.
Light sources like bulbs and associated paraphernalia is manufactured by companies such as Phillips, Wipro etc
whereas the outer shell of the luminaire is mostly imported (from china/Malaysia etc) owing to better
manufacturing quality. While companies such as Philips can also manufacture the outer shells yet their product
quality is not as good as the imported products. Besides the cost of the finished value added product is very
similar in either case.