Breuninger Ludwigsburg – The Future of Shopping & Customer Delight through Innovative Retail Design
Booming online trade, especially at the time of the pandemic; closing retail shops due to too few customers on site; branches that only serve to pick up click&collect orders. These are all challenges that retailers have to face in today’s world. The central question is: how can retailers attract more customers again?
Innovative Retail Design: New Incentives in the Retail Sector
The answer is obvious: retailers must create incentives that attract new customers to their stores. Keywords such as interactive shopping experiences, innovative store concepts, emotionalisation, quality of stay and retail design are moving to centre stage. What these buzzwords achieve in practice is shown by 7places together with Dittel Architekten using the transformation of the department store of the fashion and lifestyle company Breuninger in Ludwigsburg. As part of the architectural redesign with the aim of setting a new benchmark in modern stationary retail, a shopping and experience world of over 11,000 sqm is being created.
The core of the new concept is the strong focus on the customer as well as the modularity and adaptability of the sales floor over time. With its innovative digital elements, the new store design creates a seamless customer journey across all channels while offering maximum convenience.
In this way, customers move intuitively through the shop as part of the self-explanatory Store Journey and experience the products and services on offer in an uncomplicated and time-saving way. Through the use of digital projections and touchscreens, unique moments are created on site that connect the online and offline worlds and transfer the company’s identity into the space. The shopping experience is rounded off by the use of multi-sensory elements that appeal to all the senses and create a unique atmosphere.
Click & Collect becomes Click & Connect
The retailer’s distinct multichannel philosophy is reflected in the multifunctional design of the Retail Space. To bring together the best of all sales worlds, the boundaries between the individual channels are broken down and brought together in a coherent overall image. For example, customers can scan symbols on products with their smartphones in the shop to access more information on the available sizes, colours and materials on the Breuninger website or in the app.
The dynamism and exclusivity of the point of sale can be found in individual areas of the department store. The b_place is a versatile sales area that can be flexibly redesigned for product presentations, image campaigns or events, depending on the occasion, thanks to its modular elements. The b_tailored area takes the shopping experience to a new level by allowing goods to be personalised or customised.
What might a visit to the Experience Store look like?
Maximum efficiency…
Julia (29) is a young adult who works at a business consultancy. She is planning to buy a birthday present for a friend at the Breuninger Department Store in Ludwigsburg this weekend. Because of her job, she would like to do her errands as quickly and easily as possible. That’s why she finds out about the current offers in the Breuninger app days before her visit, favours products and creates an individual shopping list. To save time, Julia orders a few products in advance via Click&Collect so that she no longer has to search for these goods on site and can pick up her order directly after shopping.
Now the time has come, Julia goes to the Department Store on Saturday and is efficiently guided through the sales floor with the help of the app and the smart tables in the shop. The digital assistants help her find her desired products, check availabilities and quickly get personal advice on product-specific questions by digitally calling a service employee. Having bought all the products she wanted, she now picks up her Click&Collect order at her chosen pick-up point and heads back home. All in all, Julia had a very efficient shopping experience.
… or maximum experience in retail
Meanwhile, Daniel (25) enters the Breuninger Department Store and is thrilled by the emotionalising, large screens that catch his eye right at the entrance. Daniel has a great interest in changes and innovations at the point of sale due to his business studies and therefore takes his time to browse through the remodelled sales area. To benefit from a holistic shopping experience, Daniel checks in to the Breuninger app right at the beginning and uses it as his personal shopping guide. After collecting some clothes to try on, he goes to a fitting room. Daniel is personally greeted by the fitting room and feels immediately at ease thanks to the cosy atmosphere in the room. At the Smart Mirror, he takes advantage of the opportunity to try on his selected garments in different colours and receive personalised advice from customer service by simply pressing a button on the mirror.
Daniel is completely thrilled with the holistic experience he was able to experience in the store and decides to come back next week to discover even more facets of the renovated retail space.
Linking online and offline
For years, there has been talk in retail of a battle between online and offline. But does it necessarily have to be a battle? Why not unite both worlds in one overall concept and bring the customer experience to a new level? These were the questions we addressed when developing the innovative and digital concept. For this purpose we
- defined objectives and basic characteristics,
- defined the furnishing, the individual zones and the most important design elements,
- elaborated and filled the customer journey with content
- and selected the appropriate technologies.
All in all, the Breuninger Department Store in Ludwigsburg uses innovative and digital solutions to create a coherent overall concept that invites enthusiastic customers to discover it.
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