In the beauty care and cosmetics industry, the customer experience can be where the sale (present and future) is won or lost, making the point-of-purchase (POP) an important in-store feature to help beauty products stand out in a crowded and competitive environment.
In its latest move, The Perfume Shop briefed arken to design the new displays, on par with modern department stores in terms of quality solutions, to improve the shopping experience in readiness for the launch of its new concept store recently opened in Bluewater Shopping Centre.
Transforming the experience
To do this arken designed three modular island units in the Bluewater store featuring light boxes with built in housing for AVs, acrylic insets with interchangeable headers and graphics, wooden base drawers, and adjustable glass shelving that incorporates both back and side illumination to showcase hero products.
There are also two operational tills within the store, with one integrating an iPad for customer interaction, as well as offering the retailer’s new Click and Collect service.
An ‘expert testing table’, where promotional space is to be sold to individual fragrance brands, and a gift wrapping display unit complete the new design and build.
"The Perfume Shop customer experience used to be delivered through a ‘closed sell’ technique with display cabinets and sales advisors being positioned behind counter walls,” says Tracy Scutt, managing director of arken P-O-P International.
“Our client now has the capability and product flexibility to roll out many design elements across its growing store portfolio for years to come.”
On the back of this, the high street store company says that during 2016 it plans for over 60 stores to be refitted in this way too.
More retailers, more transformations
The news comes as arken also unveiled plans to roll out its new Tile System display carcass units to over 100 Superdrug stores from October, signalling a step-change in cosmetics merchandising in the UK.
In total, the display’s modular construction will house over 20 different cosmetics brands across 5 different size carcasses, and follows the successful trial of the merchandising display concept in the retailer’s new Health and Beauty Studios concept store, initially in Cardiff and latterly in Harlow and Holborn.
“Our innovative Tile System display for Superdrug quickly grabbed the eye of competitors when it launched, and represents the latest thinking in product presentation for cosmetics brands on the high street,” said Scutt on this project.
“Merging design aesthetics and operational practicality, it will allow Superdrug customers to enjoy premium and consistent shopping whilst enabling indefinite updates to ‘inner displays’ for a number of different brands and their ranges, without the need to replace the outer carcass.”
As well as accommodating differing widths, the display also enables the top section of the unit to be added or removed to create mid floor 'low level' units or taller wall mounted solutions.