By Jennifer Williams

Retailers are trying to slow down the shopping experience, adding amenities like VIP lounges and cafes, in hopes that customers linger and buy more coats, bags and other merchandise in store.

While some retailers prioritize speedy in-store visits for time-constrained customers, others want shoppers to hang around and relax, with companies from Canada Goose to Coach owner Tapestry and outlet and open-air shopping center giant Tanger investing in store ambience in a bid to get consumers to stick around and buy more. The idea is that leisurely shopping translates into higher spending, and brands have been investing in the retail atmosphere for decades in an attempt to keep their shoppers shopping.

The push now isn't without challenges. Since the pandemic upended the way people shop, consumers need more of a reason to show up to bricks-and-mortar locations and then stick around, retail executives and advisers say. Time spent lingering in stores has declined in recent years, although it has begun to pick up in certain sectors, with apparel and beauty seeing rises of 4% and 2%, respectively, in the first 20 weeks of this year compared with the same period in 2023, according to consulting firm AlixPartners. Consumers are also feeling gloomy about the economy, causing some to shop cautiously.

Certain retailers are jazzing up the ambience to lure shoppers in and potentially boost sales. "Postpandemic, we have definitely seen a shift where, when consumers decide to shop in store, they are expecting an experience," said Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic Solutions, a retail technology firm that tracks traffic in stores. Once there, certain comforts can mean more sales.

"The longer someone is spending in the store, the more likely they are to convert and be turned into a shopper or purchaser," said Gustafson, who added that retailers are increasingly looking to measure how a lengthy shopping trip affects sales.

Consumers since the pandemic have been looking for a balance between online and in-person shopping. Locked-down Americans who went online to shop during the pandemic are still using their screens to place orders. In the second quarter of 2020, as stay-at-home measures were in place, the share of U.S. online retail sales increased by over 4 percentage points from the prior three-month period, to around 16%, according to Census Bureau data adjusted for seasonal factors. The share has generally remained above 2019 levels since, ending the first three months of this year at 16.2%, preliminary government data show.

But consumers are also trekking back to stores. After a challenging start to the year because of bad weather and consumers pulling back, monthly visits to top indoor malls in the U.S. grew 3.7% in April from the prior year, according to data-analytics firm Placer.ai. Visits to open-air shopping centers and outlets grew 4.3% and 4.2%, respectively, according to the data.

Canada Goose wants in-store shoppers to leisurely browse. For years, the high-end lifestyle brand has tested the theory that experiential shopping leads to more sales, giving customers at certain stores a way to try out heavyweight outerwear in cold rooms where temperatures dip below freezing. Now, Canada Goose is adding VIP lounges featuring comfortable seating, curated displays and Canadian art to some stores. Executives are also working to better measure the dynamic between time in stores and spending, said Canada Goose Finance Chief Neil Bowden.

"We've spent a lot of time, certainly over the last six to 12 months, on getting a little bit more scientific on measuring all of those attributes that lead to conversion," including time browsing in stores, he said.

Canada Goose declined to disclose how much it is investing in the in-store experience or specifics on how longer shopping times translate into buying coats, T-shirts and more. For Bowden, there is no question that a lengthier shopping trip means higher sales. "People dwell for a reason, and we want to focus on having amazing products and a warm experience in the store so that you want to be there and you want to stay and ultimately that you want to convert," he said.

The company's revenue of roughly $385 million for the three months ended March 30 was up over 7% compared with a year earlier, with direct-to-consumer sales up nearly 16%.

Tapestry is also experimenting with engaging experiences to boost sales. Certain Coach stores offer coffee and cocktails for sale and custom furniture to lounge in, ambience boosters meant to give shoppers reasons to remain in stores for longer and potentially spend more, said Tapestry CFO Scott Roe.

It's working. The more immersive stores, which are so far in locations including Austin, Texas; Japan; and Singapore, are performing better than other locations, with elevated traffic, longer dwell times and a higher frequency of returning, executives said in May. Gen Z shoppers in particular, whose ages range from 15 to 30, are responding to the amenities, which can mean creating a loyal customer early who then spends on Coach wares for years, said Roe, who is also chief operating officer.

Coach, Tapestry's largest brand by revenue, logged a 13% gain for the three months ended March 29 to reach $1.29 billion in sales.

Longer shop times aren't always a good thing. It may signal that customers can't find what they are looking for or that checkout lines are too long. Experiences can also go awry, particularly if they don't relate to products being sold, said Jerry Storch, a former chief executive of Toys "R" Us. It didn't work years ago, for instance, when Toys "R" Us added an event space to select stores in Japan allowing parents and children to participate in fashion shows, talent competitions and karaoke, according to Storch.

It seemed logical to have enjoyable experiences in stores that sell fun, but "it turned out that it took more space than it was worth and we might as well have just had more toys," he said.

Tanger's aim to hold shoppers' attention extends beyond the stores in its shopping centers. In the past two years, the company has opened a new shopping center in Nashville, Tenn., and spent around $500 million adding over 1.8 million square feet to its retail offerings, bringing features such as central lawns and entertainment options to its locations alongside new brands and restaurants.

"It's not just the power shopping experience where you go store to store to store and grab a pretzel," said Chief Executive Stephen Yalof. "We're looking for people to come and spend time."

Tanger is working to figure out how much more shoppers who linger spend, a process that is likely a year from completion, according to Yalof. Until then, anecdotal evidence is promising, said the CEO, who regularly frequents Tanger shopping centers to assess how customers shop and what they buy.

"It makes sense to think that the longer somebody stays on site, the more stores they'll visit, the more opportunities they'll be exposed to and ultimately the more they'll spend," he said.

Write to Jennifer Williams at jennifer.williams@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 06, 2025 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT)

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