Women’s footwear retailer, Ziera, is refurbishing its 46 stores across Australia and New Zealand to create a look more suited to the brand’s comfort reputation. John Lenihan, the creative director behind the new look, was given a brief to bring a feeling of warmth and comfort to the stores. The first to undergo the execution was NZ flagship, Newmarket, in Auckland. The new look has since been rolled out to NZ stores at Lambton Quay, Wellington; and an outlet store in Onehunga,
, Auckland; with Ziera Highpoint in Melbourne, the first Australian store to follow suit.
Stores at Parramatta and Macquarie in Sydney; Melbourne CBD, and a new store at Carindale, Brisbane will be refurbishedby the end of 2014.
Andrew Robertson, MD of Ziera, told Inside Retail PREMIUM that although Ziera is a comfort brand, a survey of customers indicated the stores were lacking warmth.
“The concept was really about bringing that warmth, making it feel quite rich, layered, and textured so there was a lot more interest in the store itself,” Robertson said.
The texture Robertson speaks of is evident in the timber trellis window displays that frame each of the refurbished stores.
The trellis fittings will be seen in all 46 stores, but will have their own unique design.
Aside from being a display feature, the trellis panels are built to incorporate merchandising, lighting, and branded collateral.
“It isn’t just going to be cookie cutter store by store. Every store will have the concept applied to it in a slightly different way.
“Footwear when you make it is very much a craft, you would have no idea the complexity that lies beneath that, so we really wanted to show that level of craft in the store design as well because that’s really part of enhancing the Ziera brand,” said Robertson.
Each element of the store, from the bespoke carpet crafted using four gradients, darkening as you move through the store to promote customer circulation; to the textured wallpaper, were chosen to “bring a lot more character, and warmth to the environment,” said Robertson.
“We found the most meaningful moment of a shoe purchase for customers occurs at home, trying their purchase on for the first time,” he said.
This information led to Ziera’s move away from the typical ‘fish bowl’ fitting area in the centre of the store to create a more relaxed, separate area “away from prying eyes”, where customers can try products on couches specially designed at a comfortable height.
“The evolution has come about because we now have a brand design that we are applying to all elements of our business, and the design you’re seeing in the retail stores is a very good reflection of all of the work we have been doing,” said Robertson.
“The evolution is to make sure we look like who we are.” The Newmarket store has been nominated in NZ’s Best Awards for Best Spatial Design in a retail environment.
