Brief SWOT analysis of the Service

Strengths

• Will bring a new target customer to Selfridges introducing them to what the store is about, the style they present themselves with and the whole atmosphere than comes with the brand.
• It will give consumers more reasons to shop at Selfridges
• It allows consumers to have the one off gifts/ home decorations to allow that feeling of exclusivity.
• Provides a whole new product area – a cut above the competitors, as they do not feature this service.

• Good quality good that coincide with what Selfridges can already offer the consumer e.g chocolates, cakes, spirits, sweets.
• Maintains the luxury style, that sophisticated presentation.

Weaknesses

• This service may not take off, shoppers may not want to visit Selfridges stores just for the flower service that they are now providing which would mean this would be a loss of money rather than a profit as they would not be able to be steered away from their usual routine.
• Other department stores/florists may feel the need to up their game and this could cause aggravation.
• Consumers/department stores may not get the service.

Opportunities

• This service could bring Selfridges more profit
• This allows the knowledge of the brand to becomes spread whilst also supporting the idea of brining something new and innovative to the brand keeping up with the trends and modernizing what they can already offer consumers.
• Gap in the market for this to be successful and future directions could be possible for the brand to allow them to brand into other areas that at the minute they do not specialize in.
• If this service really takes off this could be placed into a mini branch in smaller locations to allow separate service for just floral based goods.

Threats

• Competitors could decide to jump on this idea which would introduce problems due to the same idea being supported.
• Competitors could venture into a whole new prospect idea which could be more innovating and appropriate stealing Selfridges consumers.

Additional Layout Ideas

In addition to the previous layout idea, I researched bait further into the whole Selfridges style and the promotion that they present their consumers with and I came across this. This is a flyer that was given out to the customers which supports a humorous style which is easily legible yet clinical whilst maintain a bold statement which allows this flyer to stand out. This shows how Selfridges like to appeal to their audience, they want to add excitement and humour to allow consumers to remember what they have read or been given. This will be successful due to the language and the whole presentation of the design.

With this design, I found that the combination of the type with the outlines allows the significance of the type to stand out and become more noticeable. This is again another technique that Selfridges are known for which is what I could then add to my design to create a boarder. Also, with pages like these, they would come every so often within the pieces to support how they are key and important to the style in which i am going for. However, with there being quite a lot of text on the page this might be hard but it is a style that would work and would help to support the brand due to the colour and the bold aesthetics that they have.

Another format that I thought could work would be to place this as an interactive point and allow each slide/page of text to support a different style but maintaining that template look. This is something that you would have to experiment with and see if this becomes appealing or not.

Initial thoughts for Layout Ideas

With this campaign, as well as producing visual designs we are also asked to produce a dissertation to go alongside this to coincide what has already been designed. This is where we express what is going on with the service, how it works and why it is beneficial to the company. With this being so, I want to present this in a creative manner to support the style that the brand work in.

Selfridges as a brand is simplistic, held back yet so sophisticated and chic that it draws you in and allows you to see the elegance behind the brand. This reinforces the style that the brand have managed to maintain over the years gripping the audience. The brand lacks colour and usually focuses upon the black and the yellow these being known to represent that brand. With this being so, I am unsure whether to stick to this completely or try and steer away from this portraying how this is a whole new venture into a new product area for the brand. This would then allow me to design this anyway possible. However, to firstly get an image of the brand I am going to look into the ways in which they currently present themselves and work from this.

When I was looking for ways that Selfridges promote, I found that the website was a key idea and I could create a template where all the text would go and work from this. This would then support the brand and would link back to the style and the image that they have created. This is going to be considered as one of my possibilities. This would imitate the style that the brand already have and would work around this adding the new floristry tab and presenting this as a contents page which would state each bit of content as if you were shopping online for this. This would be beneficial to the brands style.

Here is another style that stood out to me also. This is from their blog/style page. This stands out from there original style due to the use of colour and the collaged magazine effect that comes with this. This could be a unique style that represents what the floristry section is about and would again draw in a whole new consumer which is what my aim is. This would help to do so by keeping this an innovative and exciting on the eye as possible. The combination of the text and the images is what makes this so appealing so this is again another technique that I could add within my layout. I believe that a new spin could be really successful in terms of creativity due to the florist idea being new, this could mean that by supporting a new style and image means that this is something that needs to stand out and could change your perspective on the store. I will continue to look for more inspiration ideas.

This is an advertisement used by Selfridges stores to support the make up collection they provide. The reason why I am presenting this image is due to the style and the simple layout that this holds whilst supporting that luxury, classical aesthetically pleasing presentation. This is easily legible and although this is very text heavy the imagery used distracts this. So, I was thinking that i could place my flower images onto the same page as the type and help this add to the creative touch. I was drawn to this poster design due to the simplicity and the overall clinical style that this holds. This is easily linked back to the style that Selfridges takes which makes this even more interesting and intriguing. The bold text draws you in and you are then lead around page making sure that you then take all of the content in. This is what makes this so successful. With this being so, I will also bare these techniques in mind and see what else I can come across before making a final decision on layouts next week.

Facts about Selfridges

1. Selfridges London has twice been voted World’s Best Department Store at the Global Department Store Summit – in June 2010 and again in May 2012.

2. Selfridges is the biggest store on Oxford Street, with more than 650,000 square feet of retail space.

3. American entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge founded Selfridges in 1909, and 2009 marked 100 years of the London department store.

Read more about the Selfridges story here

4. Selfridges was the first department store to accept China UnionPay cards.

5. Personal Shopping, the store’s exclusive private shopping service, was redesigned in 2012, with several custom-designed dressing rooms and a lounge area for entertainment and relaxation. Everyone uses it, from royalty to celebrities to customers splashing out out on a special outfit or a new wardrobe.

6. It boasts the only piercing and tattoo parlour in the UK housed in a department store.

7. In-store services range from tax-free shopping, beauty treatments and hair styling to psychic advice.

8. At the Beauty Workshop, as well as trend-led and sought-after products you can get a spray tan, hair extensions or a manicure. The Beauty Workshop houses the only nail bar in the UK with a multi-brand
 selection of nail varnishes, and also offers the famous Hershesons 15-minute blow-dry.

Read more about the Beauty Workshop here

9. The Wonder Bar features an Enomatic Wine System that allows customers to serve themselves from a selection of 52 wines. Selfridges was the first to introduce this way to sample wine to a wide audience in the UK.

10. The Concept Store is an ever-changing retail space dedicated to Selfridges’ themes and creative projects, and always promises something new and exciting to buy.

Find out what’s in the Concept Store now

11. The 3,300-square-foot Ultralounge is the world’s only permanent arts and exhibition space in a department store. It is used to stage a wide range
of arts and entertainment events – all specially commissioned. Previous contributing or exhibiting artists and brands include sculptor Conrad Shawcross, Brian Eno, Kay Saatchi, Annie Lennox, Nike, Chanel and Stephen Jones.

Selfridges also has the world’s biggest…

… women’s shoe department, stocking more than 100,000 pairs of shoes at any time, and selling more than 7,000 pairs of shoes a week.

… men’s shoe department, featuring more than 250 brands, more than 120 exclusive product styles and a made-to-order shoe salon.

… denim department. The Denim Studio covers 26,000 square feet and stocks jeans ranging in price from £11 to £11,000.

Watch the video tour of the Denim Studio with Selfridges’ denim buyer Melissa McGinnis here

… beauty hall, selling everything from big-name brands to niche ranges. Many brands, including Mac, sell more products in Selfridges than anywhere else in the world.

http://www.globalblue.com/brands/specials/selfridges/need-to-know-facts-about-selfridges/

Week 7 Intentions

With my development of ideas coming on quite nicely, I have found that this is where the work starts becoming interesting and holding a lot of substance due to finally getting somewhere. I have looked into inspiration images and planned what areas I would like to go down and looked into competitors so now its all about key developments and focusing on Selfridges budgets, plans for their working year and coming to terms with the money to indicate how much I will have to play with promotion and designing.

By the end of this week, I would like to have completed;

• Swot analysis
• Smart objectives
• Future Directions
• Outline the 6p's
• Identify the campaign plan
• Further research into other sources (Secondary)
• WGSN research
• Key design indicators

If I can manage to successful complete all of these target areas, i will then be on track for the following week to begin looking into trends, colour and the whole digital aspect which is where I would like to be so that the week after I can begin designing my campaign.

Trip to London

With the main stores of Selfridges and Liberty both being in Central London I managed to squeeze a last minute trip there into my schedule which was extremely convenient and also beneficial because i was able to get an understanding of the stores layouts, the styles, the staff that work there, the image that they support and the over all atmosphere of being in store - the presence and the general communicational methods with everybody. This enlightened myself and I was more aware of how the stores worked and how the day to day business life went. This allowed myself to have a walk around both the stores taking all this information in whilst enjoying the vibes from the two stores.

Selfridges;

When I was visiting London I made sure that I analysed the window displays that Selfridges present themselves with along with ways of promotion and how they make the consumer enjoy there experience. I also focused on the inside of the store focusing on uniforms, staff, the services and the products that are available. With Selfridges, there is a floor for every type of product which means that I would like to place the flower service either within its own little spacing or next to the confectionery to also encourage sales within this area.
The colours black and yellow are extremely key and reinforce what Selfridges is about this is visible on all forms of promotion in store and also outside of the store to allow consumers to become aware of the brand.
These are key identifications within the store. These are the points that I will try and point out within the designs of min ensuring that I try and incorporate

These are images that I have taken from Liberty London. I also ensured that I did a close analysis around the store to ensure that I knew what was also going on within this. In particular i was focusing upon the flowers department in Liberty trying to figure out how this works and how the presentation of the store works. This allowed me to gain an understanding of what products are sold, how they are laid out and the overall aesthetics of the store.

In my opinion, this is not very big at all but this is the perfect size for the brand. The consumers are greater by a Liberty mat to support that this is part of the store and they introduced to the flowers along with the home ware section supported by this. These are all creative pieces that support what the brand is about and how they stand for what they do. They have maintained that luxury goods item within the floral section which is my plan for Selfridges. I want to carry through that elegant and sophisticated feel to ensure that this is maintained and pushed for.

Overall, my trip to london was extremely beneficial and successful and it allowed me to further my understanding of each of the brand and allow myself to see the difference between the two. It allowed me to see how Liberty have laid out their florist and allow myself some inspiration and guidelines for my own one which i will be designing shortly. This also allowed me to think of uniforms, service and the staff that would work within the florist.

When visiting Selfridges, this allowed me to see primarily what they focus on in store, the promotion and the depth of their service. So, overall this has really inspired to me push forward with my ideas and begin developing these so i have some visuals to work with and look at. This has motivated me and spurred me on to make this seem as professional and realistic as possible.

Retail Store Design - Mintel

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UK - JUNE 2007

Strengths

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Innovative designs

There is little doubt that retail designers are becoming more innovative. Increased competitive pressure in the marketplace is creating more need to differentiate and stand out in a sea of retailers which otherwise are beginning to look the same. Innovations range from ideas on the micro-level at the point-of-sale to the full scale store design level.

The most innovative new store designs in the UK tend to come from the mobile phone companies, the high tech businesses and fashion chains, although this is not exclusively the case. Retailers are becoming more experimental and prepared to innovate. Examples in the past two-three years of very innovative store designs which have broken the mould include Apple on Regent Street, the Sony flagship in Kensington and many examples of innovative ideas from fashion and sports brands stores like Niketown and adidas.

Investment in research

Retailers realise that good store design has to work on all levels – consequently there is more and more investment in research before designs are commissioned. Research among consumers looks at their emotions, attitudes and desires. Examples of companies that have invested considerable sums in research include Tesco, which has researched in detail attitudes of customers to its stores. Such research has revealed fascinating insights into better queuing systems, checkouts and customer circulation, as well as in the look and ambience of the stores.

Most retail companies also invest in some ‘test beds’ before they roll out a full store design. Usually one or two typical stores are selected as research areas where ideas can be tested and then the best ideas are rolled out across the chain. Sometimes these stores can be flagships where considerable effort is put into a lot of new ideas and the best of them are taken group wide. Examples of companies that have followed this approach include the mobile phone shops such as Vodafone and Orange.

Consumers are more design-literate

Today’s consumer is more sophisticated than ever in design terms. We are surrounded by high quality design from all sides – this includes graphics on TV, high quality websites and plenty of opportunities for consumers to learn more about how to create their own interior designs or to design the outfits that they wear. TV programmes, including Trinny & Susannah, Grand Designs and TV makeover shows, have encouraged consumers to believe that they are design experts. Consequently, consumers are more likely to respond to ever more sophisticated interior designs at retail stores. This means that retailers must inject more design competence into their store designs, but it also means that they are likely to generate better results from doing so.

The value of incorporating experience

As the nature of shopping begins to change towards an experience-based shopping trip rather than simply a marketplace where goods can be exchanged for money, more and more retailers are recognising the value of incorporating experience areas into their stores. Today’s consumer is there to be wooed, to be given a good time and to be stimulated. Selfridges has taken the lead in incorporating the experience area into its stores with fashion shows and events which embrace the whole store at a time. Other outlets, including mobile phone shops, are creating hang out areas where consumers can participate in the store, join in, put their pictures on the walls or simply spend time relaxing.

Retailers are becoming more interactive and more hands on. Ideas such as Liberty’s cosmetics area where consumers are actively encouraged to sample the products have taken the lead, but many more interactive experiences in stores are now taking shape. Mobile phones are switched on, televisions actually work, Hi-Fis can be touched and the volume altered. This is a strength in today’s store design that will become ever more important as stores need to embrace the experience of retailing for their customers.

More in-store technology

The price of technology has reduced considerably in recent years. The size and shape of technology has also changed so that it is a realistic option to put in flat screen TVs, large video walls or shelf-edge technology that can talk or has visual images. As a result, more retailers are incorporating technology into store designs – it is being used in a variety of ways from improving ambience through to delivering sales messages.

In-store technology is a growing strength in store design at present and is breeding a whole new industry of content delivery. In-store technology will continue to grow in importance and will be used in ever more sophisticated ways. It will give retailers flexibility about how to service their customers’ needs, as well as allowing customers more options in how they shop. Fundamentally, in-store technology can be used to enhance the whole design of the store and is likely to continue to be used further in this creative way.

Growth in large format general stores

As grocery retailers have added more non-foods to their stores, a growing proportion of superstores in the UK are becoming general stores. They carry non-food merchandise without specialising in depth in any particular area. This kind of retailing is opportunistic, selling certain goods to the customers that are attracted to the stores, usually for other reasons.

The growth in large format general stores is a strength for retailing in that it is popular with consumers and is growing market share. But, the down side is that large format general stores are taking away share from specialists who can offer more depth, expertise and greater choice in certain lines. Large format general stores are evolving new kinds of design, which allow flexibility of display and zoning to give customers more direction.

Weaknesses

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High costs of major refurbishments

Although the majority of retailers would like to re-design their stores more often and invest in re-fitting to a higher standard, the costs of major re-fits of retail outlets can be prohibitive. Because the lifespan of store design is reducing in order to alleviate boredom and allow retailers to move on more quickly, retailers are seeking more cost-effective solutions to store re-design. The costs of a luxurious re-fit can be excessive and retailers must generate a return on their investment from store design and interior re-fits. Consequently, the high costs are a negative factor for many retailers, they represent too much risk and retailers cannot usually justify luxurious, high cost interiors. So, the industry must constantly compromise, looking for good looking solutions which will be sufficiently durable, but which can be changed at a reasonable price in the near future.

Time and budget taken to refit large stores

Shop makeovers are costly. The range of refits varies from as low as £50 per sq ft to over £600 or £700 per sq ft. Also, shop refitting takes time and can be disruptive to current trade. Suppliers are getting slicker and better at moving in with a solution and refitting within a rapid time frame. Even so disruption is a realistic down side to store refits and can affect short-term results for business. For instance, John Lewisreported the effects of disruption during its large refits in recent years. Also, the budget to refit a large store can be considerable. If you operate a department store or a major retail space, the refit budget can be prohibitive, consequently refitting a whole store at once might be an unrealistic proposal and therefore the benefits of opening a shiny, bright, new large store may have to be compromised in favour of refitting department by department on a rolling basis.

Growth in online shopping

Online shopping is certainly growing in the UK at the moment. It has its plusses and minuses in the context of store design. Online shopping is popular with consumers and consequently is likely to continue to take market share, but at the same time it takes browsers away from the stores. It reduces foot traffic in the high street and shopping centres, so it reduces the number of opportunities that real shops have to appeal to shoppers walking through the stores and to sell to passing trade.

Little loyalty

Today’s consumer has a lower boredom threshold for shopping than ever before and loyalty levels are reducing. Consumers are fickle and will move from store to store to shop for reasons such as special offers, discounts and price. The Internet encourages more consumers to look around for the lowest prices and so retail loyalty can be reduced. It is a challenge for store design to improve the loyalty of shoppers, tying in multi-channel retail experiences to good design in order to encourage shoppers to return automatically to their store.

Environmental concerns

Today’s consumer is bombarded by a wide range of environmental messages by the media. Environmental concerns affect all sorts of consumerism and consumers are aware of food miles, the costs of operating air conditioning or the potential down side of retailers putting in furniture that may have been made from wood from non-sustainable sources. Tomorrow’s consumer is set to be more environmentally aware, organic and greener. There are already examples of store designs that are taking a greener approach from shopping schemes which propose grass roofs and submerged buildings through to individual shops which use more natural day light or solar panels. There is little doubt that for the future, environmental issues should be incorporated into store designs with designers and retailers looking to boost their environmental credentials.

Specialists losing share

As the large general retailers, especially Tesco, Asda and Argos, continue to grow share of retailing in the UK, specialists are losing out. Consequently, specialised environments which are designed specifically in depth, with wide ranges of merchandise, are becoming fewer compared with general stores which are less product-specific. So, the opportunity to create specialised interiors is reducing in today’s retail climate.