Customer Experience by John Abbate

Serving the Visual Merchandising Industry worldwide Established in 1947 the British Display Society was created to encourage and promote the highest standards of Visual Merchandising, Design and Display. The British Display Society is a Visual Merchandising / Educational organisation that ensure VM remains a recognised profession that is alive and kicking in a modern retail world. John Abbate FBDS, with international experience in retail strategy, Visual Merchandising and retail store design, John is passionate about small - medium, independent, digital first businesses and how to find solutions in the ever-changing retail environment. After 20+ years of working for such brands as, Ralph Lauren, Levis and Alfred Dunhill, John moved to Shanghai where he started his own retail consulting agency, was VM professor at Mod’Art and then Creative Director at Design Overlay retail design agency. Returning to London a few of years ago, John founded his own brand Bluehanded from scratch but wanting to stay in retail design, he joined Northbanks agency to share his experience to help their clients develop and implement their retail identities. John will be teaching a MA Fashion Visual Merchandising course at University or West London next January. He is also a tutor for the British Display Society's distance learning certificate in Visual Merchandising. As an advisory board member of Save the High Street and Fellow of the British Display Society, John’s mission is to support retail through Visual Identity strategy, VM and store design, which are the visual and physical touch points of the customer journey and experience.