EE's new Showcase stores - Designed by Quinine to offer an immersive customer experience - Retail Design Expo
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Quinine Press Release
EE Showcase
EE’s new Showcase stores
Designed by Quinine to offer an
immersive customer experience.
Retail experience consultancy Quinine began working with EE, the UK’s
biggest mobile operator, in November 2016 with a brief to create a number of
stores that would ‘showcase’ the best service, the best network and products
on offer from EE and BT (EE became part of the BT Group in 2016), extending
the reach beyond traditional mobile into the multi quad-play market.
London based Quinine set out to design stores that would marry human
behaviour with the brand and the physical environment to give a multi-layered
and dynamic experience. The result; premium stores that welcome customers
in, inviting them to get involved with the latest technology and network
innovations. As well as exploring the latest mobile handsets, customers get to
try live products such Google Home, Apple Watch, EE Live TV and Samsung’s
VR headsets.
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Quinine Press Release
EE Showcase
EE’s premium stores ‘showcase’ in store support and the latest mobile and home
technology.
“We based the store concept around an aesthetic called ‘show time’, a
theatrical design language, which uses a large scale and proportion with
dramatic lighting for all product displays and service experiences. At
the same time we were keen not to make it appear ‘hard-edged’ and too
technological. We softened the space by adding more raw and human
elements and introduced a conversational tone of voice.” Ian Johnston,
founder of Quinine said on designing the stores.
The store experience is designed around the ‘cathedral’ principle; with high
ceilings that wow customers and create immediate intrigue at the front area
of the store, whilst lowered ceilings at the centre act as a more ‘intimate’
space, suitable for face-to-face consultative conversations. Once inside,
customers are greeted with EE’s new Showcase Stage, a multi-functional
display space suitable for a variety of physical and digital experiences. With
the aim to involve customers, dedicated EE staff use the large digital screens
and display props to engage with customers, encouraging them to get
involved. The plan is that these installations will change out every three to
six weeks, keeping the store fresh and the content current and relevant. The
London stores launched with a gesture-controlled dance experience, where
customer and staff movements appear on the digital backdrop, to promote
6-months of apple music for free, while the Nottingham store launched with
an iPhone 8 event.
In order to increase customer dwell time and provide more opportunities to
browse new products and services, the traditional devices (mobile handsets
and tablets) were relocated to the back of the store. An illuminated wall and
dramatic oversized product displays maintain the focus and lure customers
to browse, select and compare.
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Quinine Press Release
EE Showcase
The ‘showcase’ store is about higlighting new product categorise and amazing in store
service and support.
As a result of a new mobile POS system, which allows customers and staff to
transact anywhere in store, Quinine removed the traditional service desk. The
new design provides a variety of service touch points for different kinds of
customer commitment and postures. With a dedicated Help Hub, service was
placed at the heart of the store experience.
An innovative use of digital projections located behind the Help Hub, shows
animated icons that tell service stories. It’s a more integrated digital layer that
moves beyond screen-based interactions, and successfully aligns with the EE
brand.
Throughout the stores Quinine introduced a simple palette of materials to
create a warm, familiar but dynamic modern feel. European white oak and felt-
like fabrics for upholstered seating were used to indicate service areas. While
metal, powder coated in the brand colours (aqua and yellow), pop and lift a
subtle palette of grey, black and white walls. Dynamic signage throughout
helps customers to navigate and adds a light, fresh and friendly tone to the
store. A brand wall features a local hand drawn sketch of the City with icons to
underline the network capabilities, directly connecting the store to the local
community.
“For a store experience to be successful it must work for the business, the
brand, the customers and the staff”, said Johnston, adding “we ensured
that we included elements throughout the store journey that encourage
involvement and facilitate a comfortable, relaxing face-to-face experience
for both customers and staff. We wanted to ‘democratise’ technology, so
customers could feel at ease and inspired by what’s on offer”.
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Quinine Press Release
EE Showcase
The Showcase Stage at the front of the store is a flexible and adaptable space that
facilitates various types of scheduled experiences.
The store design layout:
The overall store was divided into three types of store journeys that
overlapped to create a dynamic overall experience for a variety of shopper
types.
The first type, the ‘showcase’ journey, starts at the front of the store where
the impactful ‘showcase’ stage is equipped with soft flooring, a large digital
screen and a large circular hanging light. Adjacent to the Showcase Stage a
comfortable sofa invites customers to sit in front of a large 85” 4K TV. Named
‘the content champion’ customers are handed a remote to control the TV and
can choose to view great movies, sports or entertainment, whilst this subtle
interaction forms a relationship between staff and customer.
The ‘support’ store journey focused on the sales and services interactions
between staff and customers. As a focal point Quinine designed a large
central service counter, giving it a modern twist Quinine placed this ‘Service
Bar’ in the centre of the store, away from any wall to encourage customers
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Quinine Press Release
EE Showcase
and staff to walk around and use all of it. Raising the height of the service bar
by 70mm subtly encourages customers to lean in, making it a comfortable
and a less formal way of connecting with store staff. Throughout the store,
soft seating features with round café style tables ensure there’s no ‘hierarchy’
or barriers between the customer and staff interaction and facilitate an open
and relaxed engagement. The dedicated privacy booths are designed to
reflect what you might expect in your own home, although subtly balanced
for the retail environment. These booths allow for more in-depth and complex
demonstrations of services and ‘on boarding’ for customers. Quinine has
designed each element of the store to facilitate face-to-face interactions.
Located throughout the store with a main focal point at the rear, is the third
store journey dedicated to ‘selecting services and products’. Here customers
can compare and contrast live products to ensure they are getting the
right devices. Highlight displays are positioned in the centre of the store
as progressive lures that present benefit lead propositions. Large-scale
modular wall displays are dedicated to device brands such as Apple, Google
and Samsung. Premium lifestyle displays hero live accessories that show
customers how to get the most out of the EE network.
Various service touch points are located throughout the store.
“We are extremely pleased with these first showcase stores and they have
exceeded our expectations in many ways. It is a real pleasure to see staff and
customers interacting around the carefully considered moments Quinine
has designed into the store experience. But I feel the biggest success is the
transformative effect it seems to have had on EE and BT, helping them to
reposition themselves as leaders on the high street. .” Concluded Johnston.
Westfield White City and Stratford ‘showcase’ stores opened August 2017,
Tottenham Court Road in September, with Nottingham and Oxford opening
their doors in October 2017.
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Quinine Press Release
EE Showcase
Various service touch points are located throughout the store.
Creating spaces that customer enjoying coming to.
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Quinine Press Release
EE Showcase
Accessories displays present lifestyle stories for products that enhance the core
networking services.
About Quinine
Beginning life in 2007, Quinine is a retail experience consultancy known for
their user-centric design approach, their understanding of human behaviour
and how behaviour relates to the physical environment. They are a company
committed to making space work better for businesses, brands, customers
and staff, their ‘Happiness Circle’. Quinine works with a range of international
product and service brands, designing and handling full-scale rollouts, new
store concepts, pop-up and mobile stores as well as one-off experiential
installations.
A complementary range of skills within architecture, interior design, graphic
design and illustration supports Quinine’s solid industrial design background.
Founded by Ian Johnston, who graduated with a MA in industrial design from
the Royal College of Art and who is one of the first Helen Hamlyn Research
Associates, Quinine is based in London’s Queens Park.
Clients include: Comcast, EE, Fido, Imperial College London, Innovation RCA,
LG, Orange, Rogers, Sony Ericsson, Tesco and Xfinity.
Further information on Quinine and images please contact Abby Lloyd-Jones
on +44(0)203 468 9222 or press@quininedesign.com
Please visit our website: http://www.quininedesign.com
Or our Twitter feed: @QuinineDesign
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