Coach shares how its experiential stores, coffee shops, metaverse products and hot air balloons drive a younger shopper to its brand at NRF.
Giovanni Zaccariello is the vice president of global visual experience at Coach. But most days he feels like a politician, Zaccariello said at the NRF ’25 conference in January.
Zaccariello is the brains behind some of Coach’s bigger, splashy marketing tactics, such as a hot air balloon in the shape of one of its handbags, hospitality-focused stores with coffee shops and restaurants, and even converting a Boeing 747 airplane into a boutique.
Executing these big ideas is all about selling it within the company, Zaccariello said.
“Having a big idea is Step 1. Step 2 is selling it. It’s networking,” he said.
These marketing techniques aim to attract a younger shopper. About 15% of the shoppers who visit Coach.com are ages 18-24, according to web measurement site SimilarWeb.com.
After the pandemic, Coach wanted to provide a shopping experience that was more interactive and provide shoppers with more than “bags on a shelf,” Zaccariello said. If shoppers can buy everything online, retailers need to give them a reason to come into the store, he said.
Coach launches ‘Coach Play’ stores
And so it debuted “Coach Play,” a series of experiential stores that are meant to cater to a shopper’s five senses. The stores, which it has in Singapore, Salt Lake City and Chicago, are more colorful, have an interactive element, and feature decorations that are specific to the store’s physical location.
With more experiential elements, Coach aims to attract Gen Z shoppers. When a shopper goes to the store the first thing she does is take out her phone, Zaccariello said. The next time she comes in, she brings a friend or her mom, which is exciting, he said. So far, the concepts are working to bring in shoppers and having them shop.
“Dwell time in these locations is four to five times higher than an average location,” Zaccariello said.
Coach also uses these locations to test concepts before rolling them out to its thousands of global stores, he said. While a retail benchmark is often sales per square foot, Zaccariello thinks about how to add an “experience per square foot” benchmark into this.
Zaccariello cautions that these larger initiatives take time and brands should be prepared for executive push back. It took a year and a half to get the hot air balloon in the air and two years for the Coach Airways airplane-converted-store to launch.
Coach debuts its Tabby bag in the metaverse
Another way Coach is working to attract a younger shopper is by making digital versions of its product, such as its Tabby bag, in the metaverse.
“We do digital to reach masses in different ways,” Zaccariello said. Coach has a test-and-learn agenda on metaverse platforms Zepeto and Roblox, and it has been incredibly successful, he said.
“Millions of kids around the world are now wearing the Coach bag on Zepato,” Zaccariello said.
They are not buying the product now, but one day, they might, he said. “Now they know what Tabby is. Now they know what Coach is. So we started that conversation with them,” Zaccariello said.
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