Retail experience strategy

Orange is a business growing rapidly in Europe through acquisition. With objectives to both increase efficiencies and to provide coherency to the Orange brand across markets, The Global Brand team instigated a project to create a common definition of the Orange retail experience and some shared design and operational best practice.

The Head of Brand Experience at Orange asked Engine to work with them in two ways. Firstly, to help translate a large consumer segmentation study into service design values and principles for the retail experience. Secondly, to design and co-facilitate a process and a series of forums through which the Global Brand team could bring together representatives from the European markets to share practice and co-create a retail experience strategy.

Having worked with Orange for six years across a number of projects Engine has a deep knowledge of their brand and brand strategy. We combined this knowledge with an analysis of the needs and preferences of their consumer segments. The result was a core set of consumer needs in retail and a matrix that interpreted each of these into a experience design direction – the desired consumer experience for each segment.

By spending some time in stores in a number of countries, by looking at the qualitative results of their research and working with Consumer Insight people in Orange we developed a simple set of consumer motivations or modes – the explicit or implicit reasons why people walk into an Orange store.

Using the matrix of ideal service experiences by segment and our list of motivations we worked with the retail forum members to develop a range of ideas – front and back of shop - for the future of Orange retailing. We worked with the retail design agency, Fitch to create a set of retail implementation principles through a range of envisioned concepts.

We also spent time understanding the requirements of local markets and helped to negotiate some shared retail elements and services that could provide the core DNA of the retail experience across Europe. The Global Brand team were able to identify some opportunities to support local markets through for example, central purchasing of some retail equipment, management of image rights and assets and a common framework of experience metrics.

Because the work was developed with market representatives it was easier than anticipated for Orange to begin local retail design projects. Projects were quickly under way in Belgium and Romania under a shared experience strategy.