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Top brands are offering more in-person community and opportunities for personalisation to build a loyal customer base, a panel said on Wednesday morning at the World Retail Congress in Berlin.

During the panel exploring changing consumer behaviour, leading retail chiefs shared how important brick and mortar stores are to connect with and get to know customers.

“Our stores are the place where people experience the brand and where they interact with the brand,” Alexandra von der Gruen, VP Retail and Franchise Europe at Adidas told Deloitte consumer products expert Evan Sheehan, who was chairing the panel.

Von der Gruen shared how Adidas stores stock products tailored to the area and adapt to local events such as marathons: “It’s about localisation,” she said. “We see our stores as something more than a point of sale. It’s again about experience. We have hubs where people can connect about sports.”

Brands are also leaning into personalisation, she stressed.

“It’s about giving you the opportunity to customise your product,” added von der Gruen. She referenced a store in Berlin where customers can customise shoes or a jersey. It’s about “creating something special and enabling people to become a little creative,” said von der Gruen, adding: “That is key about the beautiful world of brick and mortar.”

Building on this sentiment, the panel highlighted how important it is to know your customer.

“I think the most important thing is you can’t study it, you have to be it,” said Rachel Acheson, SVP, Chief Strategy Officer at Lululemon. “That has been the founding principle at lululemon for a very long time. We are designed by athletes for athletes. We don’t really market, we do community.”

The panel emphasised that brands have to keep up with cutting-edge trends to truly understand what customers want now and what they will search for in future.

“Retail moves fast, beauty moves fast, the consumer moves fast,” said Kristin Wolf, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Ulta Beauty. “It’s about knowing the guest, knowing the consumer and where they’re going.”

Wolf added that membership schemes are important. “We’re member obsessed. It’s at the centre of everything we do,” she said, adding that “there’s no substitute for the human connection”.