The nation’s providers of interiors products, from department stores and supermarkets to retailers of the most coveted designer labels, are all seeking the key to improving footfall and building customer loyalty. Several have concluded that the answer lies in ambitious own-brand designs and exclusive collaborations. High-street big hitters have been expanding their design departments for some time as a way to retain customers made fickle by internet price comparisons. This spring’s heroes of in-house design on the high street are M&S and John Lewis — in two very different ways. Based on customer research, M&S decided to pare back its interiors launches to the rather conservative styles its consumer base loves: blue and white stripes, nice glass vases, pretty botanical prints.

Source: The Times February 04, 2018 00:04 UTC