Luxury brands up their retail game by offering an all-immersive experience

Sep 16 , 2018

Tiffany & Co.’s Style Studio in Covent Garden, London. It features bold design aesthetics and is very Instagrammable.

Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Boucheron, Audemars Piguet and RJ are revolutionising their brick-and-mortar concepts into an omnichannel retail experience

Customers venturing into the latest Tiffany Style Studio store in Covent Garden, London since July are in for a fun surprise: a vending machine fully stocked with the brand’s signature fragrance in various sizes. Punch in your selection, swipe your credit card and see the machine gently carry it down to the bottom for you to pick up.

The vending machine is just one part of an innovative retail experience offered. There is also a personalisation station (called #MakeItTiffany) where customers can draw whatever design they fancy on an iPad and have it copied directly onto their new Tiffany swag. Getting your initials engraved is so 2017.

To complement the store’s new layout is a selection of the brand’s Everyday Objects collection displayed on Instagrammable wooden crates. The store also has plans to host a range of immersive experiences, from styling sessions to performances. “It’s not so much of a hard sell in stores,” says Reed Krakoff, Tiffany & Co.’s chief artistic officer. “People want to be entertained to some extent; they want to be enriched at the same time and not just shop.”

Customers can sip artisanal coffee while snacking on seasonal dishes at Tiffany & Co.’s Blue Box Café, located on the fourth floor of its New York flagship store.

Tiffany has become a master at creating experiential spaces for its clients. Today’s Holly Golightly is not just interested in peering inside a Tiffany store through a window while standing on the street, nibbling on a croissant.

You will probably find her on the fourth floor of the same iconic flagship store on 727 Fifth Avenue, seated inside The Blue Box Café, sipping artisanal coffee while snacking on seasonal dishes made with regionally sourced ingredients. She will be updating her followers every mouthful along the way via Snapchats and Instastories.

The cafe, which opened on November 10 last year, is another example of how brands are placing their bets on customers wanting experiential spaces.

Boucheron’s flagship store in Place Vendôme, which is under renovation, is putting omnichannel at the forefront.

Boucheron, Cartier and independent watch brand RJ are also betting that the future of retail is to treat boutiques as more than a place to shop. They are becoming a destination.

Part of the reason brands have focused on creating experiential spaces is rooted in the rise of the internet as a research tool and the convenience of online shopping.