How Michaels, Estée Lauder & Universal Are Rethinking the In-Store Experience

Screens everywhere. AI assistants. Smart mirrors. While most retailers chase the latest tech trends, the brands actually driving conversion have figured out something different: experience isn't about the sophistication of your tools—it's about knowing exactly when not to use them.

The Experience Equation: One Size Fits None

When Jennifer Beesley (Michaels), Alberto Pavanello (Estée Lauder), Jeffrey Wu (Universal Creative), and moderator Jamie Cornelius (ChangeUp) sat down to discuss store experience design, one thing became immediately clear: experience means radically different things depending on your customer and business model.

For Michaels' 1,400 big-box locations, experience centers on "delivering the joy of creativity"—tactile moments where customers can touch yarn, feel beads, and interact with physical samples. "Our primary competitor is Amazon," Beesley, Head of Creative and Store Environment at Michaels, explained. "We have a place where that joy can be fulfilled, where you can touch and feel."

Estée Lauder takes an entirely different approach. "For us, experience is how to establish a connection on an emotional level with our consumer," Pavanello, VP of Retail Design Development at Estée Lauder, said. Their strategy revolves around "high touch experience"—VIP treatments, beauty advisors, and white-glove service that creates lasting relationships.

Universal Creative, meanwhile, focuses on the complete journey. "A lot of it is about if you think about design these days, it needs to cater to how it's going to get marketed or publicized," Wu, Director of Design & Construction and Head of Placemaking at Universal Creative, observed. "Social media influencers don't start in the store—they start in a taxi cab taking you to the store."

The Paper Revolution: Why Low-Tech Wins High-Stakes Games

The most effective retail transformations often involve the simplest solutions. "I'm the queen of wrapping stores," Beesley declared, describing how Michaels depends on visual merchandising and "just paper, honestly, to refresh and rewrap our store"—referring to printed graphics, vinyl wraps, and visual merchandising materials that completely transform their big-box interiors.

Wu echoed this sentiment from his luxury development perspective: "I've seen luxury tenants do a wrap on their store and no one would know the difference. And that was very cost effective." Even high-end brands are discovering that strategic wrapping can completely transform a store's look and feel without the expense of full renovations.

Estée Lauder applies this principle seasonally with MAC Cosmetics, wrapping storefronts and first tables for new product launches. "Most of the time, the consumer will not appreciate if it is real marble or if it is a solid surface or wrapping," Pavanello noted. "They will appreciate the experience that overall things are coming together in a very organic way."

Digital Purpose vs. Digital Proliferation

While many retailers still chase the "screens everywhere" mentality, this panel revealed a more nuanced approach to digital integration. "If you're looking at digital just for the sake of putting a lot of screens in the store, I think it's not the right path," Pavanello cautioned. "Especially for mid to high luxury brands—the more screens you put, the more you overwhelm the consumer."

Instead, successful digital strategies serve specific purposes. At Estée Lauder, virtual try-on tools emerged during COVID when physical testing wasn't possible. At Universal, digital overlays enable rapid content changes for movie premieres and seasonal campaigns. "Digital's a very easy, efficient way to put that last finishing touch," Wu explained.

Michaels has largely rejected in-store screens in favor of content creators and organic social media. "Our best performing social most often is videoed in store," Beesley shared. "It's amazing how the branding of the store is so resonant, even on social."

The Scarcity Strategy: Making Exclusivity Scale

Universal's approach to tenant selection reveals sophisticated thinking about driving traffic through exclusivity. They recently opened one of only a handful of Hello Kitty cafes, creating 2 AM lines and massive social media buzz.  "We're bringing in an NBA store [at Universal CityWalk]—I think it's the only one on the west coast," Wu noted.

This scarcity principle extends beyond unique tenants. Estée Lauder creates capsule collections available only in physical stores, often selling out on the first day. "That's kind of the approach we have," Pavanello explained. "Innovation is the number one priority we use to engage with the consumer and keep them engaged."

Small Formats, Big Impact

Cost pressures have driven innovation in unexpected directions. Michaels has embraced small format stores that are 30% smaller than their traditional prototype. "The build-out costs, the operating costs, all of that is less," Beesley explained. "We can go into markets that previously would not warrant our prototype box."

This isn't just cost-cutting—it's strategic expansion. Smaller formats enable access to new markets while maintaining the tactile experiences that drive conversion. The approach has become "a growth producer for Michaels."

The Wellness Wave and Ingredient Intelligence

Looking ahead, the panelists identified wellness and transparency as defining trends. "The most interesting retail is really health and wellness," Beesley observed. "That's where so much growth is happening."

At Estée Lauder, this translates to ingredient education. "The consumer has deep knowledge of products and ingredients," Pavanello noted. "We have a lot of visual cues and education in our displays to tell them what we have and what we can offer as far as ingredients go."

The Conversion Code

As the panel concluded, a clear pattern emerged: the most successful retail experiences don't choose between digital and physical, high-tech and low-tech, or global and local strategies. Instead, they master the art of purposeful integration—using every tool, from paper wraps to digital overlays, in service of authentic brand experiences that drive genuine conversion.

The future belongs to retailers who understand that experience isn't about the sophistication of your technology or the luxury of your materials. It's about creating moments that matter to your specific customer, delivered through whatever means actually work. Sometimes that's a beauty advisor's personal consultation. Sometimes it's touching yarn before you buy it. And sometimes, it's just really good paper.

Watch the full discussion below 👇