Thanks a lot to Abby Lloyd-Jones of Checkland Kinseysides — they’re the designers of the brand spanking new Sony Ericsson store on Kensington High Street. Abby kindly posted up the address of the store (I haven’t managed to get there and check it out) — here it is:
126 Kensington High Street
London
W8 7RP
I emailed Abby and asked if she had any photos she could send me — I saw some smaller ones on the Checkland site, but wanted some bigger ones!
So here we go — I’ve flickred the ones she sent over. Fascinating. It looks like a phenomenal shopping experience.
(Click on pictures to enlarge)
Here’s the funky front:
Now take a step inside….
I like the use of space and inventive shelving. No idea what the proper names for these things are but it looks wicked!
Which one will you have?
I think this is the check-out area:
I’m a big fan of the “I [sony ericsson logo] it” branding in the background.
Looks like there’s an array of headphones to check out the music on the Sony Ericssons:
I think they’ve created a super brand experience — from just looking at these photos. Top work. It needs to be a good brilliant experience if you’re looking to get people to part with a few hundred pounds for a handset.
This sort of point-of-sale (is that what they call it? Who knows!) is essential:
Right now, hundreds of thousands of people are walking into Carphone Warehouses across the land and making a purchase decision based on a selection of crappy plastic dummy phones. You really should be able to see and touch the handsets. Especially if you’re a manufacturer wanting to increase the value perception to the end user.
Anyway top work with the Sony Ericsson store. I’m sure there will be more to come.
top marks for the design!!!
But is the execution of this store as good as it looks? If the staff are as thick as pig muck, the handset not real (hard to tell in these photos), the lenghts of cord attaching the handsets to the counter too short and then the actual purchasing process still cumbersome and time consuming, then you can do all you like to the fancy design but the store will still be in the last century.
But judging by the photos it is very promising indeed. I tell you what, I will do high st ken in next few days for my mums new handset and try out the store in anger…report to follow…..
steve
PS, If (???) the store actually sells music tracks (does it???) with immediate download to my handset (having first listened to a sample via the headsets) then this store has just become the music store of the future as well, never mind selling handsets!!!!!
to use a Ewanism “cover me in guiness and call me the bishop of southwark”…..I actually went in, had a not too bad experience and came out having bought a handset for my mother – a trusty k750i, has all the things a mum can want without being too overwhelming. not a bad shop, not bad at all.
ok my personal taste would rather see carpets and leather armchairs, and I hope they have good cleaners because all that gleaming white plastic on the displays is going to get very dirty. But overall I actually felt for the first time ever with mobile shops that I had walked in to a fashion store. They have made it a really enjoyable experience.
The only thing that still lets it down is that it took 15 minutes for the guy to register a PAYG SIM on his computer. 15 mins – ridiculous!!
But the staff were very much cooler and very helpful and knowledgeable than any I’ve ever met before. They walk round the [very] large store with you, rather than stand behind a counter staring down at you like you’ve just trodden in something.
But the weirdest bit for me…..it’s actually a Carphone Warehouse store!!!!!! I swore I would never shop in one again!! But this is totally different! There are discreet signs saying how it is managed and operated by CPW; and the guy who served me confirmed they all work for CPW. But wow, what a difference. CPW and Sony Ericcson have done a good joint venture here. They seem to have taken the best CPW staff and brought them in here. The entire experience is different; it’s all about buying a cool gadget; the “network/tariff” bit isn’t left to last, but it isn’t exactly the priority either. I like this and I imagine a lot of average ‘people in the street’ will too.
So hats off to CPW and SE for this. Apparently CPW have done a similar thing with Nokia down in Mayfair somewhere (can anyone confirm??)…..now maybe that one has the carpets and leather armchairs…..
steve
oh and the most important thing…..there is NO cheese-counter “please take your ticket and stand in line” nonsense that Vodafone do!!
steve
i love this store…its simply gorgeous…!!! awesome design..really eye catching…!!!!! a beautiful purple hue..!! love the interior designer…ok..heres a question..is it still there in kensington high street…??