Premier Retail

Mamas and Papas

Mamas and Papas
Written by Roma Publications

Mamas and Papas – Stunning ‘new arrival’

Mamas and Papas

A major new innovatively designed 5,000 sq ft flagship store for brand-leading specialists Mamas and Papas at Westfield White City, London, has already prompted positive customer feedback and significantly increased sales.

The store, which sells products including prams, pushchairs, baby clothing, nursery furniture and accessories, children’s wear and maternity wear, features an imaginatively designed interior created by Dalziel and Pow, and expertly installed by fit out contractors The Hurst Group and Vitra.

Jo Randall of Dalziel & Pow said: “This is a landmark change for the brand, and so far customer feedback has been really positive. Customers are engaging exactly as we wanted them to, which solidify the design choices we have made.

“Staff love the new store, and confirm that the new design is much easier to sell from, which is evident from the significant increase in sales.

“Our client is over the moon with the new store and sees this as a significant turning point for the brand. This is the first of a number of exciting projects between Dalziel and Pow and Mamas and Papas, and we are hoping to be long-term brand partners taking them on the road to increased success in the future.”

Dalziel & Pow’s design concept for the store is geared to inspire and support young families. Created with Millennials in mind, the store provides a digitally-enhanced, full-service shopping experience to inspire confidence and support young families as they navigate the world of parenting.

The concept is tailored to Mamas and Papas’ core customer demographic of tech-savvy, experience-driven 28-35 year olds, delivering the superior service, interactivity and community that these consumers have come to expect from retail today.

An open, welcoming storefront, easily accessible for parents with pushchairs, invites Westfield shoppers to discover the brand’s contemporary approach to nursery retail.

Jo Randall said: “The journey through the store is naturally divided into three worlds: ‘Baby Fashion’, ‘Baby Out and About’, and ‘Baby Home’.

“Soft, tactile materials, and considered lighting openly welcomes parents and parents-to-be. Emotive art direction, together with simplified and informative communication adds a sense of connection between the brand and the customer.”

The journey begins with ‘Baby Fashion’ – a fashion boutique, featuring curated product bundles, aptly named ‘bundles of joy’. Moving wall projections of digital clouds transforming into animal forms bring an appropriately soft touch of technology to the space.

Next is the ‘Baby Out and About’ section, with a raft of engaging new tools help to promote this key category and demystify choices for parents-to-be, by drawing on the brand’s long-standing expertise.

Jo Randall commented: “There is a noticeable step change in this section, where functionality and service becomes key. Digital touchscreens on long marble top tables allow the customer to explore the full range, or work as a tool to assist staff.

Mamas and Papas

“For example, a touchscreen ‘Pushchair Finder’ questions each customer about themselves, their lifestyle and their child to help find, edit and select the best travel products for them, using animations and illustrations to make the process more compelling.”

Similarly, animated wall projections of a pushchair being put through the elements, relay detailed product information imaginatively, communicating Mamas and Papas’ rigorous product testing in order to inspire trust and confidence.

Meanwhile, a new digital measuring tool provides a fun, interactive feature for children to play with in-store, matching up their size to a cast of animal characters, while also providing a way of checking height and weight for car seats. Parents can also test out car seats and learn how to install them in-context, in a cut-out Mini installed on the shop floor.

“The digital height and weight tool is a playful interactive addition, designed to entertain kids, whilst accurately gathering information to allow customers to purchase the right car seat,” said Jo Randall.

The ‘Baby Home’ section transports parents to their perfect nursery, using domestic-style room sets covering ‘sleeping’, ‘bathing’, ‘feeding’ and ‘playing’, with take-away postcards promoting the full product range, and helpful tips placed among the displays.

As a flexible environment with moveable fixtures, this part of the store can accommodate events to gather the parenting community, becoming a place for mums to meet locally for peer-to-peer support.

“The ‘Baby Home’ section takes a fresh look at selling furniture and interiors ranges in an inspirational way,” said Jo Randall.

She added: “The department is small, but by using soft fabric walls we have been able to create a number of flexible spaces that tell a variety of product stories. Large floor to ceiling wardrobes allow the presentation of extended range stories, and a layer of communications bring the product to life, educating and highlighting features and benefits based on day to day life.”

Working to the interior designer’s concept, store interior specialists Tego used their specialist expertise to develop, construct and install the main feature ceiling within the ‘Baby Home’ section.

The ceiling was lowered to create a ‘cosy’ atmosphere and created using materials selected to give a solid and sustainable look. The ceiling was also designed to allow flexibility for easy re-decoration, when required.

Tego specialises in making stores better. Having learnt to understand their customers’ need for practical, cost effective solutions, Tego creates concepts that both simplify retail work and create a sales-led environment.

Founded in 1989, Tego believe that the right products, supplemented with the right knowledge, create the desired result. Over the last few years Tego has been selected to deliver more and more feature and special ceilings – in addition to flexible and functional standard grid ceilings and expanded metal ceilings.

Tego products have been used in a variety of major stores and retail chains including Holland’s biggest supermarket chain Albert Heijn B.V.; multinational giant Ikea and top Finnish fashion chain Lindex. The company’s attention to detail and expertise made them the perfect choice for the Mamas and Papas project.

Throughout the store concept, thoughtful touches anticipate the needs of new or expectant mothers. These include: comfortable seating areas, private changing and feeding rooms and a dedicated Personal Shopping area, with bespoke raised furniture, for one-to-one appointments, where customers can create a product ‘wish list’ and learn about products while enjoying complimentary refreshments.

Jo Randall said: “Service is key to making this store a success. To complement the high level of staff service, we have designed dedicated tools that can either be used independently by the customer, or to assist staff as they sell. This includes the Dream Nursery wall and the Dream Nursery Selectors.

“A warmer, elevated brand feel is also expressed through the store’s finishes, including natural timbers and woven textiles, and a more emotive art direction style focusing on the relationship between parent and child.”

As Mamas and Papas continues towards its ambition of becoming the world’s favourite nursery brand, it also plans to launch a new e-commerce platform and loyalty programme later in 2016, as well as bringing Dalziel & Pow’s store concept to other retail locations and formats.

Jo Randall concluded:

“It was a delight for us to be commissioned on this project. Mamas & Papas have always been open to our ideas and we can see these working hard in the Westfield store. We were privileged to share the wealth of experience that we had to take Mamas and Papas on this exciting journey.”

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Roma Publications