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Section Editor: Fiona Harkin, SVP - Content
Analysts: Katie Baron, Senior Editor - Retail
& Estella Shardlow, Assistant Editor - Retail
Edutainment is the evolution of retail-tainment.
It’s a strategy that not only entertains shoppers,
but also educates them into spending. It caters
to modern consumers who are seeking brand
experiences that enrich their lives beyond the
shop floor.
From tech training to in-store fitness classes,
this hands-on mode of retailing is triggering a
shift in the consumer/brand relationship as the
brand becomes teacher and guide.
Tapping into the knowledge economy,
edutainment retailing underscores a new chapter in
the evolution of the store environment in which
shops will become hybrid learning-selling spaces.
Sales associates become brand specialists. Skills,
knowledge and experiences will form a new layer
of commodities that have the potential to be as
valuable as products.
Apple’s free in-store workshops, which
tutor shoppers in using its products, have been
demonstrating for years how an education-based
approach to after-sales can pay dividends. But
that’s only half the story. There’s far more to be
gained by brands that can step outside their own
products and deliver solutions, experiences and
advice on a wider scale. Products may be just the
starting point.
Edutainment presents an opportunity for all
retailers to build stronger bonds by appealing
to consumers’ lifestyle choices or desires, and
the communities around which those lifestyles
revolve. From demos to DIY, this is the space in
which brands can redefine themselves as guides
as well as vendors, and as a source of inspiration
and trust.
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Redefine
Consumer Engagement