selfridges
A digital makeover that produced flawless results for Selfridges Beauty Hall, The Trafford Centre.
Named Best Department Store in the World four times, and the first Selfridges outside London, Selfridges Trafford Centre is number one for designer brands, stylish homeware, gourmet food and its infamous beauty hall.
the challenge
Selfridges wanted to makeover their beaty hall, located in the Trafford Centre, one of the busiest shopping centres in the North of England, to enhance their customer experience and give beauty brands a high impact, but consistent digital platform on which to display their creative marketing.
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A key component of this project was that Selfridges wanted to retain oversight of the various brands’ content, to ensure that the beauty hall environment could be managed in line with Selfridges brand and customer expectations.
Our Approach
Thanks to a successful long-term partnership with one of our clients, L’Oréal, we had already installed various digital solutions throughout the various Selfridges Beauty Halls. It was due to this experience that L’Oréal recommended us to Selfridges as they looked to embarked on their refurbishment.
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Selfridges’ concept for the space revolved around the creation of a consistent approach to the digital merchandising for each of their partner brands, with a double-sided digital totem forming the centrepiece of each concession space. From their concept renders, we went on to design and manufacture a double-sided totem display prototype, using 46” video wall displays, and worked closely with the main building contractors to progress from prototype to finished design. Much of the detail changes revolved around the methods needed to mount the totem safely on to the floor, whilst also allowing access to the digital components for long-term maintenance.
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Each totem features 8 NEC 46” ultra-narrow bezel video wall displays, with a total of 22 totems to be installed. The totems would be positioned throughout the beauty hall, and design considerations were given to the associated cable routing and media player containment, to ensure access was available for maintenance. The content on the displays would be controlled via the SCALA software platform and allow seamless automation and scheduling of content. Scala was also configured to provide a fully automated, redundant playback system, for best reliability.
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With the beauty hall housing a multitude of brands, it was imperative that each totem’s aesthetic matched that of its owner. This was achieved through the customisation of the outer skin and backlit LED logo header panels of the design. Each brand-owner was consulted by the Pixel project manager to agree on the appropriate style, with a sample of the proposed finishes being sent for approval before the totem was subsequently manufactured and installed. Project leaders from Selfridges were heavily involved in the concept design as well as ensuring it offered cohesive identity essential to the project.
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Selfridges also asked us to undertake the installation of an 84” display that sits as a focal point within the beauty hall, named ‘Beauty Insider’ and often used to display live events and makeovers happening within the store. This large format solution incorporates a microphone audio system, allowing it to be controlled locally, or to display scheduled content promoting the Selfridges brand.
Lastly, we also worked with various brands who had concession spaces in areas of the Beauty Hall that couldn’t accommodate a totem display. One such brand was Huda Beauty, for whom we designed and installed a multi-screen video wall, installed along the perimeter of their space.
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After a long consultation period, and working incredibly closely with the beauty brands themselves, in May 2018 Phase 1 of the refurbishment was completed and the beauty hall opened to the public with its new digital assets. In July 2018 Phase 2 was unveiled which saw the completion of the project and allowed Selfridges to fully launch and benefit from its digital transformation.
The Outcome
Since the completion of the project back in 2018, Pixel have been responsible for the rigorous brand guideline checks that must be carried out for each content and campaign update. This requires in-depth understating of the Selfridges brand and a thorough understanding of how the displays function to achieve seamless display performance.
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We also continue to provide the creative content design and production for many of the brands within the beauty hall, including, L’Oréal, Georgia Armani, Lancôme and La Prairie.
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We continue to manage and support all of the displays we installed, both during the day and outside of trading hours, to ensure the displays are working at all times.
