Last updated : November 27, 2025 2:49 pm
Retail4Growth connected with Shimona Bhansali, Chief Designer & Founder of DesignHex, to understand how experience-focused store designs are guiding retail toward more engaging, customer-friendly spaces and shaping the next phase of the industry.
Today’s shoppers expect more than just products; they want spaces that feel inviting, meaningful, and worth their time. As a result, retail is quietly but confidently shifting from simply displaying products to creating places where people can slow down, explore, and genuinely connect with a brand. Stores are becoming mini worlds that reflect a brand’s personality, story, and warmth.
In a recent conversation with Shimona Bhansali, Chief Designer & Founder of DesignHex, Retail4Growth discovered how this design-forward practice is shaping the next phase of experiential retail.
Experience is the new product
According to Shimona, stores today function as immersive brand environments. Many brands now treat their stores as spaces where customers can understand the brand’s universe, even if they don’t make a purchase.
“Brands are now incorporating cafés, lounge-like areas, signature fragrances, warm lighting, and tactile materials. It’s about engaging all senses, not just sight,” shares Shimona.
The social media effect
According to Shimona, Instagram has changed retail design in a major way. “Experience has become a very big marketing point,” she explains. A well-designed space can generate its own organic visibility when customers take pictures, share videos, and talk about the ambience.
Large mirrors, open walkways, and photo-friendly corners are now part of the design brief. “Even if someone doesn’t buy something, they will talk about your store if the experience stays with them,” she adds.
Trial rooms are becoming mini experiences
Traditionally, trial rooms were small and functional. But today, they play a big role in the customer journey.
“Earlier, people gave very small trial rooms, thinking it was enough,” Shimona says. “Now brands give more attention to trial rooms because they know that’s where customers make their final decision.”
Bigger trial rooms allow people to move comfortably, take pictures, walk out and check their outfit in an open space and spend time without feeling rushed. According to her, this directly impacts conversion.
Technology is now accessible
Digital elements have become mainstream, not as luxury add-ons but as practical tools that help brands communicate more effectively.
“Technology was always around,” Shimona explains. “But now it’s affordable and achievable for many brands, even the emerging ones.”
Screens showing model references, new collections, styling ideas, and brand stories are becoming common. Shimona highlights that brands use these screens not just for aesthetics but to reduce customer confusion and help them visualise better.
Clutter-free layouts
Consumers are overwhelmed by choice today. To solve this, Shimona emphasises the importance of zoning.
“Zoning has become very important because people are confused with too many options,” she says. “If you open everything in one view, the customer will get lost. So, the key is to break the store into clear sections – festive, casual, party, Western, so the journey feels guided.”
She adds that thoughtful layouts reduce decision fatigue, help the customer understand the collection flow, and make the store easier to navigate.
Where retail is headed next?
Shimona feels that the next phase of retail is moving strongly towards experience-first spaces. She shares an example from one of their current projects – a 12,000 sq. ft. jewellery experience centre in Jaipur.
“The client did not want it to look like a store at all,” Shimona says. “It should feel like a luxurious hospitality space. Each customer sits in their own zone, and the jewellery is brought to them one by one. It’s very personalised.”
According to Shimona, brands are leaning toward tactile materials, handcrafted details, and local artistry because it gives the store more soul and depth. She shares, “People are tired of the clutter. They want spaces that feel real and crafted with intention.”
Retail is clearly moving toward spaces that feel comfortable, personal, and experience-driven. The future of retail looks like a place where people don’t just shop, they slow down, connect, and enjoy the experience.