Project Ignite | Reimagining an Australian Retail Icon

As Clark Rubber approached its 80th year, the business recognised an opportunity to evolve its store experience while remaining true to the brand Australians have trusted for generations. Consumer expectations had shifted, retail environments were changing, and the next phase of growth required a store format that better reflected how customers discover, evaluate, and purchase today.

About Project Ignite

Project Ignite was created to redefine the in-store experience, strengthen the franchise network, and establish a scalable blueprint for the future of the brand. The first store opened at Chirnside Park, marking the beginning of this transformation. This new format was designed to improve navigation, simplify product discovery, and create a more engaging and intuitive shopping journey for customers. It also aimed to empower franchisees with a clearer, more consistent retail model that could drive performance and support long-term growth. By aligning brand, experience, and operational efficiency, Project Ignite set the foundation for a more modern and competitive retail presence.

Retail Doctor Group partnered with Clark Rubber to uncover the behavioural and emotional drivers influencing customer choice using Limbic Insights™.

The engagement explored:

• Emotional customer segmentation
• Shopping behaviour and decision drivers
• Customer journey friction points
• Store navigation and merchandising
• Brand positioning
• Service expectations
• Retail environment optimisation

The research revealed how customers wanted the experience to feel, where confidence was being built or lost throughout the shopping journey, and how the physical environment could better support discovery, advice, and conversion.

These insights became the foundation for the project, ensuring every design decision reflected genuine customer behaviour rather than assumptions.

The behavioural insights informed a new retail format designed to strengthen customer engagement while supporting future franchise growth.

The project focused on:

• Creating a more intuitive customer journey
• Improving store navigation and category discovery
• Enhancing service-led retail experiences
• Strengthening emotional connections with the Clark Rubber brand
• Developing a scalable store format for future network rollout
• Modernising the in-store experience while preserving the brand's trusted heritage

The result was a retail environment that combines Clark Rubber's specialist expertise with a more contemporary, customer-centred shopping experience that can be replicated across the network.

Our engagement covered Clark Rubber’s national retail ecosystem, focused on creating a future-ready store format that could support customer confidence, franchise growth, and long-term brand relevance:

• Analysis of Clark Rubber’s customer journey, category navigation, and in-store decision points
• Review of store format opportunities through the Project Ignite retail transformation
• Assessment of customer behaviour, emotional drivers, and service expectations through Limbic Insights™
• Development of store experience strategies to improve discovery, confidence, and conversion
• Creation of a scalable retail format designed to support future franchise network rollout

Project Ignite represents far more than a store refurbishment. It establishes a long-term platform for network growth by aligning the customer experience with changing retail behaviours.

The first store demonstrates how behavioural insight can shape store design, service, merchandising, and brand experience into a cohesive retail proposition that feels more intuitive for customers while strengthening commercial performance for franchisees.

By connecting Limbic Insights™ with practical retail execution, Clark Rubber has created a future-ready format that honours 80 years of Australian retail heritage while positioning the business for its next chapter of growth.