Brands have to be 'Consistently Creative' today

Speaking to Retail4Growth, Ed Nelson, Creative Director, Dalziel & Pow discusses the opportunities the global strategy and design studio sees in India, the approach to understanding evolving customer expectations, the power of collaboration in creating impactful brand experiences at retail, and what truly defines "experience-led" retail environments.

Being part of India's evolving retail landscape since he began working with Shoppers Stop twenty years ago, to now crafting immersive retail experiences for emerging brands such as Tira, Coyu and Qween, Ed Nelson, Creative Director at London-based Dalziel & Pow, has watched the Indian retail industry evolve at a pace where reinvention has become the rhythm of the market. He believes that consistency alone no longer cuts it, as brands must be "consistently creative," always moving forward. And while digital commerce continues to reshape how people shop, physical retail remains central to building lasting relationships with consumers. As Ed puts it, shopping online is like watching fireworks on TV - a shallow substitute for the real thing.

Speaking to Retail4Growth, Ed Nelson discusses the opportunities Dalziel & Pow sees in India, the approach to understanding evolving customer expectations, the power of collaboration in creating impactful brand experiences at retail, and what truly defines "experience-led" retail environments.

What are Dalziel & Pow’s plans for India and what opportunities do you see here?

India continues to be a really strong territory and market for us. Retail is evolving rapidly and you see a dramatic shift from transactional spaces to experiential, engagement-led spaces for customers. We've been in the market for around twenty years and have seen that evolution. The country has got a young, aspirational population with much higher spending power than before. Consumers are more exposed to global brands and have higher expectations of what retail should be. Stores have to be destinations that reflect a brand's identity, purpose, and personality and draw people into that.

This applies not only to international brands entering the country because they see it as a huge growth market, but also to ambitious Indian brands looking to stand out in an increasingly competitive market. We've been working with brands like Tira and Koyu, and looking forward to continuing to partner with these emerging and established brands. We've also worked with Shoppers Stop and Pantaloons earlier. From a business perspective, I think our expertise in translating brand strategy into compelling physical experiences positions us well in this market.

What is D&P’s approach to understanding the Indian customer and their persona when you're working on projects here?

We're based in London, an independent studio and are employee-owned, so we set our own direction. Part of that is putting the customer at the heart of everything we do.

We're fortunate to travel the world and meet interesting people, clients, and brands. We bring all of that insight back to London and synthesise it so we're always answering to customer needs. That's the baseline. About 60% of our work is outside the UK, so we're constantly travelling, which puts us in a great position to embrace emerging markets. Our reputation hopefully precedes us — people see what we've done over the last 43 years and recognise we can help them on that journey.

What we really do is bring that information back and adapt the thinking to local markets rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach. The landscape in India is hugely diverse, with real differences in consumer expectations, infrastructure, and market maturity across regions. That means our design approach has to be flexible and scalable, but consistently creative.

We fundamentally believe that people should feel happier for having been in the spaces we create and that's a huge differentiator for us.

Are you partnering with anyone locally in India for your projects?

We have partners, but they're not fixed. What we do is create the overarching brand vision, the experience strategy, the experience ideas and principles that build out the concept and take that all the way through to design. Then we work with local architects, build partners, and fabrication partners to ensure those ideas are successfully delivered on the ground. There are complexities around permitting and planning regulations that we rely on local experts to navigate.

Sometimes partners are prescribed by the bigger client, as they have large portfolios of build partners and in-house architectural teams. When we work with smaller, less experienced brands, we can introduce them to partners who can hand-hold the project execution.

In a market as diverse and fast-moving as India, collaboration with client teams is absolutely vital. A lot of the real findings are serendipitous — the conversations you have over a cup of chai rather than in a brief, because the real truths come out in that collaboration.

What has your experience been collaborating with build partners and other solution providers in India?

It's been varied, but on the whole, really positive. There's an incredible can-do attitude in this market, and everyone is trying to create the best they can. So having the right partners who share our vision and our clients' vision, and giving them ownership to bring it to life, is really important.

Today, the term experience-led retail is used very loosely. According to you, what are the core factors that create an experiential retail environment?

We live in interesting times. In a period of rising global uncertainty, people are actively seeking brands that offer escapism, familiarity, authenticity, excitement, and purpose. Physical retail is uniquely positioned to deliver on these needs, providing experiences that go beyond utility and function and into meaning and experience. 

We have identified six key themes shaping retail and experience design today that answer consumer needs: 

Immersive escapism - our worlds are shaped by the sensory encounters that we experience every day, so experience-led design must consider all the senses to best drive emotional connection, memorability, and brand love. 

Local relevance - with growing feelings of isolation amongst consumers globally comes a greater desire for brand spaces to make people feel that they are understood and that they belong there, so it’s crucial for experiences to show up locally in the right way and in the right format, to best connect with local communities. 

Responsive retail design - as the rate of trends and culture speeds up, retail has to become more agile and content-driven, and designs must stay fresh and relevant by dedicating space to revolving concepts and product drops.  

Customers as creators - The power shift from consumer to creators sets a new future dynamic,where retail and experiencescollaborate with consumers to build trust and unlock creativity. 

Brand storytelling - information overload is leaving consumers seeking more richness and meaning, so brands must take consumers on a journey throughout their spaces, embodying unique stories to stand out and create shared understanding. 

Purposeful platforms - with rising global anxieties, people want brands to live their values and take action, create spaces and narratives that can improve lives and inspire people to make positive change.