Page 42 - HW AUGUST 2019

retail edge
John Lewis
goes virtual
in-store
JOHN LEWIS IS trialling a new Virtual Reality experience called “Visualise Your Space”.
The concept is similar in intent to IKEA’s recently announced AR app which overlays products on top of your own home but John Lewis’ tech venture also seeks to encourage customers towards a broader redecoration of their space.
Whereas IKEA’s app is intended to enable remote purchases, away from a store, John Lewis’ new initiative requires customers be in-store to experience it, and possibly leading as is now generally recognised, to additional purchases.
Guided by John Lewis staff in three trial stores, customers enter the dimensions, doors and windows of the room they want to update into an iPad via an app, and then “drop in” John Lewis products to see how their interior ideas look in their home.
They can also change the colour of the walls and floors to create a complete look.
Users will be able to view their designed room on either an iPad, as a 3D AR room set or wear a Virtual Reality headset to “walk around” the room and will be emailed a copy of the room they created with shoppable links.
Caitlin Price, John Lewis Partner and Head of Buying for Furniture and Flooring said; “Designing a new look for a room can be a lot of fun and a chance to express our personalities.
“However, customers tell us that uncertainty about what new
products will look like in their home can make the decision making hard, and in many cases people revert to the safer tones of grey or beige furnishings.
“This new technology will enable customers to be braver in their choices, and test technology that architects and interior designers have been using to visualise their designs.”
The technology has been developed by US design and 3D visualisation company Marxent.
www.johnlewis.com www.marxentlabs.com
New Jaycar model follows Apple’s example
Most people’s impression of consumer electronics retailer Jaycar will be based on something like Tandy and Radio Shack stores used to be.
That means useful if sometimes nerdy products – the sort of invaluable products stocked by Dick Smith stores before the brand died – crammed cheek by jowl into visually over-full stores with low ceilings.
But now, following the reveal of a brand new store format in Sydney, click & collect and a member-based program of activations and events, Jaycar has truly entered the 2000s.
Small Jaycar isn’t, having delivered an almost AU$27.5 million profit in the last FY, not to mention having invested in a new AU$80 million automated warehouse and distribution centre in western Sydney.
The new Jaycar flagship store is now open in the mall called Central Park on Broadway in Sydney and it is unlike any Jaycar store you have ever seen.
At 420m2 the new store is still filled with 7,000 lines of must-have techy gear ranging from cables through Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects and maker bots to connected home products.
But now they’re presented in a clear, orderly manner within a well- lit, airy space with fittings that wouldn’t look too out of place in an Apple Store.
Similar to what you find in the best international Apple Stores but new to the Jaycar brand is the Maker Hub, a key in-store area where customers can access human expertise and use tools like 3D printers, routers, soldering stations etc to help them build their project or kit and take part in workshops, challenges and attend events.
Then there’s the Thinker Space, an area with a flipchart and boardroom table that’s been set aside from the main space to allow customers to plan their projects.
Click & collect lockers are located just outside the store for after- hours collection
Looking past the hyperbole, the new Jaycar flagship really is “a new retail experience” for Jaycar, whose stated aim is to “do for technology what Bunnings did for hardware and present an opportunity to expand customer horizons with what’s possible in the connected home.”
“We are trying to push the boundaries of experiential retailing in this sphere,” says Jaycar’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jarrod Carroll.
Look out for some of the above to reach New Zealand too, particularly the events side of the offer, which is already evident on the brand’s Kiwi website.
www.jaycar.co.nz/central-park
40 NZHJ | AUGUST 2019
MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz