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UGG brings interactive signage to new concept store

The first-ever UGG Australia technology-driven concept store opened last month in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, featuring interactive digital signage touchscreens and giving shoppers the ability to customize their favorite styles.

December 5, 2014 by Christopher Hall — w, t

UGG Australia parent Deckers Brands opened to the omnichannel experience store in the Tysons Galleria shopping center to serve as Deckers' second "Innovation Lab" — the first was the company's brand showcase store in the Santa Barbara, California area — to pilot new omnichannel models, merchandising approaches and innovations that can be deployed across company-owned retail locations.

"Omnichannel isn't just a catchphrase for Deckers; it's an integral part of our culture of innovation and our retail strategy — one that we've made investments in for more than five years now — to engage with our consumers with respect to their preferred shopping channel," said Dave Powers, president of omnichannel for Deckers Brands, in the announcement. "That strategy is on full display at the UGG store, where we are merging the best of digital and physical shopping experiences, and setting the foundation for future omni capabilities across our brands."

The 2,110-square-foot store is now open to the public, and is designed to underscore Deckers' commitment to delivering compelling products to consumers through seamless shopping experiences, the company said. The store's aesthetic is complemented by interactive digital enhancements that are intended to introduce elements of online shopping into the physical brick-and-mortar store. The store gives shoppers access to the nearly 230 SKUs on display, as well as "Infinite UGG" products – an "endless aisle" of merchandise not found in-store. The product assortment also is heightened by two UGG customization programs:

The "UGG By You" program places the consumer in control of the design process to make their mark on five classic styles of UGGS.
The "Bling It On" program enables consumers to transform their UGG staples through a selection of Swarovski crystal patterns and looks.

The store also features radio-frequency identification technology that allows consumers trying on merchandise to view digitally triggered content on four 65-inch HD touchscreens throughout the store, including productinformation and options, style tips, videos, related marketing campaigns and suggested complementary products. Consumers can send themselves SMS texts with a product link right from the HD screens. Deckers Brands partnered with Control Group, a New York-based technology and design consultancy, to create the interactive intelligence solutions incorporated into the RFID tags and touchscreens.

The Washington Post recently dropped by the new store, and found a shopper browsing the company's full line via touchscreen after not being able to find a particular color in-store.

"I can read the reviews and look for different colors," Eva Burns of Harrisonburg, Virginia, told the newspaper. "And I can look things up myself instead of having someone else do it for me."

UGG sales associates will be equipped with iPads to attend to product questions, provide customer service support and complete e-commerce purchase transactions for items not available on the sales floor, according to the company announcement. In addition, consumers will have access to free Wi-Fi while shopping so they can connect with their social channels and share their shopping experiences. When the consumer's journey moves from the sales floor to the checkout, transactions of in-stock merchandise will be completed on tablets, and select Infinite UGG orders can be shipped overnight for free or picked up in-store.

"We find that the D.C. consumer is very tech-savvy," Powers told The Post. "It's a good opportunity for us to test some of our digital capabilities."

"We think it's going to be a great way for customers to get a more complete shopping experience," Control Group's Charlie Miller told the paper. "By making all of this information — which is typically only accessible online — available to them, we can create a much more holistic shopping experience."

One of the key challenges of these kinds of in-store technology deployments is making the experience as seamless as possible, so customers don't see using touchscreens or mobile apps as more work for them, Miller said in the newspaper article.

"The technology should do its role without the customer even realizing it," he said. "We see this as the first step in a new retail experience that's powered by technology."

Watch a brief video of the in-store technology in action, below: