The store was the marketing.

The store was the marketing.

For twelve years, 2002 to 2013, URBN’s annual reports said it in writing. The company relied on store locations, store design, merchandise and visual presentation “to draw customers into our stores, rather than on traditional forms of advertising such as print, radio and television media.”

I was tasked with building and leading URBN’s award‑winning in‑house design studio and its team. When the store is the ad, every store has to earn the visit. Hundreds of store environments, no two alike, because a copy doesn’t make anyone cross the street.

Then the sentence moved. From 2014 it drew customers “to our omni-channel operations.” This year’s report lists artificial intelligence platforms among the marketing tools, and the line about traditional advertising is gone.

That’s an honest map of where retail went. But the store didn’t stop being the ad. It just stopped being counted as one.

How does your company count the store?

What are your thoughts?