Marks & Spencer were looking to launch new concept food and fashion store in Amsterdam. At around 500sqm, the challenge was how to create an engaging experience that made the most of the small store footprint.
Some M&S stores were already utilising some form of in-store digital experience as a way of browsing products that had proved popular with customers, so M&S were keen to capitalise on that and look at ways to move the concept forward.
One concept that we explored was the idea of creating a virtual/physical experience at human scale that would help to inspire customers and feature life-size products. As the majority of the space was to be taken up by the food offering, this would have enabled the digital experience to have more impact, and entice customers in the food section to engage with the clothing ranges.
Role: Senior Designer
Combining digital rails with physical rails
One of the first things we did was to visit some of the M&S stores that were using touchscreens, as well as other retail sites such as Disney and Burberry, who had implemented various digital screens in their flagship stores.
Also collaborated closely with the store interiors specialist, looking at how the space was to be divided up so that the technology felt integrated with the environment. We were fortunate enough to have access to the White City store design centre, where a full-scale mockup of the store had been built.
Testing out different screen sizes: 80" vs 3 stacked 46" monitors
The decision was made to use 3 stacked 46" monitors, resulting in a display at just over 6 feet high. We had one set up in the office which proved invaluable whilst we were developing concepts, and allowed us to test early working prototypes with users.
The outcome was a successful launch of flagship store which featured the Virtual Rail as an exciting and innovative way for customers to browse and shop.
In-store launch