Miele Experience Centre Design
By FITCH - London
For Miele
Winner in category Design & Branding
In subcategory Environments - Retail Permanent
Project Description
Heading out of town to pick a fridge in a retail park isn’t necessarily everyone’s idea of a good time. So FITCH designed Miele’s Experience Centres: smaller stores in high-footfall locations that could exhibit everything that’s great about large household products in a reduced physical space.
Miele’s designers may be among the best in the world, but even they can’t shrink a fridge freezer to the size of a cereal box.
Nonetheless, that was the challenge presented by the company’s Experience Centres. How to get as much of the great Miele appliance experience into a smaller store format that still allowed for a lot of customer traffic and a full demonstration of everything the German design gurus have to offer.
Miele’s designers may be among the best in the world, but even they can’t shrink a fridge freezer to the size of a cereal box.
Nonetheless, that was the challenge presented by the company’s Experience Centres. How to get as much of the great Miele appliance experience into a smaller store format that still allowed for a lot of customer traffic and a full demonstration of everything the German design gurus have to offer.
Agency Solution
The first Miele Experience Centre opened in Toronto, Canada in July 2018. From the first sketch to the moment we flipped the switch in-store, FITCH’s fingerprints were all over this project. Taking a ‘digital first but human at heart’ mindset, we combined intelligent use of digital and human interaction balanced with an edited product collection to create a seamless experience.
We leveraged the power of digital to help customers delve deeper into Miele’s sophisticated technologies, combining this with top quality physical product experiences for that all-important hands-on feel, and expert advice on the ground that ranged from kitchen planning to techniques for producing the perfect roast dinner.
We’re particularly proud of the content created for the digital touchpoints – touchpoints that we believe haven’t been seen before anywhere in retail.
For instance, by teaching customers how to cook something simple, the interactive hob also demonstrates different product benefits, as well as showcasing a full range of related products not displayed in-store. Similarly, the washing machine display helps customers learn about the product easily through a playful and intriguing interactive experience; vivid infographic animation content brings each component to life, capturing the unique selling points. Even the lighting and ambient videos in-store change to reflect the time of day.
They say getting customers to imagine how they might live with your products is key to a sale. In the Miele Experience Centre there’s little need for imagination as customers come and live - however briefly - in a Miele world.
We leveraged the power of digital to help customers delve deeper into Miele’s sophisticated technologies, combining this with top quality physical product experiences for that all-important hands-on feel, and expert advice on the ground that ranged from kitchen planning to techniques for producing the perfect roast dinner.
We’re particularly proud of the content created for the digital touchpoints – touchpoints that we believe haven’t been seen before anywhere in retail.
For instance, by teaching customers how to cook something simple, the interactive hob also demonstrates different product benefits, as well as showcasing a full range of related products not displayed in-store. Similarly, the washing machine display helps customers learn about the product easily through a playful and intriguing interactive experience; vivid infographic animation content brings each component to life, capturing the unique selling points. Even the lighting and ambient videos in-store change to reflect the time of day.
They say getting customers to imagine how they might live with your products is key to a sale. In the Miele Experience Centre there’s little need for imagination as customers come and live - however briefly - in a Miele world.