W for Woman

Founded in 2001, W For Woman came into being with a vision to stay ahead of the fashion curve and “provide fashion in a modern retail environment to the Indian woman”. They’ve been on a journey to bring western sensibilities and forecasts, and package them into an Indian silhouette for a modern woman.

Moving beyond being a purely clothing brand, W wanted to deepen its relationship by launching a cosmetics range of products. However, to achieve this, W required an in-store display solution that would align perfectly with their brand identity. However, the ask wasn’t just to showcase their cosmetic range, but to influence shopper behavior by rewarding exploration and converting trials into conversions. 

Understanding The Consumer

As the goal was to influence our consumer into taking a particular action, we had to understand the consumer in two contexts - outside the store’s vicinity, and within the store - to connect store ergonomics & other retail influencing factors with behavior.

Speaking of behavior, we understood that the shopper journey is multi-touch and non-linear. Therefore, non-linearity had to be countered by boosting discoverability and increasing their dwell time by providing product testing opportunities. 

While the ‘behavioral analysis’ was universal, W wasn’t dealing with a single type of consumer, but many. Instead of segmenting consumers into purely demographic buckets, we took motivation as the primary aspect and created 4 different consumer profiles:

1. Traditional shopper
   While interested, this shopper isn’t invested in ‘beauty and personal care’. Their interaction would primarily be dependent on cost.
2. Beginner shopper
   This shopper has just started on their ‘beauty and personal care’ journey. Thus, they would require inspiration and reassurance.
3. Beauty-Addicted shopper
   They’re fairly mature in their journey, invested in ‘the beauty and personal care’ journey, and engage in beauty trends. They need a community, as they’re influenced by word of mouth.
4. Fashionista/Professional shopper
   They’re the experts, not by profession but passion. They aspire to own premium brands and, therefore, require an aspirational experience.

Shaping the experience

An experience falls either under Solace, Acceptance, Liberty, Advancement, or a mix of these. These are the 4 emotional pillars of making an experience. Building on these pillars, we created a universe out of the aforementioned 4 to figure out the best mix that would describe W’s in-store experience.

Following an extensive discussion, we recommend the ‘Platform x Cult x Visionary x Magic Lamp’ experience mix, as it would not only highlight W’s products and their qualities, but convert the product into something that people connect with for longer and are proud to be associated with.

Basing our foundation on the recommended experience mix, we derived in-store application pillars:

1. Modularity
   A modular design would assist the brand in scaling the size up or down, as per the needs
2. Tech Enhancement
   Tech add-ons will assist in enhancing the consumer experience journey while interacting with the unit
3. Brand-and-Journey-oriented
   While the unit has to influence consumer behavior, it also has to be subtle enough to merge with the existing store design
4. Amalgamation of Textures
   Embracing natural elements within the texture mix would improve the touch and feel, and inculcate values of aspiration into the products.

The result

After conducting a consumer analysis and finalizing on the experience angle, we came up with a modular, premium display table that was inspired by their rotatable chair to bring uniformity in design, and draped with a mix of natural textures, all in modern design sensibilities. 

The SKUs that are to be displayed are placed in a clear acrylic casing for a clear product callout. It was also equipped with a digital display screen, try-on, and test zones to reward consumers with a fulfilling experience 

Throughout the design process, we prioritized how the unit would be perceived by and influence the customers, and through that, we were able to convert W’s display unit into an experience-first touchpoint.