Swarovski has outfitted a second store for its brand-reboot project
Under Robert Buchbauer's direction, Swarovski is seeking to nudge the brand upscale, moving away from the competitive, accessibly-priced space with a more timeless approach and creative director Giovanna Engelbert overseeing creative direction.
Engelbert likened her involvement with the house to have the keys to a crystal Willy Wonka factory. Merchandise is presented in sections swathed in pale green, pink or yellow and wall-to-wall carpet octagon-shaped compartments reminiscent of retro jewellery boxes. They line the walls, each compartment filled with a piece of jewellery or a figurine – or shiny, miniature statues of people in real-life situations, layered with jewellery.
Customers are invited to sit on a sofa while salespeople bring the products on trays for a personalized experience, Buchbauer and Engelbert explained, noting that the current set up serves as an installation to show the new branding. Engelbert said the idea was to appeal to a wide audience, "from the grandma to the kid to the mother to the fashionista."
"If you ask us about store metrics, we could tell you it's being received really well and we're happy with the results," Buchbauer' said, cautioning that it is still early in the process.
"These few stores have the main task of showing what we're up to, there's something entirely new at Swarovski and the starting point was to artistically curate our offering," he added. The pair opened the first store with the new concept in Milan last month; New York is the next stop, slated for April.
Rolling out the concept into hundreds of locations would call for a certain amount of standardization and sales processes, which they continue to work on. The brand began testing new omnichannel services before the pandemic hit, an area it intends to continue developing. Digital channels add convenience to the sales process, in how products and services are presented, as well as interaction with customers, noted the executive.
Swarovski has outfitted a second store for its brand-reboot project