JOIN USStyle Studio wows with virtual mirror
Redefining the shopping experience via omnichannel apparel retailing, Madura Fashion and Lifestyle, a unit of Aditya Birla Group company Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL), unveiled its first flagship experience store Van Heusen Style Studio in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Interacting with Deccan Herald, Chief Operating Officer of Van Heusen and People, Vijay A Bhopatkar, said the ultra-modern store, which is located in Indiranagar, offers an immersive shopping experience using cutting-edge technology.
“This would be the one and only store across apparel brands, not only in India but also across the globe. We have global brands which are also running flagship stores, but haven’t deployed so much technology under one roof. It will really set an international benchmark,” he said.
Style Studio has brought in cutting-edge technologies via virtual mirror, fits scanner, tablet-bearing sales assistants, virtual trial room, etc., and combined it with personalised interactions.
‘Virtual Mirror’
The store has brought in lots of content development, touchscreens to order online, software integration for personal analytics, etc. But it is the virtual mirror that stands at the forefront which wows the customer.
Customers choose the style by category, colour, patterns, fabric, and move on to the full-length ‘Virtual Trial Mirror’, where the shirts, tees or trousers selected, can be virtually previewed on themselves without stepping into a physical trial room.
This means that he/she stands in front of the virtual mirror and scans the barcode on the mirror’s console, and the garment virtually appears on the customer’s reflection, allowing him/her to decide on the colour and pattern to choose from.
When the customer enters the Van Heusen Style Studio, he/she is given an option to register and create a customer ID that would allow him/her to record all purchases and selections made during visits to the store.
17 sizes in 5 fits
Bhopatkar said the company has 275 Van Heusen stores, a mix of company owned and company operated (COCO), and franchisee models. Every year the company opens 50 new stores and 80 percent of them are franchisee stores.
“We are a Rs 1,000-crore brand. We are growing at 10 per cent. We have our online division with Trendin.com and revenues from that is only three per cent,” he said.
The Van Heusen Style Studio provides 17 sizes in five fits, which is not available in any other brands. Customers have the option to choose their colour and cuff. My Fit orders can be placed at the store and the delivery can be made to doorsteps within seven days.
DH News Service
“We have presence in 120 cities and every year we will expand our presence to at least 20 cities. Our division also exports products to Middle East and South Asia. But this is only six to eight per cent of our business. We produce 50 per cent of merchandise in our own factories, and the rest with our vendors,” said Bhopatkar.
Kumar Mangalam Birla, who recently took majority stake in Pantaloons Fashion and Retail from Future Group, is in the process of creating a new entity called Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.
Madura Fashion (the branded apparel retail division of ABNL) and Madura Lifestyle (the luxury branded apparel retailing arm of Madura Garments Lifestyle) will be carved out of their respective companies and merged with Pantaloons Fashion and Retail.
After the restructuring, Pantaloons Fashion will be renamed Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.
The company plans to add five more Van Heusen Style Studios next year. The store was designed jointly with FITCH Singapore and Experiential Design Lab in Delhi.