Ralph Lauren has taken over the 15 window displays at Harrods on London’s Brompton Road to support the launch of its Polo Ralph Lauren line using mobile proximity technology.
To mark the designer’s expansion to now include Polo for women, Ralph Lauren called upon Harrods’ previous experience in digital marketing. The brand is striving to connect with shoppers via their smartphones by offering exclusive and interactive content as well as an out of hours’ opportunity to enrich their luxury shopping experience.
Guy Cheston, Harrods Media Sales Director explains: “Customers are using mobile and digital technology more and more, so we are keen to explore new ways for brands to interact with our customers whilst they visit the store. It’s great to be able to reach out to passers-by, even when the store is closed and build brand loyalty and excite customers into the store, or for a return visit.”
Combining the popular proximity commerce technologies Near Field Communications (NFC) and QR codes provided by mobile marketing, loyalty and NFC payments company Proxama, each window is displaying large vinyl lenticulars and stickers allowing consumers to tap or scan the display to initiate a landing page on their smartphones. In doing so, shoppers are being offered an interactive map guiding them to the Fashion Lab, a recently launched area within Harrods where the collection is located. The landing page also links to the Harrods mobile website so that shoppers walking by the window display can access the collection when the store is closed.
This is the second time Harrods has ventured a mobile proximity digital initiative alongside Proxama, following the success of the Harrods Handbag Narrative campaign, which resulted in more than 400 downloads in just a few weeks.
Proxama is using its TapPoint platform to provide Harrods with a view of the complete user journey and granular campaign analytics. Ralph Lauren and Harrods will be able to track the progress of the campaign in real time, to ensure they are achieving a maximum return on investment.
Miles Quitmann, CCO, Proxama comments: “The combination of a luxury fashion brand and a globally recognised department store demonstrates the versatility of this type of technology. By offering consumers the opportunity to find the Polo range in-store and online, Harrods is combining its physical and digital assets, reaching consumers through the channel of their choice. Initiatives like this are relevant and connect with today’s digital shopper to help enhance confidence in this technology, as it becomes more widespread.”
Harrods’ Cheston concludes: “Luxury brands are well known for being conservative, rightly protecting their precious brand values. A few years back, it was a challenge to get luxury brands to promote via digital screens in-store due to sensitivities over adjacencies with competing brands, but this is not an issue any longer. They see the impact, and high value in such a dynamic medium that drives retail sales in-store.”
