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*2023 has been a busy year for Magasin du Nord. With an unwavering commitment to meeting the evolving needs of its clientele, Magasin du Nord has introduced improvements and services such as BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In Store) and harnessed cutting-edge technology through the implementation of smartwatch-equipped staff. New service lounges gathering all store services allowed Magasin du Nord to offer better and more efficient customer service. While retail operations were refined to achieve excellence in customer service and increase KPIs such as the conversion rate and the UPT, Magasin du Nord also launched layout changes and visual merchandising upgrades in their 3 most important stores (see the pictures review attached).

With the entire retail industry currently hoping that new technologies and approaches such as AI and retail media will help it reinvent itself, streamline, optimise operations and bring in new sources of revenue, the efforts recently made by Magasin du Nord (a company not shy when it comes to technological innovation) also show that to thrive in the new world, fundamentals have to be right. There is no point in building a state-of-the-art technological pyramid if the foundations are not well grounded.*

New services: BOPIS and on-demand staff

Click & Collect services were already available at Magasin du Nord with orders delivered in-store within 1 or 2 days. They recently introduced Buy Online Pick-up In-Store services (BOPIS). These purchases are now available within 1 to 3 hours for customers who pick up their orders in lockers. This solution makes this service easier to handle as assistance is not needed to retrieve purchases. Staff efficiency is improved as they take care of picking up the items bought, putting them in the lockers and informing customers of their availability. The service has been a great success during the Christmas period. While BOPIS services are seen as a huge opportunity to attract more customers and increase the conversion rate in the near future, it raises the question of how to handle growth with limited staff resources knowing the same people are assisting customers and dealing with BOPIS services. Also, Magasin du Nord opened a new automated warehouse closer to Copenhagen, Sweden and Norway (where they have an e-commerce presence). This will help store replenishment and allow Magasin du Nord to offer 2-day customer deliveries.

Magasin du Nord’s ambition is to offer excellent customer service while tightly managing resources. To that end, they tested a new in-store service from October 2023. The staff has been equipped with smartwatches (from the Turnpike system which offers solutions from store planning to task attribution). Each watch is part of an attributed zone, connected using the store's Wi-Fi and linked to ‘help’ buttons spread out across the store. When customers need assistance, they press the button which sends a signal to all the sales staff in the attributed zone. Staff members accept and go help the customer or they decline if busy, in which case the call goes to the next best person. Customers are informed a staff member will answer within a minute but the average waiting time is 17 seconds so far. The test has been highly successful, and the service will be rolled out to all stores. Besides, the data collected through help requests allowed Magasin du Nord to accurately know where customers need help. The customer service remains great and isn’t jeopardised as they found out customers are not necessarily interested in help except in specific areas such as home appliances. Since they don’t need help in all departments, Magasin du Nord increases self-service wherever it is possible. The smartwatch system helps a lot in conversion rate as customers are served faster and where they truly need to be. It implies that all store staff organisation has to be reviewed to make sure customer requests are answered within one minute. The stores that are already equipped have the highest level of staff availability.

Service lounges gathering all store services

Magasin du Nord has been rethinking how services are organised and managed. They replaced all existing service desks scattered across the shop floors with one new, bigger and improved service area per floor. Usually located in the middle of the floor, these new service lounges have been tested for several months and are currently being rolled out to all stores. They offer the following services:

•    Cash desks: they are equipped with a queuing system and are 100% managed by cashiers. Centralising cash desks in the centre of the store improves store operations but also makes it easier for the customer to have a place where they can always connect with staff and get assistance. Magasin du Nord’s cashiers are trained to be able to offer all store services which is key to increasing conversion. They are empowered in terms of responsibility so that they don’t need to call supervisors for operations such as product returns.

• Impulse buying small items.
• Tax-free services.
• Product returns.
• Storage services.
• Gift wrapping: the service is highly appreciated by customers. Depending on the loyalty programme tier they are part of, customers can access various gift-wrapping options and personalisation.
• Fitting rooms: they have been designed to be bigger than before. Also, they are equipped with iPads, enabling customers to request help directly from the fitting room and connect with the staff.
• A sitting area.
• The personal shopping lounge: Magasin du Nord found that it is more efficient to make the personal shopping service visible instead of making it more luxurious and setting it up in a hidden place. Since then, the service has been more successful which positively impacts the conversion rate and the UPT. The lounge also serves as a space for influencers.

Visual improvements: new flagship store entrance, Aarhus and Lyngby new layouts

Store appeal starts outside. This is why Magasin du Nord revamped Copenhagen Kongens Nytorv's flagship store entrance. It used to be all glass, dark and unwelcoming. The ceiling was also made of dark materials and light was scarce. Over 2 million customers a year use this entrance, therefore it was imperative to welcome them with an improved first impression. They changed the all-glass façade to light grey ceramic tiles and a mirror-tiled ceiling equipped with better lighting. They had a small flower shop selling flowers from black plastic baskets. They upgraded it to match the new entrance ‘look & feel’: flowers are now displayed in modern metal grey boxes. The flower shop creates true life and a positive atmosphere around the entrance.

Changes also happened in Aarhus and Lyngby, the largest locations after Copenhagen’s flagship store. Aarhus's ground floor has a new multi-brand jewellery concept with all windows opened to the street to create life. Units are given to brands that can show their DNA with Magasin du Nord controlling the overall environment and service.

Aarhus men’s and women’s fashion floors used to be organised around a single centre walkway with large 3-wall shop-in-shops around. This layout lacked flexibility, with an inefficient use of space and resulted in poor profitability per sqm. Also, non-harmonized types and sizes of fitting rooms and cash desks were scattered across the floor. They now have a new floor layout with smaller 3-wall shop-in-shops allowing them to introduce more brands on smaller surfaces, hence a larger choice for customers with carefully curated merchandise ranges. Thanks to this new layout, they could also introduce their men’s and women’s young fashion concept which was only available in the Copenhagen store. All brand names are displayed in frames on shop-in-shop back walls for more clarity. In the centre of the floor, they now have a double walkway surrounding small flexible soft branded shops of approx. 15 sqm. The new fixtures allow easy changes to onboard new brands and adapt to the current trends customers are expecting from the store. Walls are painted in various tone-on-tone colours to create different atmospheres between casual, formal and young areas. As described above, a large service area including cash desks, fitting rooms and the personal shopping lounge (directly opening on the floor for special events) has been set up in the middle of the floor, directly accessible from the floor and opened to natural lights thanks to windows on the street.

Finally, creating a way to greet customers at the entrance of both men’s and women’s floors is considered strategic. Not initially designed to sell anything to customers, these new spaces are made of bench elements to offer a nice seating area. Located close to the service area, the new ‘greeting spaces’ have also been designed for specific campaigns or events and to be rented to brands for product launches.

Lingby's ground floor has been revamped. A new walkway runs through the centre of the store and connects the entrance with the escalator. Thanks to a new layout, they could introduce more partner shops whose soft corners use flexible fixtures and walls. Socks and stockings were moved to the women’s shoe section to give more space to the lingerie department which has also been renovated. The lingerie revamp included new fitting rooms and a personal shopper lounge using new fixtures as well as a new modern green palette, moving away from the obvious pink and frills imagery. A new jewellery section offers new furniture and floorings. Finally, the ground floor includes food offerings which have been regrouped with the addition of Magasin du Nord’s multi-brand concept (also available in Kongens Nytorv store).

Through strategic resource management and technological integration, Magasin du Nord has great customer service, setting new benchmarks for efficiency and customer satisfaction. By centralising services into sophisticated lounges, reimagining store layouts, and enhancing visual appeal, Magasin du Nord has created an immersive and seamless shopping environment that resonates with their clientele. This year, Magasin du Nord will continue working on retail fundamentals and improving standards in terms of in-store visuals and operations. To grow sales, they are also looking into increasing opening hours. Finally, to offer better customer service and to improve staff availability when it matters, they are working on finding the right balance between the 2 biggest months (November and December) and the other 10.

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Credits: IADS (Christine Montard)