‘In the last 12 months, we carried out several tests in various stores, trialling different ways of letting our clientèle enjoy a new shopping experience, in line with our brand’s evolution,” Massimo La Greca, managing director Italy and Iberian Peninsula for Swarovski. “We brought all these innovations together in our new store, choosing Milan because it’s a leading fashion and design capital.’
Robert Buchbauer, chairman of the executive board and CEO of Swarovski’s Consumer Goods Business, says: ‘The retail world has changed greatly in the last five years, thanks to its increasingly integrated online/offline environment and the omni-channel approach. We have embraced this philosophy in order to foster new in-store experiences, no longer focusing only on what was in the past the main element of any shop, its look. We tested different digital experiences in various cities and, seeing how successful they were, we decided to incorporate them in a fully fledged store format, starting in Milan with the help of Patricia Urquiola.’
The Crystal Studio format has been designed to put customers and their needs at the heart of the store, encouraging experimentation, creativity and spontaneity. Its interactive digital touch-points aim not only at improving the purchasing process but also at creating a welcoming ambience. Materials and colours play a key role in the store’s interior design, and the raw materials selected give it a studio feel, contrasting with a palette of warmer colours. On the grey porcelain floors, the display cabinets look like open-ended, modular showcases, accented by a rose gold metallic mesh.
At the heart of Crystal Studio lies the ‘Sparkle Bar’, a counter where customers are able to discover new products and create new looks with Swarovski jewels, advised by the brand’s experts. The mirrors can be illuminated in a variety of ways, and a series of digital screens provide access to style tips by the influencers from Swarovski’s online community.
“When I joined the group three years ago, the challenge was to try out something totally new for Swarovski, a long-established, well-positioned name. Our new retail concept will be replicated worldwide and in different contexts. It will therefore always be a bespoke format, based on the features of the various locations and the preferences of local consumers,” said Michele Molon, executive vice-president Omnichannel and Commercial Operations and member of Swarovski’s management board.
“The next stage will take us to a shopping mall about one hour from Paris, where we will open a store smaller than Milan’s, about 60 m2. This year, we will also open a first concession in Paris with DFS, a 20 m2 shop-in-shop inside the wonderful new La Samaritaine building in rue de Rivoli,” added Molon.This year, Crystal Studio will also land in Shanghai, Beijing, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, and in 2020 it will reach London’s Oxford Street and Tokyo’s Ginza district: “We will open it ahead of the Olympics, and it will be the most majestic of our stores. Later on, we will also renovate Swarovski’s historic Innsbruck flagship according to the new concept; in 2020, we are planning about 100 renovations,” said Molon.
The introduction of Crystal Studio will continue in Italy too next year, with two on the cards for Q1, one of them in a Turin shopping centre, to reach a total of 10 by the end of 2020.
