In a world where trends shift at the speed of TikTok, brands must design stores that can transform as quickly as their audiences do. The concept of liquid retail, inspired by Zygmunt Bauman’s idea of liquid societies, describes an adaptive, ephemeral, and modular business model that responds to consumers without fixed habits—constantly influenced by digital stimuli, social values, and emerging formats.
Liquid retail is not a passing trend but a necessary evolution in commercial design to survive in a fluid, competitive, and constantly reinventing context.
The stores of the near future must be living spaces that adapt to each campaign, event, or brand need. In this article, we’ll explore how design and visual merchandising can implement liquid strategies to build contemporary, memorable, and effective experiences.
Today’s consumer doesn’t expect the store to stay the same: they expect it to change with them.
What is Liquid Retail? Concept and Foundations
Liquid retail is a philosophy of design and commercial strategy based on flexibility, adaptability, and constant spatial reconfiguration.
Unlike traditional retail, which operates with static concepts and long-term designs, this new approach seeks stores that:
- Change form and function easily: through mobile modules, dismantlable furniture, or temporary displays. This versatility allows the commercial environment to adapt to new collections, one-off events, or collaborations with other designers or brands, creating a constant sense of novelty.
- Respond to specific needs of campaigns, launches, or ephemeral events. Instead of a complete redesign, liquid solutions allow small interventions that transform customer perception without altering the base structure.
- Generate visual dynamism, keeping the consumer’s attention. In a scenario where attention spans are limited, capturing interest through constantly renewed visual elements is essential to increase dwell time and interaction with the product.
- Incorporate hybrid experiences, where physical and digital integrate seamlessly. From smart mirrors to personalized content based on the customer’s profile, this phygital integration enhances personalization and improves the efficiency of the purchasing journey.
Liquid retail also means rethinking the purpose of each space, creating areas that can serve multiple functions at different times of day or depending on the audience. One area might act as a sales zone, event stage, or exhibition space, depending on current needs.
Instead of designing to last, we design to change. This represents a transformation not only in aesthetics but also in the cultural understanding of the point of sale.
In liquid retail, every square meter must be an opportunity for transformation.
Design Strategies for Liquid Spaces
Design strategies for implementing liquid retail rely on modular concepts, mobile elements, and universal design principles.
It all begins with planning multipurpose spaces and using versatile materials that allow multiple configurations without major works or investment.
1. Modularity and transformable furniture
Design with systems that adapt. For example, gondolas that transform into tables, mobile shelves with wheels, or foldable structures. This logic allows a store to be redesigned weekly while keeping it attractive for consumers.
2. Multifunctional zones
Spaces that adapt to their use. A central area can serve as a sales point during the day and as an event stage in the evening. This requires integrating technology (lighting, sound) into the architecture and choosing finishes ready for various uses.
3. Dynamic visual merchandising
Instead of working with a fixed display, opt for constantly renewed compositions. From digital screens to ephemeral art installations or modular setups that rotate or change color.
4. Digital integration and analytics
Using sensors, heatmaps, RFID tags, or in-store traffic analysis software, layouts can be adjusted based on real customer behavior. This takes flexibility into the realm of performance optimization.
Flexible design is not about improvisation, but intelligent anticipation of multiple usage scenarios.
Practical Cases of Liquid Retail in Action
Jacquemus and Its Vending Machine Pop-Up in Paris
In March 2023, French brand Jacquemus surprised Parisians with a radically innovative pop-up: a self-service automated space installed at 16 Avenue Montaigne, in the heart of Parisian luxury. This pop-up, inspired by a giant vending machine, is a perfect example of liquid retail taken to the extreme.
The design revolves around a single white wall filled with illuminated compartments—like vending machine slots—where products (Bambino collection handbags) are neatly arranged. Customers select a model, pay digitally, and the compartment opens automatically. No sales staff, no counters, no tags. Just experience, surprise, and simplicity.
This initiative shows how the flexibility of contemporary retail can break the mold without sacrificing brand identity. Instead of a traditional store, Jacquemus opts for a radically minimalist format emphasizing visual experience, exclusivity, and viral social media impact.
Jacquemus’ vending store is not just a point of sale: it’s an art installation that fuses fashion, automation, and instant desire.
Gentle Monster and Its Disruptive Flagship in Seoul
South Korean brand Gentle Monster is undoubtedly one of the international benchmarks in disruptive design and liquid retail strategies. Its flagship store in Seoul, completely renewed in 2025, brings the idea of ephemeral and transformable space to a new level. This store becomes an immersive sensory experience where full scenographies are dismantled and rebuilt every month to make way for new conceptual installations.
The key is not just in changing displays or product layout: ceilings, floors, lighting, ambient sound, and even the storytelling of the space are transformed—turning it into a living art gallery. Instead of fixed sections, the store becomes a fluid space where boundaries between art, design, and product vanish. Visitors don’t just buy eyewear; they become part of a continuously evolving visual story.
This ability to reinvent itself regularly makes Gentle Monster a benchmark in experiential liquid retail, where adaptability is strategic. The store is a different destination every time. This not only builds loyalty but encourages repeat visits.
Retail that changes, surprises, and stimulates becomes a destination—not just a store.
Benefits of Liquid Retail for Brands and Consumers
In a context where change is the only constant, adopting a liquid approach in commercial design is not just trendy—it’s a smart and profitable strategy. Stores that keep pace with today’s consumers not only enhance their appeal but also improve operational efficiency. Liquid retail translates into a dynamic, sustainable, user-centered brand experience that responds agilely to market challenges and innovation opportunities.
Here are the main benefits this philosophy brings to brands and their customers:
Increases visit frequency
One of the biggest challenges in physical retail is maintaining consistent in-store traffic. With a liquid design, customers always find something new or unexpected during each visit. This novelty doesn’t require large investments—just strategic rotation of elements, layouts, or content. Micro-events, express launches, or ephemeral art interventions turn the store into a cultural and experiential space. The constant sense of discovery encourages repeat visits, strengthening brand loyalty and presence.
Reduces structural costs
Liquid design means thinking modular and flexible. This enables frequent transformations without major works, costly renovations, or long closures. Modular furniture, mobile systems, and temporary solutions make it possible to modify spaces economically, quickly, and reversibly. Also, by reducing dependence on fixed structures, it avoids recurring short-term adaptation costs—optimizing the initial investment.
Enables agile product and storytelling testing
In experiential marketing, where storytelling is key to connecting with customers, liquid retail serves as a creative and commercial lab. Its adaptable setup allows brands to test new launches, communication concepts, or user experiences with minimal risk. Which works better: an emotional story or a visual installation? Which product drives more interaction? These tests can be implemented in real time with clear metrics. Thus, the store becomes a space for ongoing learning and optimization.
Improves the sustainability of retail spaces
Sustainability in retail is no longer optional, and liquid design aligns perfectly with that commitment. Reusing structures, modules, displays, and materials significantly reduces waste and carbon footprints from frequent renovations. It also allows for incorporating recyclable materials and eco-efficient solutions without compromising aesthetics or functionality. This approach meets regulatory demands and matches the values of today’s environmentally conscious consumers.
Creates emotional loyalty with consumers
Beyond purchases, customers want to feel part of a community, a story, or a shared moment. Liquid retail lets the store evolve with the consumer, creating an emotionally resonant space. From immersive installations to personalized experiences, the store becomes a changing stage reflecting the concerns, values, and lifestyles of its audience. This emotional connection, born from flexibility, reinforces brand loyalty and drives organic peer recommendations.
Liquid retail doesn’t just change how we shop. It changes how we live the brand.
Conclusion: Towards Ever‑Evolving Retail
In the age of immediacy, retail that doesn’t change becomes obsolete. Liquid retail emerges as a strategic and creative response to current challenges: unpredictable consumers, hybrid channels, visual saturation, and the need for differentiated experiences. But it’s not just a technical matter; it represents a new design mindset, where the store is not a static sales point, but a living organism in constant evolution.
Implementing liquid retail requires boldness, experimentation, and active listening to the customer. It means designing not just for the present, but for the possibility of change.
Liquid retail is designing with an open mind and with space in motion. It’s creating what does not yet exist, and being ready to redesign it tomorrow.
