As part of our series on Health and Beauty retailing, we continue to delve into brands that boast innovation and experiences for consumers, as well as how they invite us to the shop floor and creating a memorable visit. Exploring the physical retail landscape, investigating what brands and retailers are doing and how they are maximising consumer experience helps complement Pivotal’s Experience Essentials.

Within our Experience Essentials research, we aim to look at how brands utilise the 5 foundation ingredients of Visibility, Accessibility, Immersion, Personalisation and Transparency to maximise their experiences commercial long term potential.

At Pivotal, we can enable brands to maximise their purpose, educate and explore product offers and give the consumer a reason to purchase. Our abilities to elevate brands to effectively communicate their objective is what we specialise in. As part of our marketing strategy, we make sure to look at what others can achieve.

Primark introduced their world’s biggest store, as well as it being their new Flagship store, this time- Birmingham!

With Primark still showcasing their full range of products covering Women’s, Men’s, Kidswear, Homeware – this store was able to endorse and shout about their other store experiences such as their Beauty studio with experts Duck and Dry, a barbershop in collaboration with Joe Mills and three unique dining experiences – one being Primark and another being the new Disney Café.

If you are looking for a bit of pampering on your shopping day, instead of visiting a beauty salon, why not take advantage of their Beauty Studio. Duck and Dry offers three essential services, inclusive of their signature blow dry and braid bar, brows and lashes, as well as manicures and pedicures. The Duck squad offers a range of on-trend blow dry looks. To name a few: bouncy Beaut, Straight Down, Wave Wonder and braids will include Braid-a-Licious, Halo Braid and Duck TAILS.

File Xpress and Duck offer a range of express manufacture, pedicures and gel polishes, as well as Nail art. Lashes and brows can be preened by Duck and Pluck Express, with services inclusive of tinting, lash add-ons and threading. This gives the customer a 1-stop-shop service, allowing them to get their hair, nails and brows down at one destination.

We all get peckish on our shopping trips. Instead of walking around aimlessly and struggling to decide where to eat, why not take advantage of Primark’s new restaurants. ‘The Mezz Café’ is located at the top of the escalator on the mezzanine floor and offers pastries, frappes, coffees – giving you both the option to takeaway or dine in!

If you wander down to the lower ground floor, then you will come across The Mezz Restaurant which is hands down the best place if you are partial to a cooked breakfast. You can also pop in for a quick bite to eat on your lunch break or need to re-fuel, before continuing your shopping spree. This restaurant offers more substantial meals such as burritos, cooked pizzas, salads and other meal choices.

However, on the first floor you can find the Primark Café which serves more light bites inclusive of sandwiches, cakes and paninis. The real ‘wow factor’ of Primark is that you can personalise and create your own delicious doughnuts in their spray bar, this is inclusive of icing, sprinkles, and chocolate arrangements. A great excursion for the little ones to try out too!

Primarket

On the top final floor, you will come across their ‘magical’ dining experience. You get to walk through Micky Mouse’s large ears where you enter the Disney Café.

Disney Café

This café offers a range of nutritious and a healthy menu for all the family to enjoy – another great location in store for the children to enjoy! Should they need more entertaining, they can enjoy its interactive worktops which showcase child friendly activities and games as well as a play zone floor space.

If you take a short walk over on the same floor then you will come across the Disney merch concession, specifically Mickey Mouse dedicated. This area immerses itself in the Disney theme and depicts its Micky Mouse branding across all clothing merch, the perfect destination to those that love this theme.

Mickey Mouse Merch

Primark’s merchandising team had really taken focus on making sure that this space attracted its customers. The Disney black and white branding creates a bold and stand-out awareness, as well as being flexible and inclusive for both girls and boy’s wear ability.

Gold accents complimented the black and white theme, the metal poles which were mounted and fixed to the ceiling helped hold the clothing rail and product showcases up to maintain sturdiness.

The large gold Mickey Mouse ears hang down proudly from the ceiling raft, which not only creates impact, but also helps break up the dead space between high eye line and the clothing racks.

Across the back wall includes large LED Mickey Mouse ears which also enhances the Disney brand and add theatre to the shop floor. The illuminated ears also add more light and brightness to the concession, as well as helping break up dead space on the white walls. The ears also halo around the mannequins on display, which creates added influence.

Wellness

Revitalise and refresh your daily routine with our collection of wellness products. From sustainable workout kit and organic cotton bedding, to recyclable glass bathroom essentials and soothing cruelty free and vegan friendly beauty products. We’ve got everything you need to take your self-care game up a notch, de-stress and turn your home into your serene oasis. Scroll on to see how you can spend a day embracing wellness.

The Wellness category across the Retail landscape has taken off over the last 2-3 years and consumers truly appreciate the thought and consideration for this subject.

Wellness is about peace of mind, and however you would like to interpret this, this comes in many different forms. From touching base through a Spiritual perception, perhaps taking on Yoga or any other Athleisure hobby – Wellness items help cover this aspect with soft and sustainable workout wear.

To have a clean house, is scientifically proven to affect the way we think and behave. ‘Clean house, clean mind.’

Primark’s Wellness line also includes a homeware range which can help you achieve a calm, clutter free home which can help transform areas and zones in your home with an aesthetically pleasing touch.

Keeping fit and maintaining a relationship with the outdoors and natural surroundings is proven to help your state of mind. Getting outside and breathing fresh air is always a good idea. You can wear Primark’s Wellness collection, which is described as ‘cosy yet chic’ loungewear.

Relaxing in a bath or taking a long shower is also proven to help reduce stress, help inflammation, and increases blood circulation. All these benefits will help relaxation purposes, and whilst there are many brands that offer a sumptuous range which highlights home and a spa-like experiences, Primark offer great alternatives at a fraction of a price.

Indulging in self-care is something that all of us do either from time to time, or daily. This can boil down to a skin care routine, and whilst most health and beauty brands are hot on this for both reasons of makeup application or for general skin health, the retail landscape for cosmetics is extremely saturated, and can be overwhelming for some. Primark offers a skincare line through both their standard range, as well as now in their Wellness line. Taking good care of yourself brings plenty of well-being benefits, as well as feeling refreshed and pampered.

A good nights’ sleep is the secret to great health and piece of mind. Relaxation in every form is good for the soul, however switching off completely at the end of the day is extremely important, and the clothing you wear is complimentary to this. This is your time to totally disconnect from daily goings-on and slip into Primark’s Wellness sustainable sleepwear, designed, and created from soft, breathable, and sustainable fabrics mean that you are guaranteed a good nights’ sleep.

Custom Lab

Personalisation is something that we can all appreciate, in whatever form the personalisation can take place – we always like to explore this option in one way or another. Maybe you are struggling for a gift and creating a bespoke product or amending an item to include their name or designing something in their favourite colour is always received in a more heartfelt way.

Primark, Birmingham now features their own Custom Lab on the shop floor. You can get your very own screen printed and digitally made clothing with the help of an advisor at this station. Should you wish for your top to have the Star Wars logo applied to your top – they can do this for you, in store and in a quick turn-around!

What we have discovered is an experience store, rather than the typical shopping store. As Primark shifts with the times and understanding the consumer, our overall opinion is that more stores should include such inspiration as this – giving the consumer a well-rounded and diverse experience. Well done to Primark on their influential commitment.

This store overall has ticked 5 ingredient boxes that we look out for -

• Visibility - (Mickey Mouse ears and bespoke unitary depicting around a topic/launch)
• Personalisation - (Giving the consumer a personalisation option with Custom Lab)
• Experience - (Enhancing the consumers shopping experience i.e. The Salon, Restaurants, Disney Café, Custom Lab)
• Trends - (Highlighting trends such as the Wellness category)
• Thought - (Becoming the biggest Primark store offering 5 floors for Primark fashion and experiences)

We look forward to seeing what others brands step up and give us, the consumer a more dedicated shopping experience.

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