Nordstrom Beauty Department
What happens when you refocus on service, not just selling?
You give beauty a makeover.
Client: Nordstrom (2015)
Agency: Hornall Anderson
Project Type: Retail Experience & Innovation
Overview:
Faced with a shifting landscape in an important category for their business, Nordstrom partnered with Hornall Anderson to uncover how today's consumer defines an exceptional beauty experience. The result was a broad space and service design initiative that enhanced the shopping experience for target consumers. A low-fidelity experience prototype was built to test and iterate the design with staff and consumers along with other stakeholders. The design was then piloted in 8 stores in 2014 and rolled out to about 30 locations. I was a primary lead in winning the work along with guiding and overseeing the experience prototype and co-leading the overall relationship
Responsibilities:
Pitch, proposals and business development
Overall project owner, 3D-design lead, prototyping
Creative direction and concept ideation
Executive and core-team presentations
Resourcing and project management
Coordination with architects, store planning, and vendor agencies
Experience prototyping
A warehouse was used to fully mock-up and test the experience: new roles, fixtures, and services as well as digital prototypes and discussion with partner brands and senior leadership. The 8K sq. ft. space became a lab for future innovation activities.
Space, Service, Story experience prototyping and testing with customers
Nordstrom’s Beauty POV
The solution was ultimately manifest as a newly created "Nordstrom at the Core" area inserted into the department to enable Nordstrom's POV to be front-and-center. While retail space is costly, customers valued the brand’s opinions and curation, and were willing to pay for it.
In-store Pilots
Fixtures, content, and service protocols were rolled out in eight stores initially in 2014/15, and have since evolved and rolled out nationwide. Beauty Concierge services created new roles and revenue streams and have shown continued profitability.
Renderings & refinements
Various options for Core fixture elements were evaluated in the mock setting. Fixtures were prototyped for heights, site lines and special inserts. High fidelity renderings and design intent drawings were created for fixtures and core elements and handed off to the internal store design team.
