Learn how Kitchenware Retailers Leverage Experiential Retail to Draw in Customers and Move Products off the Shelf

While experiential retail is a relatively new buzzword, with retailers trying to catch up to the demands of the modern consumer, the kitchenware industry has been incorporating the tenants of experiential retail into their stores for decades. The nature of food and cooking supplies is sensory as well as utilitarian, lending itself to a retail model oriented around shopper-product interaction. And as we look to incorporate more experience into our retail strategy, we can look to kitchenware suppliers as the original experiential retail masters. Take a look at some of the kitchenware companies running the game:
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Williams-Sonoma
Of course, Williams-Sonoma is the classic example of a stellar experiential kitchenware retailer. With over 60 years in the industry, Williams-Sonoma was a pilgrim of the contemporary approach to kitchenware retail. Stores across the country as well as Canada, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, and Kuwait, and more opening every year, speak to the success of Williams-Sonoma’s approach to selling the best in cookware and home goods. Most every store features a cooking island where in-store chefs create dishes that shoppers can sample (and that fill the store with delicious scents), and over 220 stores host cooking classes and special events where shoppers can “enhance [their] enjoyment of cooking and entertaining.” Meanwhile, their “Return-to-Learn” program teaches customers how to use Williams-Sonoma products in one-on-one demonstrations with store experts. Knife sharpening, specialty food items, and interior design advising are all additional services that bring customers in--and lead them to new products.

Sur La Table
Sur La Table is the first name in in-store classes. With over 80 stores featuring a full in-store cooking school, drawing in more than 600,000 students a year, Sur La Table successfully leverages cooking experience to bring customers to their stores--and has become the nation’s largest non-professional cooking school in the process. Taught by resident chefs and geared towards shoppers of every cooking skill level, Sur La Table’s classes work to bring in shoppers, promote specialty products, and build company loyalty. Additional services like knife sharpening, product demonstrations, and a “Chop Shop” where customers can test-drive knives supplement cooking classes to make an informative and appealing in-store experience.

Bowery Kitchen Supply
Bowery Kitchen Supply is a true haven of kitchenware. Build into the experiential retail dreamscape that is Chelsea Market, Bowery Kitchen Supply is a favorite of home cooks and Food Network stars alike--in fact, the Food Network studios share the building, making for a thrilling shopping day for any cooking fanatic. The store design is remarkable, with walls of dishes towering overhead and pots hanging from the ceiling. Their knife counter is particularly thrilling, with hundreds of knives stuck along metal strips on the wall. An in-store bistro, a kitchen design corner, and lots and lots of products make for a unique and exciting shopping experience.

The Takeaway
Food and cookware lends itself to experiential retail. Nothing brings people together like food--and kitchenware retailers have been leveraging the joyful, social, and sensory nature of cooking to draw in customers and increase product engagement. Events, classes, and in-store demonstrations with a delicious twist keep kitchenware stores thriving--we can all take a page from the book of the original experiential retailers.

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