Every company’s culture is strongly influenced by its founder. This month, we sat down and talked to Barbara Seidelmann, Founder and Managing Director at 5 Star Plus Retail Design, to better understand her background and how she came to found the company.
Barbara, for how long have you lived in China and why did you come to China in the first place?
I have been living in Beijing for 17 years now. I grew up with Taiwanese neighbors in Vienna, Austria, with whom my sister and I spent a lot of time as kids and teenagers. During this time we ate Chinese food and watched Chinese TV series together on an almost daily basis, and even traveled to Taiwan together once. Very impressed by the energy and dynamic of the place, I decided that I wanted to come back to East Asia one day. And so I did in early 2005 when moving to Beijing for work. I speak Mandarin Chinese fluently and I still love it here.
Why did you start 5 Star Plus Retail Design?
Before starting 5 Star Plus, I was working in different marketing, strategy, and retail management roles. In my last job when working for an Austrian jewelry company in China, I realized that there was a lack of retail design agencies – we basically could not find anyone who understood how stores work and then designed and built them. With an educational background in business administration and interior design, it felt right to put everything I had previously learned together and open up a retail design firm. Retail design is not the same as interior architecture, in fact, it combines various disciplines including architecture, interior design, graphic design, marketing, as well as a good understanding of retail processes and technical aspects. All of this is necessary to create store concepts that work.
I have to say that I still love what we do – every project is unique and it’s exciting every single time to learn about a client’s background, unique journey, and future plans. I see it as our responsibility to deeply understand a brand and then translate the brand personality and essence into a physical store environment that works commercially.
What was different 10 years ago compared to now?
10 years ago we didn’t have any competitors and nobody knew what retail design was. Today, we have many local and international competitors and the market has become more transparent. At the same time, our clients, especially large Chinese brands, have become much more sophisticated. They appreciate the value of defining a clear brand DNA and executing it throughout all channels.
How has Retail Design changed over the past 10 years?
When we started, technology in stores was not very common. Retail stores were about looking premium, maximizing the number of product displays, the efficiency of customer flow and workflows, creating beautiful feature displays, strategically placed marketing material, and a good lighting concept. Today the above points are still important, but at the same time concepts also need to consider technology integration, customer experience elements, implemented calls to action, online-offline integration, and flexibility within the space to allow for different types of uses (e.g. events, live streaming in the store). In summary, retail design has become more complex and it takes more time to create new concepts. This is because many strategic aspects like the future plans of a brand need to be discussed with the client.
You work with both Western and Chinese clients, how do you see the difference in work approach?
A few years ago it seemed like Western brands put more emphasis on building a strong brand and aligning everything to it. Now I can see that many large Chinese companies have understood that a powerful brand is the basis for successful long-term development and invest accordingly into brand strategy, brand building, and retail design. I find Chinese brands in general to be very ambitious, good at defining a strong vision, and super fast and consistent in the implementation. I have seen big Chinese companies plan a new brand concept, design and build the stores all in 2 months only. The same type of work usually takes at least a year in Western countries, but more often even 2-3 years when new product lines are involved.
What specifics do you see in the Chinese market? Was it hard for you to adapt to it?
As mentioned before, the Chinese market for retail design was behind the Western market 10 years ago. Meanwhile, the local market has caught up and surpassed other countries – projects are bigger, more ambitious, and more creative. The unique environment here allows designers often to create concepts from scratch. The market requires novelty and innovation, and in many fields, local designs lead the way on a global scale. Many international brands have already recognized this and started to launch new product collections or store concepts in China where the market is hungry for originality and high-quality design. It’s a great place to be for a designer.As mentioned before, the Chinese market for retail design was behind the Western market 10 years ago. Meanwhile, the local market has caught up and surpassed other countries – projects are bigger, more ambitious, and more creative. The unique environment here allows designers often to create concepts from scratch. The market requires novelty and innovation, and in many fields, local designs lead the way on a global scale. Many international brands have already recognized this and started to launch new product collections or store concepts in China where the market is hungry for originality and high-quality design. It’s a great place to be for a designer.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans are to use the period of the pandemic to review what we can do better, strengthen our base, and then expand with full force in China and internationally.
