Bringing you the best of Christmas 2012 retail communication from Paris
December 2012 – with our shopper hat on we visited the festive stores of Paris, home of style and elegance to see what we could learn for 2013 and beyond. We shopped until we dropped, looking at windows, POS, pricing, promotions, displays and discovering what made us want to buy … or not.
The department stores of the Boulevard Haussmann were true to form, with their opulent window displays attracting hundreds of visitors each day. This year Galeries Lafayette teamed with Louis Vuitton whilst Printemps aligned itself with the House of Dior. If windows truly tell a story that makes you want to read more then these highly orchestrated displays certainly delivered. Sound, light, movement, three dimensional depth, cabaret, dancing bears – they had it all. Each window had its own story to tell and left the shopper gasping for more.
Windows had a major role to play this year with a distinct trend for animals – from soft toys to inflatables to stuffed pheasants in a cook store window. Our favourite had to be Ikks store with its 3d card dog wrapped in a gift box being taken for a walk by its mannequin pulling on a glitter scarf “lead”. It hero-ed the product, it created depth, yet it was simple, fun and had great standout.
We saw Christmas trees made from coat hangers, products of the week floating in an LED moon, and Father Christmas driving a beaten up VW Camper!
POS was simple and to the point. Wobblers and fins helped simple classification. The health and beauty stores were making shopping easy by top ten and bestseller displays. Pricing was very discount led but good strong loyalty card links were visible from advance discounts and previews to exclusive cardholder offers. Again the health and beauty stores maintained charity links with a variety of soft toy accessories.
Whilst technology and innovation seemed to be on the back foot in general, they were clearly visible in the car showrooms. Shopper research keeps telling us that bricks and mortar need to deliver more of an experience, and we needed to look no further than the likes of Renault and Citroen for interaction, engagement, iPads, projections, interactive screens, 3d glasses and 4d cinema. To top it all was the more than impressive Italian car pop-up shop which integrated an exhibition with merchandise sales, vehicle information with remote controlled racing, iPad sales promoters with a themed coffee shop and restaurant – many happy hours of browsing, shopping, chilling and sharing the experience.
If you missed Paris this year then you really need to read the full report we made. There are over 500 photos and some great insight to help in your 2012 Christmas reviews and 2013 planning. Contact us today to find out how to purchase your own copy of the full 140+ page report – Helen@pinkflamingoshopper.com