Fairfax & Favor have experienced phenomenal growth in the last 9 years, with a turnover of £30m, and ambitions to grow to £100m.
In the last 12 months the business made the decision to open bricks and mortar stores following the success of a pop-up store in Holt, Norfolk. By October this year the business will have opened 4 permanent stores, with plans for a further 6 in the next 3 years.
The business has always understood the value of the physical spaces, and how they can be leveraged to maximise the opportunity they present to get closer to their customers, to engage directly with them, thereby deepening the customer bond with the brand. Since the outset Fairfax & Favor have traded at country shows, horse trials and game fairs, to support their omni channel strategy, and played an essential role in generating brand awareness, and fuelling growth amongst the type of customers who visit these events.
This experience allowed the team to have a more nuanced, insightful approach to choosing locations for their stores, opting to focus on market towns where customers visit for leisure purposes, rather than traditional high streets.
This decision was important in shaping the brief for the design of their brand spaces.
Customers on days out, with more time at their disposal are more inclined to dwell, and spend time with the brand when they are in a relaxed mindset.
In our experience emerging brands who have built their business primarily online have a far greater understanding of truly delivering experiential retail, and the opportunities that physical retail can offer much more so, than conventional legacy retailers.
They acknowledge the role of brand stores as brand billboards-driving customer acquisition, store as media, advertising, storytelling, winning hearts, encouraging repeat visits, and creating media experiences in store. As a service touchpoint- product interactions, online options, and customer relationship building. As a community hub – loyalty building events, community content, amplifying creative interactions and events. And as immersive entertainment, experience, sensorial, personalisation
Consequently, the Fairfax & Favor team, truly understood the benefits of creating social spaces within the store, together with VIP areas, and devoting valuable space to these areas.
Furthermore, rather than adopting the cookie cut approach of conventional retailers the brand from the outset has embraced the idea that in addition to the core brand design aesthetic, each store has unique elements layered into the concept.
This aligns directly to the trend identified by many luxury brands, that customers want to enjoy the experience of visiting stores where there is something unique and special in each location, something which reinforces a sense of place. Customers expect more from luxury brand retail experiences, and want to be rewarded by inspirational spaces if they have taken their time to visit the brand in a physical location.
The core concept, inspired by rural vogue, (the brand essence of Fairfax & Favor) and referencing the stable aesthetic of the brand headquarters, is consistently present as identifiable design codes in each location, helping with brand recognition, but in each instance, we have layered discovery elements in every site.
With Stamford, the first site, we took the opportunity to ensure that the outside space at the rear became a secret garden, again, extending the social opportunities in this location. In Helmsley we have sourced Yorkshire stone to layer into the concept, and created secret doorways concealed by bookcases. In Stow on the Wold, the iconic doorway in St Edwards Church, overhung by ancient yew trees which inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s Door of Durin in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, inspired the localisation references of this site.
Fairfax & Favor, Stamford
This is one of the reasons why the brands’ fans flock to each new site, to discover what is new and what is unique to that individual location.
This focus on localisation is supported by the brand’s commitment to engaging with the local community in each location, and actively seeking partnerships with local businesses as a way to embed the brand in the local community, in locations where there is a predominance of other independent brands.
The role of personalisation is amplified and reinforced by introducing devoted VIP areas in each store.
Aside from personalising the product selection for customers who make appointments for the VIP experience, the brand has taken this one step further by offering customers a visit on their birthday where they receive a special birthday gift, champagne, and cake, the ultimate in making customers feel valued on their special day. These are the type of initiatives that make the brand so loved by their brand community, and also express the Fairfax & Favor brand culture of fun, and continuing to feel like a brand that is up close and personal, not a corporate, faceless entity. The fact that the Fairfax & Favor Facebook Club now totals 80,000 is further endorsement of the way customers have embraced, and feel an intense emotional engagement with the brand.
Weaving these strands together; the brand’s origins in a beautiful converted stable building in Norfolk, localisation, community, and personalisation have delivered a retail experience which is uniquely Fairfax & Favor and which enriches and deepens the customer relationship with the brand by welcoming customers into the Fairfax & Favor brand world, ultimately accelerating brand love.
Felix Parker, co-founder of Fairfax & Favor say “We believes that physical stores have given us the opportunity to engage and interact with our customers, and welcome them into our brand universe in a way that simply cannot be achieved online, and fuels advocacy and word of mouth in a way that digital cannot”