For the last three decades, award-winning architect Kevin Ervin Kelley has been studying how the environment of a place affects shoppers’ behavior, perception and decision-making. He co-founded strategic design firm Shook Kelley to “combine the best thinking from branding, neuroscience, social science and design into one integrated approach called ‘convening,’” Kelley says.
“Instead of ‘designing places,’ I wanted to focus my career on ‘designing behaviors,’ not in a manipulative way, but in a dramatic, cathartic, storytelling way, similar to how a movie director creates scenes that elicit emotions, values, and a sense of resolution.”
At NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show, Kelley, the author of “Irreplaceable: How to Create Extraordinary Places That Bring People Together,” will discuss key principles, tools and techniques retailers can use to deliver unforgettable store experiences.
Read more of Kelley’s thoughts on retail design, creating energizing store spaces and merging physical and digital.
Shook Kelley pioneered the field of “convening.” Why is this concept so important in terms of retail?
Convening is the art and science of bringing people together around a place’s physical, social and emotional dimensions. This process focuses less on the architecture with a capital “A” and more on how the backdrop of a place’s environment affects behavior, perception and decision-making.
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Instead of judging design on its intellectual or artistic merit, we measure places based on the behaviors it generates. For some clients, that translates into metrics like sociability, frequency of visits and competitive differentiation — and for others, sales velocity, dwell times, increased basket sizes and product experimentation.
How does the environment of a place affect shoppers’ behavior?
We often talk about being in an environment, but our environments are just as much in us as the food we eat. If we eat junk food, it affects our health and our ability to focus. And if we inhabit poorly designed spaces, it affects how we feel about the place, the brand and the offering.
It can be helpful to think about the job of a store in a way that is similar to what we think of the product packaging job. When the human eye views a packaged product, like a box of organic cookies from Italy, we usually can’t fully taste, touch, smell or see the product inside. Instead, we rely on the package to inform us about the product’s quality, values, manufacturing process, etc. The job of the package is to serve as a surrogate for what’s inside.
The atmosphere of a store is similar to a package in that it acts as a surrogate to inform customers of the brand’s values, beliefs, curation process, etc. When a customer visits a store, it’s like they are walking inside a package design, which attracts their involuntary eye, interest and engagement — or fails to generate any engagement.
What is the “phygital” experience and what role will design play in merging online and in-person shopping?
For the last two decades, we’ve been discussing retail’s digital and physical aspects as two separate agendas and competing forces going to battle. But these two domains increasingly blend into one overall customer experience that some call “phygital.”
It’s not a pretty word, but fortunately, it won’t be here long as we won’t make such a big distinction between digital and physical five years from now. Instead, digital is becoming a standard part of the shopping experience, just as holding cell phones in our hands and pockets has become a standard component of our everyday lives.
Many retailers were initially threatened by digital, but the opportunities to enhance the retail shopping experience are considerable and will take stores into new frontiers and revenue streams, especially retail media. There was a period when people thought that digital would surpass and replace physical, but now consumer brands realize that physical stores have a captive audience more likely to see and engage in their content and products, much as we did with TVs in the living room.
What retail design trend are you most excited about right now?
One of the biggest issues retail stores are wrestling with is the payment processing parts of the business. For instance, the debates about cashiers versus self-checkout can generate strong viewpoints and impassioned defenses from consumers whenever the topic arises. Some people hate self-checkout, others embrace it.
However, these two options will become less of an issue as smart carts continue evolving and perfecting their sensors and computer vision to identify items in a cart, allowing customers to add items without scanning or weighing them and avoiding standing in line at checkout.
What excites you most about the future of retail?
The most exciting thing I see happening in retail is that consumers increasingly realize they don’t want all their products, food and entertainment needs delivered to their front door. They want to go outside to the markets, malls and main streets to activate their senses, social muscles and community connections.
Interestingly enough, the generations that grew up with a cell phone and iPad in their hands are resurrecting the mall. This change in behavior makes sense because humans are social animals that feel better around others through shared lifestyles, identities and affinities.
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