22 Retail Brands
Redefining Interaction, Engagement & Loyalty
sponsored by
Debbie Hauss Executive Director, Content Retail TouchPoints and retailX
Brand experience. Two words that encompass so many things. While historically, many retail organizations left “brand” to the marketing and creative teams, the industry leaders and innovators realize that their brand needs to be embedded in every possible moment of interaction and engagement with the customer. Now, the brand ecosystem is bigger than ever, and brands have myriad opportunities to differentiate. The question is, which brands are rising to the top? Our 2022 Brand Experience Award winners represent the best in CX, marketing, store design and last mile. They are the ones rising to the occasion, and creating moments of delight, deep customer understanding and impeccable service that help them engender long-term loyalty.
Congrats to our winners!
Customer Retention & Loyalty
Digital Innovation: Creating a Cohesive Brand Experience
Marketing Campaigns for the Complete Shopper Journey
Marketplace Strategies & Technologies
The Convergence of Content & Commerce
Store Design and Experiential Retail
Pop-Ups, Events, Partnerships & Other Brand Activations
Most Effective Pivot Strategy
Mobile & Social Optimization
Last Mile & Fulfillment Experiences
Category:
NOBULL has taken a shopper-first approach to brand experience, originally catering to the CrossFit community to build a cult of brand loyalists — and then expanding to meet the needs of golfers, indoor cyclists and everyday fitness enthusiasts. As the brand rose from niche shoe purveyor to near-Nike-level success, NOBULL needed to evolve from manual processes to a retention-driven growth strategy. By partnering with Bluecore, NOBULL has been able to scale its personalized communications, using predictive intelligence that anticipates which products each individual shopper will be most likely to buy next, and the channels they’re most likely to buy from, based on their past interactions with specific products and categories. Bluecore dynamically pairs first-party shopper identity and behavioral data with NOBULL’s constantly changing product catalog, accounting for inventory levels and style attributes (e.g. material, color, size, and product type). It then leverages the resulting insights to deliver one-to-one (in-stock) product recommendations to hundreds of thousands of shoppers via email, digital ad channels and NOBULL’s ecommerce site.
A Back-in-Stock campaign, powered by Bluecore Site Capture™, to inform anonymous and known site visitors when a product is out of stock so they can opt in to receive messages when wanted items are available again.
Personalized website and paid media experiences via Facebook and Google.
Expanded email personalization, including behavioral email campaigns and personalized batch emails.
NOBULL’s retention-driven growth strategy drove a repeat buyer rate of 46% and increased its predicted customer lifetime value by 30%. NOBULL’s email program specifically drove a 92% lift in conversions through merchandising triggers like price drops, new arrivals and back-in-stock notifications alone.
Key Initiatives:
Baby brand Lalo has always prioritized connecting with its customers to capture feedback and insights to constantly improve its experience and support. The brand’s success is supported by three core pillars: An award-winning customer experience team that can connect one-to-one with parents through text, phone call, live chat or email. Today, the Lalo customer experience team consists entirely of parents who are not only able to resolve customer inquiries but also understand and empathize with parents who reach out. The Lalo Fam Product Council: This council consists of about 30 customers, all parents and grandparents, who provide the brand with key insights and personal anecdotes that directly inform decisions around new products and campaigns. This constant “ear to the ground” has helped Lalo drive category expansion, identify improvements for current products and more. In fact, the brand is integrating 95 individual product requests from customers into its roadmap for 2022 and beyond. One-to-one service touches: To improve loyalty and retention metrics, Lalo custom-built a digital gift note experience on its website. This helps create a more personalized digital gift-giving experience that allows Lalo to engage directly with gift givers and receivers. Lalo also embraces the personal touch across the customer lifecycle — from visiting a customer's house to help troubleshoot an issue, sending a personalized care package to a VIP customer or ordering a customer at its flagship store a ride home.
Lalo has seen returning customer rate grow +40% year-over-year, while the brand’s CSAT score consistently stays at 4.9 or above (out of 5). Total NPS score is 68.3.
Leading American retail clothier Pacific Sunwear of California, LCC (PacSun) partnered with CX automation solution Linc to revamp its digital customer service experience. PacSun’s goal was to stand out from competitors and position itself as a customer-centric business. By modernizing CX strategy with automation and empowering customers with self-service solutions, PacSun capitalized on the rise in online shopping and future-proofed its customer service strategy. The retailer tapped into Linc’s collection of Digital Workers, automated 24-7-365 assistants that are designed to handle PacSun’s specific use cases across sales channels and the entire customer journey, including:
In the first week of launch, 83% of all customer inquiry resolutions were assisted by AI-powered Digital Workers, leaving only 17% for human involvement.
Digital Workers independently resolve complex customer inquiries, tasks and transactions with smooth and seamless automated interactions. Proactive notifications keep customers informed about order status, estimated delivery time, new ETAs in instances of delays and return statuses. As a result, 26% of PacSun’s shoppers have voluntarily opted in to the notification service. Customer service agents’ jobs, as a result, have become more manageable. For example, the Digital Workers help authenticate a customer and collect all necessary information before looping in an agent. Context about customers, such as orders or products, and their past chat history, are all accessible to agents at hand-off. This has resulted in substantial improvements to first-contact resolution rates and time-to-resolution. Additionally, because repetitive support cases like order issues were largely resolved entirely by Digital Workers, service agents had more time to focus on complex and critical use cases that only they could resolve, delivering higher agent happiness and retention.
Order support
Promo support
Product support
Purchasing support
Brand support
Post-purchasing support
Crocs, Inc. has recently skyrocketed in popularity thanks in large part to its global invitation to “Come As You Are” — an idea that encourages everyone to be comfortable in their own shoes — and a consumer-centric, digital-first business strategy that’s helping the brand engage with consumers in ways they never thought possible before. To keep its brand promise to its passionate customer base, affectionally dubbed #CrocNation, Crocs’ digital team has implemented:
Despite the unique challenges of 2021, Crocs reported $2.3 billion in revenue, a 67% increase over 2020. DTC channels, which includes direct retail and online sales, accounted for $1.13 billion in revenue, an increase of 64.4% over 2020. Total digital sales, which includes sales through company-owned websites, third-party marketplaces and e-tailers, grew 47.6% in 2021 to represent 36.7% of total revenues.
Personalized and regionally specific experiences: Crocs deployed Salesforce Integration Studio globally to better recognize customers and provide more personalized, real-time information, whether it be customized homepage content, more targeted product recommendations or even the Jibbitz charms they should get to fit their interests.
Enhanced automated service: Chatbots were deployed to help customers with a wide range of specific questions. Meanwhile, new ordering capabilities like installment payment options and reserving products online to pick up in-store rounded out the expanded online experience that anticipates and responds well to user needs.
The Crocs mobile app: Launched in late 2021, the app offers consumers a range of innovative tools, like the augmented reality Virtual Try-On feature that enables people to discover and try new products. Crocs AR gives its fans the full personalized experience they’ve come to love and expect in-store, including virtual Jibbitz. Through the Virtual Try-On feature, fans can choose a pair of clogs, personalize them with Jibbitz and take them for a test walk.
Long before the pandemic, delivery was (and still is) one of the biggest pain points of buying furniture. Article’s founders, four software engineers, knew there could be a better way. Rather than outsourcing the last customer touch point to a third-party carrier, the company launched The Article Delivery Team (ADT) in 2019, an in-house final mile delivery service. By hiring full-time, permanent employees of Article who undergo training specifically tailored to Article furniture, deliver products in Article-branded trucks and wear Article-branded uniforms, the brand controls the in-person customer experience. Supported directly by Article's customer service teams, ADT can also solve customer issues on the spot, like rescheduling delivery appointments or shipping alternate product sizes or colors. By owning delivery, Article can rapidly iterate the customer experience based on feedback, a process that may be cumbersome with third-party partners. The founders made the decision to build proprietary software to fit the needs of the business, which has allowed Article to adapt quickly to customer needs at scale. For example, in response to the pandemic in March 2020, owning the technology helped Article roll out and default all orders to contactless delivery within 24 hours in order to protect both customers and ADT employees. Since launch in 2013, Article has delivered more than 1 million orders across the U.S. and Canada. The Article Delivery Team currently delivers over half of all orders, serving more than 15 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and Canada, including New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Chicago, Denver and Vancouver.
Overall customer experience scores improve in cities where ADT is introduced. One quarter after launching ADT in Charlotte, N.C. and Austin, Texas, Article saw a 32% and 82% improvement, respectively, in Article’s internal customer satisfaction score, called the Remarkably Better Index.
When most people think about auto repairs, they think of dreaded, unplanned and expensive trips to the repair shop that result in exorbitant bills. CarParts.com has changed the game by providing lower-cost alternatives, whether customers are do-it-yourself or do-it-for-me consumers. CarParts.com offers the resources, tools and turnkey solutions and services to get customers back on the road faster, especially online. To stay ahead of the curve and better predict demand and subsequent inventory needs, CarParts.com doubled down on the use of AI and machine learning over the past year. New data analytics capabilities allowed CarParts.com’s data science team to be even more accurate when forecasting inventory demand for each city and region of the country. Advanced analytics and machine learning models determine where to place inventory within the retailer’s distribution center network, allowing them to get even closer to the customer and deliver parts faster — all while saving on shipping costs. The company’s distribution center expansion plans are another testament to its innovation in the last mile. The Jacksonville, Fla. distribution center will let CarParts.com cover 55% of the country with one-day shipping and more than 98% of the country with a two-day transit time, including both the Miami and Atlanta metropolitan areas. This investment comes on the heels of CarParts.com's expansion of its Grand Prairie, Texas location, nearly doubling it in size to 366,000 square feet and adding 150 new full-time workers. These two new facilities will increase revenue capacity and support the company's annual compounded growth target of 20% to 25%.
CarParts.com uses Databricks, which allows for data centralization, as well as Python for programming and analytics. The company also uses several different open-source libraries, including XGBoost and Prophet for labor prediction, while standard BI analytic tools and Airflow are used for data engineering and report automation.
In December of 2021, County Market saw a surge in rates and postage for its popular print Penny Pincher coupon book. Amid falling print subscriptions and rising costs, County Market needed to innovate quickly as it prepared for its next monthly book. The retailer determined that the only way to continue the success of the Penny Pincher and keep it profitable was to say goodbye to print and hello to a digital experience. Over a three-month period, the retailer focused on driving digital engagement to prepare customers for the switch, and has seen success by:
Getting buy-in from the top down
Educating both employees and customers
Continuously committing to innovation
Using the Birdzi Customer Intelligence Platform, County Market is able to bring its Penny Pincher to the next level by delivering digital coupons that can be clipped and added to a loyalty card, with the discount applied at the time of transaction. On the back end, employees have access to deep analytics on how specific coupons performed. The retailer slowly got customers comfortable with the experience by enhancing two to five digital coupons on the app with price-busting coupons. Stores used signage, flyers, bag stuffers and anything else they could print to educate and encourage customers to download the app. QR codes placed next to items launched the app and took shoppers to the associated coupon. Social and digital ads also played a big part in communicating the change to customers.
500% increase in monthly app downloads and web registrations.
400% increase in redemption rates.
300% increase in the number of shoppers engaging with digital offers from the previous highest number.
With the new digital Penny Pincher experience, County market has seen:
The Market at Malcolm Yards partnered with KNOCK, Inc. to build awareness around its new experience. The Market is a railyard building redeveloped into a modern food hall, so KNOCK harnessed the authentic history of the location to attract a community of travelers from within the flourishing Prospect Park neighborhood. The experience includes nine local restaurant vendors, a cocktail bar and one of the largest self-pour beer, wine and specialty drink tap walls in the Twin Cities metro, as well as two event spaces and two exterior patios. With such an ample range of food and services, The Market at Malcolm Yards required a confident touch for signage and navigation to accommodate a modern restaurant guest within the historic structure. A unique, streamlined payment system and an integrated menu system connected the website, mobile experience and kitchen monitors to create an integrated food hall that improved kitchen operations and guest enjoyment. This differentiated physical experience was the guidepost for the campaign, which combined mobile engagement, social media activation and more.
The Market at Malcolm Yards has seen foot traffic and social media engagement that have far exceeded expectations since opening in Fall 2021. The Market also has received recognition in numerous local and national press outlets like Food & Wine, The Star Tribune and Minnesota Monthly.
While many people now associate the word “marketplace” with ecommerce destinations offering a vast assortment of merchandise, goodMRKT is turning the concept on its head by getting back to basics — as in creating a curated, in-person marketplace experience. goodMRKT is a community-driven retail concept that allows consumers to connect with each other and lets purpose-driven brands sell in a coordinated retail space. At its core, goodMRKT creates an inspirational, immersive space where consumers can make purchases that “do good” in a variety of ways. The goodMRKT retail space highlights the various brands through cleverly placed digital screens, QR codes, and even founder visits, to enhance each brand’s storytelling. Content delivered through these different channels showcases the people and purpose behind each product and the good that results from the purchase of products. The visit to a goodMRKT store results in the shopper having an experience versus simply a routine purchase of goods.
More than 750 meals provided to kids.
More than 800 blankets given to homeless shelters.
More than 1,000 weeks of clean water provided to those in need.
Sales made through goodMRKT have resulted in a variety of positive outcomes, including:
More than 900 pounds of pesticides eliminated from the Earth.
To date, JOOR Passport has hosted more than 60 global events, attracting over 330,000 retail visitors from 159 countries, who have purchased nearly 900,000 products. Partners have included:
Starting as a digital wholesale platform and data exchange, JOOR has evolved into a marketplace experience powered by virtual showrooms that run independent of the buying calendar and facilitate 24/7 wholesale shopping from anywhere in the world. JOOR enables brands and retailers to manage every element of the wholesale process online, so they can view line sheets, place and manage orders, schedule virtual appointments and optimize performance and growth through real-time data and analytics. The company works with more than 13,300 brands and more than 380,000 curated retailers across 150 countries. This footprint has allowed JOOR to form exclusive partnerships with over 30 leading global retailers, including Harrod’s, Shopbop, Neiman Marcus, Harvey Nichols and Printemps. Building upon its wholesale order management core, JOOR launched JOOR Passport in 2020. A centralized digital destination, JOOR Passport is designed to allow buyers from around the world to explore and shop leading fashion weeks and global trade show events. By digitizing the interaction between brands and retailers, it enables a multi-week marketplace where retailers discover new styles and designers and brands generate more connections. Brands can see which buyers have attended their virtual booths and who has favorited them, and they can easily connect, follow up and place orders within the JOOR platform. JOOR Passport has facilitated commerce for global bespoke events including London Fashion Week, CFDA, Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF), Liberty, Cabana and Fashion Week Istanbul. Today, the offering is playing a critical role in the post-pandemic era as physical events resume but are hybrid in nature.
RAISE fashion
JETRO Project Showcase Japan
Fashion Week Istanbul
London Fashion Week
David's Bridal has developed an integrated social media strategy that leverages both paid and organic social media channels to create a new avenue of interaction with the customer and enhance the overall brand experience. The social media team leverages user-generated content — both employee-generated and influencer/customer-generated — to shape an authentic brand story online. To bring its robust social strategy to life, David’s Bridal has focused on: Employee Training: The company’s social media strategy has included training in-store employees in developing authentic content that supports David’s Bridal’s inclusive brand values, and deploying said content in customized ways across key channels and platforms. User-Generated Content: David’s Bridal has increased customer engagement and interaction with Instagram polls — often answered by thousands of followers — that the retailer has been able to leverage for press. David’s Bridal also uses friends, family and influencers as models to better connect with customers and elevate the brand. In fact, the company has invested in providing equipment and training to store employees to develop user-generated content that the social media team can leverage. Testing and Learning with New Channels: David’s Bridal has embraced a number of new channels, including TikTok, YouTube Live and live shopping events, to create an immersive digital brand experience for customers. The brand expanded even further into TikTok with the launch of its first junior line, Jules & Cleo. The TikTok campaign used trending video styles from well-known TikTok accounts and developed custom sounds that have been used by influencers and other accounts. These tactics helped David’s videos trend in the algorithm, gaining 193,000 TikTok engagements, 8.2 million TikTok views and more than 2,000 total followers in about six weeks.
To engage brides for the 2022 Wedding Boom, David’s Bridal accelerated its social strategy. From October 2021, the company was able to drive 6.3 million social engagements, 287 million total impressions and 2.5 million total social followers.
Dollar General’s mission of Serving Others was further realized during the COVID-19 pandemic as the health and safety of employees, customers and local communities remained a top priority. Because consumers continued to seek the value and convenience offered by Dollar General stores, the company implemented several proactive and preventative measures to serve neighbors and communities safely. At the onset of the pandemic, Dollar General worked to enhance customers’ shopping experiences by adding services that could expedite a shopping trip, including:
Dollar General’s COVID-19 response efforts were recognized by Forbes magazine, which named the retailer among its top 25 corporate responders.
Self-Checkout
DG Pickup
DG GO!
DoorDash Partnership
DG Pickup helps to make shopping even more convenient and contactless with availability at almost all Dollar General stores. Customers may shop from the convenience of their smartphone or computer and receive a notification when their order is ready. Once at the store, customers can grab their order from the in-store DG Pickup shelves and be on their way. DG Pickup also allows customers to take full advantage of the DG Digital Coupons for instant savings. Although Dollar General had plans to expand this offering to more stores over a longer period, the IT team pivoted to meet customers’ needs and rolled out DG Pickup across 17,000+ stores in three months.
Dollar General’s self-checkout option offers contactless shopping. As of 2021 fiscal year end, the service was available in more than 6,100 stores. In March 2022, the company announced plans to expand this offering to a total of up to 11,000 stores by fiscal year end 2022.
DG GO! allows customers to scan items on their smartphone in-store and use a Cart Calculator function that uncovers available discounts and savings. Customers can “check out” on the DG mobile app with a credit or debit card. To officially complete the process, customers simply scan their barcode at the self-service kiosk, bag their items and go! DG GO! is currently offered in approximately 760 stores.
In November 2021, Dollar General launched a partnership with DoorDash, offering on-demand delivery of household essential items including food, snacks, cleaning supplies and more at everyday low prices. DoorDash is offered through nearly 11,000 stores as of January 2022 and continues to be well received by customers.
Darn Tough Vermont is a sock retailer that designs and manufactures Merino wool socks for hiking, running, skiing, casual wear and more. Although it has had a DTC website since 2016, the website experience was not optimized. In 2020, however, it became clear that the retailer had to invest in its DTC operations to survive the drastic shift in shopper behaviors caused by the pandemic. As a result, Darn Tough accelerated the DTC business’ initial five-year plan to fit within a three-year timeline. Thanks to its prior investment in Kibo, Darn Tough had a strong foundation: Using data and testing protocols within Kibo Personalization, powered by Monetate, the retailer was able to create a culture of experimentation and optimization for its site. Rich capabilities helped Darn Tough resume business during a tumultuous time, but it also helped the company expand to a wider shopper base by fine-tuning its personalization strategy. Key outcomes from this venture include:
Notable improvements across the customer experience: After gaining a deeper understanding of its diverse customer base with Kibo, Darn Tough set out to improve the DTC experience for each shopper by incorporating a holiday offer to increase add-to-cart rates; offering time-sensitive shipping offers; and implementing accelerated payment options at checkout.
Accelerate testing and optimization: Thanks to an intuitive user interface and robust educational resources, the Darn Tough Team was able to get up and running quickly. They now can create, deploy and analyze new customer experiences across critical customer touch points.
Streamlined access to customer data: Previously, customer data was held in multiple analytics systems. Darn Tough used Kibo to bring a large volume of data into one centralized experience so teams could better track customer behaviors, formulate hypotheses and locate cost saving opportunities.
Since prioritizing personalized DTC experiences, Darn Tough has seen:
A 12% lift in average order value.
An 8.4% boost in conversions after testing Apply Pay and Google Pay in its checkout experience.
Sleep Number is leaning into its purpose of improving the health and wellbeing of society through higher-quality sleep. The company’s presence at the 2022 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) further established it as the leader in sleep health, innovation, science and research. Using the power of technology and 14 brand ambassadors, Sleep Number brought the scientific data and capabilities of its all-new 360 smart beds to life, showcasing a future where advanced monitoring, personalized insights and health evaluations are possible from home. Attendees could experience Sleep Number 360 smart beds and learn about the advanced capabilities using Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality technology. HoloLens allows users to experience 3D holographic images as though they are a part of the environment. In addition to the activation on the show floor, the event was amplified beyond the four walls of the event hall through digital and social channels. The brand hosted a virtual panel on the future of connected sleep health. The panel discussed the emerging role of sleep technology in research and clinical care, the potential for predictive and diagnostic technology in the home, sleep’s role in aging, and the growing consumer focus on health at all life stages and the desire to age in place. The experience was anchored with a 23’ x 20’ digital-led tower surrounded by immersive innovation experiences.
Sleep Number also won three CES 2022 awards: two for the 360 smart beds in Health & Wellness and Smart Home categories and one for smart furniture in the Home Appliance category.
1.2 billion media impressions from notable outlets like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Yahoo, CNET, and more.
5.9 million social media impressions.
More than 15,000 unique visitors to the brand CES landing page to SleepNumber.com.
In late 2020, T‑Mobile and The Drone Racing League (DRL) formed a multi‑year partnership to “innovate 5G wireless drone technology and reimagine sports entertainment.” T-Mobile wanted to engage new customers, promote the sport and highlight its lightning-fast 5G network. To achieve these goals, the company wanted to create a drone-based experience inside of its Las Vegas Signature Store. EWI Worldwide designed, engineered, fabricated and handled the installation of T-Mobile’s Drone Experience, which spanned two floors and was carefully crafted to be approachable and accessible for customers of all ages and experience levels. The experience included five distinct parts:
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Pre-Boarding Area: Guests could seamlessly sign up for the experience by providing a few pieces of relevant information and accept T-Mobile's terms and conditions.
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Drone Racing Simulator: This attractor, placed prominently in the front windows of the store, featured an oversized Drone Racing Simulator. Working flight controls let customers control a drone in a DRL Racing League video game. The design of the simulator strongly referenced the 5G racing drone developed by T-Mobile and the DRL.
Build-Your-Own-Drone Center: Once registered, customers received their own working wireless drones and chose from a collection of custom graphic decals to add a personalized touch. The Center featured lit-up graphics, a giant robotic arm, scrolling tickers and drone displays.
Drone Assembly Tables: Once customers received their drone and graphics kits, they could assemble them at the nearby assembly tables, providing customers with a playful building experience and a sense of ownership. The tables were designed to look industrial and tech-forward, featuring scrolling magenta tickers, instructional LED graphics and tool bins for batteries and chargers.
Drone Test Flight Area: After customers finished assembling and customizing their drones, they could take them for a first flight in an enclosed test flight area and obstacle course.
Over the course of 30 days, the installation engaged and collected data from more than 6,000 customers. According to T-Mobile, the experience has raised the bar for all future retail customer engagements moving forward.
Hover to hold
Pop-Ups, Events, Partnerships and Other Brand Activations
Founded in September 2018 by newlyweds Blake and Wayne Geffen, Vivrelle is a membership club that provides access to a shared closet of coveted designer handbags, jewelry and diamonds for a monthly membership fee. With a dedication to making luxury accessories fun, flexible, affordable and sustainable, Vivrelle provides members with the ability to borrow items with no return date. In a fresh take on the try-before-you-buy model, Vivrelle members are also able to purchase items they love from Vivrelle’s closet at exclusive members-only discounted prices. Vivrelle’s primary channels for reaching its members include the brand’s ecommerce site, app, and New York City showroom. Building upon the brand’s experiential try-before-you-buy model, Vivrelle launched an ongoing partnership with SLS South Beach, a property of SBE hotel group, to be the first hotel in the U.S. to bring access to designer handbags as a complimentary amenity to all guests. Vivrelle’s program with the SLS hotel functions similarly to a courtesy car. All SLS guests have complimentary access to a selection of designer accessories to borrow during their stay, regardless of membership status. Vivrelle bags are on site at check-in, serving as a physical drop off and pickup service for guests to enjoy. All Vivrelle members receive a discounted room rate at the SLS hotel, and all guests checked into SLS South Beach have the option to borrow a variety of daytime and evening handbags from coveted brands including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Givenchy and more. The experience is on a first-come-first-served basis as a complimentary amenity included with their hotel stay.
The Vivrelle team used experimentation and customer feedback to curate exclusive product assortments based on Miami-specific season trends. As a result, hotel guests’ first touch point with the brand maintains the high bar of service that full-time members of Vivrelle experience regularly.
Store Design & Experiential Retail
“Pet humanization” is a trend that has been growing for years, but the last 20+ months have amplified all the ways people, especially millennial pet parents, are treating their pets like family. Petco launched Reddy in 2018 to create a new brand that speaks to adventurous, trend-conscious pet parents. The retailer brought this exclusive fashion brand to the next level by creating a dedicated Reddy experience in the heart of the urban fashion hub of NYC’s SoHo neighborhood. The Reddy brand has evolved from product categories in Petco stores to branded store-in-store shops and has reached a level of maturity that prompted the opportunity to create a unique retail experience of its own. The store is the first freestanding retail location for Reddy, featuring a curated product selection combined with an array of exclusive pet-centric experiences and services. The store has an urban boutique look and feel, with an industrial design accented by Reddy’s signature red and iconic camp patterns and crafted details. In addition to a broad assortment of Reddy merchandise across apparel, accessories and supplies, the store provides a gourmet food section by JustFoodForDogs and several interactive experiences and amenities, including:
The Reddy store went from ideation to opening in three months, showing the incredible collaboration between the design, creative and implementation teams across all parties involved: Petco, Little, Droga5, SBLM and an extensive list of committed vendors and partners.
Exclusive complimentary amenities for pets, including sanitary water stations, a "treatery" and sprinkled whipped cream cups for a casual puppuccino.
A customization station for personalized pet tags, on-site product monogramming and a patch service.
A leather-clad fitting station where customers can get “the perfect look and fit” for their pet and take an Instagram photo in front of an iconic “camo” wall backdrop.
A JustFoodForDogs fresh nutrition station offering a range of high-quality dog foods and treats formulated to meet specific critical nutritional needs, as well as a variety of supplements.
KFC sought to elevate its brand identity and roll out a Next-Gen design for its customers. The company started by elevating the brand identity in a distinctive KFC way, while reflecting on the evolving guest expectations and preferences that pointed toward a more fast-paced, digital-first experience. The DNA of the concept is flexibility. The KFC Next-Gen design is elastic, allowing it to evolve and adapt into various restaurant formats over time. The team took a holistic and collaborative approach that included design, marketing, operations and digital teams, working in partnership with Nelson Worldwide. The design includes a new efficient kitchen as well as an elevated dining and drive-thru experience. New channels of service such as online orders, delivery aggregators and Quick Pick-Up are well integrated within the design, ensuring a quick in-and-out experience for customers. Design highlights include:
The Next-Gen concept encompasses an urban inline format. Smaller in footprint, these stores are designed to bring customers out of the drive-thru and inside the restaurant in urban areas where the real estate does not allow for a standard drive-thru model.
The architecture of the building is optimized for brand visibility and impact. The location can be seen from every access point to the restaurant and the Drive-Thru canopy is aligned with the elevated brand image.
An enhanced Drive-Thru experience with a digital order assist board (for order confirmation) and visual elements to deliver an optimum brand experience as guests navigate toward the order point.
Crisp brand-building signage to guide customers into the restaurant as well as around the drive-through.
A separate lobby for online orders along with dedicated parking bays.
As part of its “Beyond the Parka” growth strategy, Canada Goose, the luxury Canadian heritage retail brand, launched a new line of high-tech winter footwear. For this global launch, Canada Goose collaborated with iGotcha Media to deliver immersive and integrated digital brand experiences that would emotionally connect with customers. Rich design and an enhanced 3D Foot Scanning fit experience have converged to deliver a new kind of retail experience in locations across Canada, the U.S., London, Paris, Shanghai and Hong Kong. At each location, iGotcha designed various DVLED walls in different configurations that best complimented the physical properties of each location. For example, in Hong Kong the firm designed an ultra-high-resolution 3D Northern Lights interstitial that mesmerizes visitors as they approach the store exterior and blankets over them as they climb the front entry stairway. These beautiful visual experiences are complemented by the 3D Foot Scanning Experience, which pulls information from multiple points below the foot at the sole and all four sides and corners, providing a full detailed 3D foot scanning mesh model of both feet. The AI-driven fit engine is designed to provide accurate footwear sizing and the most practical footwear recommendation. As part of an enhanced experience, sales associates ask the user for their email address and some qualifying lifestyle preference questions during the process. Then the system provides an instant result on optimal product and size and follows up with them post-visit with a complete foot profile, the actual 3D scan of their feet, complete sizing and comfort information, and recommendations on optimal size and product based on the scan and visit. If a certain product or size is not available in a store, consumers can have boots delivered to their home or even pick their order up at a reseller partner location.
Through anecdotal feedback from employees, Canada Goose has found that the experiences are always a draw for store shoppers and that they have seen significant sales uplift for featured products. The 3D foot scanning manufacturer and partner also has shared the following results:
85% to 90% conversion rate in stores;
18% decrease in returns; and
20% increase in footwear sales.
Purple’s strong brand message is reflective of their mission to provide solutions that improve lives. As an omnichannel business and after experiencing success with their initial pop-up concept, the development of an experiential brick-and-mortar showroom environment was a natural next step. To successfully bring the power of the Purple brand into the physical space, the company partnered with Felbro Displays to support the development of the current concept. This showroom design allows customer exploration and tactile moments which give consumers the opportunity to experience Purple products firsthand. The goals are to provide a space that is customer-centric and experience-driven in a comfortable setting. Purple and Felbro brought this message to life in the showroom using color, messaging, video imagery, interactive messages and furnishings. The front of the space is dedicated to showcasing Purple’s proprietary “Gelflex Grid.” A video wall houses four Samsung 82” monitors powered by BrightSign. This 14-foot-wide display offers an artistic exploration of the float feeling that consumers experience on a Purple mattress and sets the tone for a curated shopping experience. In the foreground there are “Griducation” stations to test, learn and experience the Purple Gelflex Grid, giving consumers an insightful journey into its makeup. As a part of the “Griducation” experience, consumers have the opportunity to interact with Purple’s air flow interactive display that demonstrates the unique temperature neutralizing properties of the grid. Well-appointed bedrooms featuring an iPad interactive station allow consumers to interact with the mattress line on their terms. Monitors are hung above each bed in a canopy space powered by BrightSign. These canopies have sensors that act as triggers for presenting content to enhance the customer journey. The bedroom headboard consists of LED backlit SEG gradient representing dawn to dusk — the times of day when customers interact most with their Purple sleep system.
To allow for ease and convenience, each associate is equipped with an iPad to manage the customer experience, process transactions and create interactive moments that make the shopping experience more personal and comfortable.
The global CBD market is estimated to reach $47.22 billion by 2028, up from a mere $4.2 billion in 2021, according to Vantage Market Research. This growth — largely due to increasing demand for cannabidiol for health and wellness purposes — is creating significant opportunity for brands like Prima that are in the CPG industry. Prima, which offers supplements, skincare and bodycare products, was founded by wellness advocates, science enthusiasts and changemakers that sought to provide products, tools and education to “bring us back to balance.” To bring this mission to life, and build consumer trust, Prima focuses on creating educational and resonant content across multiple channels. From its highly detailed “about copy,” which digs into the brand’s values, to testimonials and a digital magazine, Prima is focused on educating its audience and spotlighting the unique benefits of CBD products. The brand’s educational quiz, however, is a powerful starting point for consumers who don’t just want to learn about CBD but also want to understand how it can benefit their health and address their unique pain points. The most notable differentiator on the Prima site is the brand’s focus on accessibility. Visitors can click an icon at the bottom of the screen to customize their experiences to make content more visible, adjust letter spacing, enhance visuals and even remove animations or other distractions that may make it difficult for certain consumers to focus. While the core focus for Prima is to create high-quality products and owned content, the brand repurposes and amplifies content across advertising, social media and other marketing platforms to create a cohesive brand story.
Audio Advice has seen a surge in user engagement since releasing the Home Theater Designer tool. Key results include:
Audio Advice, a 44-year-old specialty A/V retailer based in North Carolina, has developed a free interactive 3D design tool that lets customers design the home theater of their dreams with a simple drag-and-drop interface. The Home Theater Designer models an acoustically correct home theater system including speakers, TV/projector and seating for an optimal listening and viewing experience in the home. Built using complex algebraic algorithms, the patent-pending tool enables users to set their room dimensions and answer key questions to create a full three-dimensional rendering of their room in real time. Users tap into a trio of sliders to enter the width, depth and height of the room, then plug in seating arrangements, video setup, and speaker channels. Next to all the sliders and menus is a 3D visualization of a proposed home theater, and as users enter or alter specs, the 3D rendering automatically updates itself. Once visitors save their work, the Home Theater Designer will deliver a report with detailed specifications and a diagram that consumers can hand to a home installer or use themselves as a guide. Audio Advice also continues to drive education and engagement through a series of email campaigns and post-purchase messages. The company also has a robust content arsenal including design and education tools, home theater buyer guides, DIY how-to guides, videos of home theater installs and customer showcases and in-depth product reviews. More than 20,000 rooms have been designed using the tool.
A 150% increase in email marketing list size.
A 200%+ increase in home theater product sales.
A more than 50% increase in site traffic.
Average email open rate of 52% and click rate of 22.2%.
30% increase in Facebook following.
120% boost in Instagram following.
273% increase in YouTube channel subscribers.
Video Overview: Free Home Theater Design Tool
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