ISABELLE SALLARD, EDITOR, INTERNETRETAILING.FR
Social media is really making a mark in French “boutiques”. And the move is coming from very different brands. On 1 March, the Karl Lagerfeld brand, opened its new concept store in the very centre of Paris, near the Saint Germain neighborhood, offering visitors “The Virtual Window on Karl Lagerfeld” digital experience. This 200 square metres new area includes a series of digital innovations developed under the artistic direction of the designer with digital agency Emakina. These can be seen, for the agency, as “a relational platform between customers, brand, fan communities and influencers.”
The innovations include “Karl’s Booth”; in each dressing room a touch-screen allows customers to take a photo of their look, apply a digital filter and finally share it with friends by email and on social networks. Guests can also enjoy the “Karl’s Interactive” at which they are invited, on a iPad, to share their feelings, express their commitment to the brand or just leave a message for the designer on a digital guestbook. They can also control a giant video wall from which they can scroll through collections, news and videos. The latest innovation “The Kollection” allows consumers to explore all the looks from the collection with iPad minis placed everywhere in the store. These tablets can identify particular items that are not available in stores at the time of their visit. Finally, each customer can pay for their purchases with the mobile-terminal equipped staff.
During the same month, Kiabi, a famous French cheap clothes retailer, launched its “Kiabi Fan Selection” which allows consumers to review products on the web directly from the shops. In a dedicated interactive area, a selection of articles is presented and, using a touch pad, customers can connect to their Facebook account and then “like” the products and vote for their favourite one among the selection displayed. In this specific area, each item is connected to a small screen that shows in real-time the number of likes previously assigned to the product by the customer community.
