Bringing Style to Life

The word lifestyle is often overused, as well as demonized and celebrated. Lifestyle can reflect negativity (as in “their lifestyle”) or the positive rewards of hard work and achievement. A lifestyle isn't something we engage as passive observers, but rather something we experience across all senses. More often than not, it involves a sense of community expressed in two important aspects — both of which are dynamic, individualistic and experiential. Life is what we live; style is how we live it.

While it usually functions as a noun, lifestyle can also be a verb. Just as cooking, entertaining and celebrating all translate the static nature of product into activity, “lifestyling” animates the product it involves.

In a gift store, moving product to places with strong storytelling associations is almost like placing words and sentiments on the merchandise (such as candles and decorative wall art). Likewise, the transition of greeting cards to today's popular

While it usually functions as a noun, lifestyle can also be a verb. Just as cooking, entertaining and celebrating all translate the static nature of product into activity, “lifestyling” animates the product it involves.

In a gift store, moving product to places with strong storytelling associations is almost like placing words and sentiments on the merchandise (such as candles and decorative wall art). Likewise, the transition of greeting cards to today's popular musical card or those that reveal a bit of handcrafting or decoration sends a powerful message from the giver to the receiver — “I understand and care about who you are!”

That is lifestyling.

The term “lifestyle” is not only overused, it's also misunderstood. The current rebranding of shopping centers as “lifestyle centers,” and the narrowly interpreted idea of lifestyle as things we consider part of the good life (such as fine dining, a gracious home and suburban life) is too thin an explanation. “Lifestyle center” isn't remotely descriptive of the kind of diversity — expressed through merchandise, environment, presentation and activities — retailers can provide in their stores.

Within the contrasting definitions of lifestyle — traditional and rebellious, natural and high-tech — many interpretations and combinations exist. Polished silver, crown moldings and family photos can be equally “at home” in the traditional world of Ralph Lauren or the rebellious world of Abercrombie and Fitch. Granted, the brand images are different, but each has found a twist or nuance, rising from its lifestyle roots of privilege. One protects that privilege; the other, while enjoying the good life, looks for every opportunity to make trouble in lifestyle paradise.

Much like today's consumer, the “style” of lifestyle marketing continues to defy stereotypes, largely due to the democratization of style that has taken place in the last decade. Once reserved for Fifth Avenue, famous designers are now as likely to be found in the aisles of a local big box discount store.

Meanwhile, the eclectic nature of design — mixing and matching trends, cultures, periods — has become a style in its own right, and ultimately a lifestyle. Individuals' freedom to choose, collect and coordinate has opened new opportunities for retailers who once relied on tight-knit communities of consumers who shared interests such as appreciation of fine china, whimsical collectibles or contemporary styling.

Today's retailer, particularly the retailer with a “good eye,” can now bring all these items together with a sense of flare. Instead of alienating specific customers, retailers with that kind of eye attract them and broaden consumers' sensibility, opening a newly invigorated and interested consumer to a diverse and sometimes startling world.

Lifestyle involves the act of living rather than merely viewing. A retailer whose store is too carefully crafted, particularly without the lifestyle customer in mind, risks becoming an exhibit — a place that is about things, not about living.

Helping customers imagine themselves within the lifestyles portrayed and broadening their perspective on how to live life — be it romantically, exotically, comfortably, youthfully, etc. — opens a window of perspective. This perspective may put them in the market for trading in that “used” lifestyle for one that offers new and exciting possibilities.

The maturing of Baby Boomers and third-agers (a new term for a group of highly influential War Babies and Boomers who are redefining retirement.) has created an audience that is highly influenced and motivated by retail experiences that make life easier, more efficient and more organized. They want to be freed up for the fun things in life: entertaining, gardening and connecting with friends. The rational “how” becomes an emotional “why not” when the effective lifestyle retailer not only provides the ingredients for a great party, but helps in throwing it. Be it through decorating tips, activities, specialty foods or a great accessory, retailers can help make the host or hostess a successful lifestyle ambassador.

Lifestyle retailers understand that gift-givers mark events in ways that reflect their lifestyle, taste and personal connection with the receiver. By offering unique gifts organized around occasions but with a connection, they recognize the personal nature of the receiver's interest — be they a pet lover or a sports fanatic.

Moving beyond the world of pet supplies or sports memorabilia, retailers can create a world that is easy to view as “belonging to someone else.” Through lifestyle marketing, a store can be recognized as the place to select the perfect gift, showing that the giver acknowledges, respects and values the receiver's lifestyle beyond a generic present.

The collector of the '90s has in many ways become a user, not looking for those things that are static and can be left to the next generation, but things that add meaning and character to their everyday lifestyle.

Scrapbooking turns a photo album into a lifestyle activity. It's no longer just collecting and preserving, but an attempt to bring to life the humanity of the moment, beyond the pure history. The difference between success and marginal sales can be in seeking, identifying and communicating how your merchandise fits into the consumer's lifestyle, while providing a bridge to it.

Successful manufacturers and retailers who have made this leap find that “mature” categories such as cards, candles and seasonal decor can take on new relevance and vibrancy when marketed as a lifestyle, beckoning previously uninterested customers and further motivating the “converted” to trade up or move over to what is new. The real opportunity for gift and decorative accessories retailers is to recognize that they are in the business of selling the best part of the sundae. While letting other retailers sell the basic and often price-sensitive elements, the specialty gift retailer offers the whipped cream and the cherry on top.

Inherently gift retailers have a tremendous advantage over more mainstream retailers. However, their challenge is convincing consumers of their relevance. They are not just about luxury and impulse purchases, but they, like the famous “Intel Inside” ad, present the solution for adding color, personality and “lifestyle” to everyday, mundane existence.

In short, life without style is merely the consumption of oxygen. Bringing your store to life, with your very own sense of style, is the formula for success.