A look at how the Web has changed consumer expectations and what it will soon take to get people to stick around your business’ physical space.

Design

At SXSW last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Patty Fadhouli, director of marketing at the accessories retail chain Charming Charlie(based in Texas and expanding by the day).

Charming Charlie, like every retail store planted in malls across the U.S., is struggling to find ways to stay relevant in the age of Zappos, Amazon, and instant access to practically any store in the world with the click of a mouse. Who has time for shopping centers, crowds and annoying sales reps?

What amazed me about Charming Charlie was the fact that they essentially took one of the strengths of shopping on the Web and brought it to the physical space: the ease of finding what you’re looking for.

Retail organization 2.0

Not much has changed when it comes to retail store organization. Barnes & Noble added the ability to search for a book in the store via kiosks many years ago — but it still didn’t make the search process any easier; you still had to find the aisle on your own and would usually still find yourself walking around aimlessly.

If retail is to survive in the physical space, it has to adapt to the nature of the Web, where with a little bit of good UI, you never really have to waste a single brain cell or ounce of energy to find what you want at any given moment.

Charming Charlie is unique because their entire store is arranged by color. So if you’re at home and can’t find an accessory to go with those red shoes, stop by Charming Charlie, go straight to the red section and you’ll be set in no time.

Now is rearranging the store enough to stay relevant? Not entirely, but understanding the mindset that consumers are adapting to because of online shopping has made what would be nothing more than an accessory store into a unique experience, one that combines the ease of search with the satisfaction of seeing an item in person.

And it’s been enough to help the chain grow rapidly during a time when many smaller chains are shutting down.

The very idea of the “shopping experience” has been rewritten by the Web and most businesses don’t realize it.

I still have trouble finding a DVD at Best Buy (why put concert DVDs in the CD section? They’re DVDs!), when their Web site gets me to my exact destination in 10 seconds.

What businesses like Best Buy are missing even more than good design, however, is an “experience.”

Becoming the ‘stomping ground’

As a member of the hospitality industry, the concept of the “experience as the brand,” is one that comes up every day, and with the trends of mobile and social networking going the way they are, this is a very exciting time to be a business with a physical location.

All about the experience

This is a unique era we’ve entered into in this new decade: we are more social than ever, more connected than ever and more demanding of great experiences to share with our friends.

Social networks taught us how to open up to hundreds (and in many cases thousands) of people. And now location-based social networking is the natural progression into bringing us all together in real life to share an experience (and then share it again online).

What this means is that businesses have the opportunity to become the meeting place, or the ‘stomping ground,’ for likeminded people with similar interests who are looking to connect and share.

Redefining the relationship of consumer-brand

Much like how the most successful brands in the social media realm have become facilitators of communities around passionate topics, the transition to doing the same in-person is inevitable.

This next decade will be an amazing opportunity to redefine the relationship between brands and consumers and the multi-dimensional experience that can be achieved.

Meetups, parties, demos, training, discussion groups, etc. are already important to a lot of major brands like Home Depot or Apple, both which host training/user groups on-location.

Imagine if Starbucks built its own Meetup.com, allowing Starbucks lovers and general networkers alike to turn all 6,000+ locations into the ultimate stomping grounds for thousands of communities (big and small). Add a strong integration with foursquare for rewards to the mix (already in development), and Starbucks will only continue to be synonymous with “experience.”

Much like newspapers realized the importance of local (although never really lived up to the idea), corporations like Best Buy and Starbucks will continue to realize its importance when consumers look to them to help create meaningful experiences, regardless of location.

And if businesses don’t take the place of this ever-needed role, who or what will?

This Is It

If businesses want to stay relevant in a digital world, they need to understand their new role and the new expectations consumers have in regards to design and experience.

Much like how the smartest businesses understood their role online in social networks, it’s time for businesses to realize the same offline: we, as brands, are facilitators of community experience.

We, as businesses, are here to bring people together in a new era where the swift evolution of mobile has collided with the social sphere to create a mindset that is hungry for real interactions and something more meaningful than what social media currently can provide.