Oskar Retail experience design

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Within a year of its launch in 2000, Oskar was the third largest mobile phone operator in the Czech Republic, but while the brand was strong, it needed to focus attention on growing the retail touchpoint.

Oskar wanted to increase retail transactions to attract more young consumers in a mobile phone market, fast-approaching saturation point.

Turning brand values into retail brand experience

Early in 2004, Oskar appointed The Brand Union to create a new retail concept that could be rolled out across its 36 shops and two mobile stores.

Oskar asked us to translate something intangible, its brand personality, into something tangible, a new retail environment.

Creating a pleasant retail experience is relatively easy; creating an impactful brand experience is much more difficult: it depends on articulating the DNA of the brand through every interaction and experience within the retail space.

The brand was already perceived as innovative and modern, so the shops needed to reflect this. They also needed to better demonstrate Oskar’s philosophy of 'self-care' by educating and empowering consumers in-store. The design needed to make consumers feel respected, captivated and inspired.

At the pitch, we outlined the building blocks we believed would enable Oskar to translate its brand values into a retail environment by identifying the shape, form, colour and even smell of the brand.

In the first stages of the project we presented five different models of retail formats. The selected route, Oskar Home, divided the retail space into four distinct areas: the garden (the shop window) where seasonal ideas and promotions are displayed; the lounge, a browsing area where staff would act as buddies rather than hard-selling to customers; the kitchen, where everything is pulled together; and the study, a business area for larger stores.

“The idea chosen was to structure the shop as a home. Our starting point was that every home is different and used differently, so this should be no cookie cutter solution,” Sue Daun, Managing Creative Director, The Brand Union

Design to meet the emotional and practical needs of the customer

As the project evolved, the design grew more open-plan, but the basic 'home' concept remained - and it was one reason for the removal of all service counters. Instead, we designed all-in-one pods to combine cash desks with interactive self-help tools designed to break down barriers between staff and customers who would have free range of the store.

Each store was designed to contain a real tree embodying the brand's ethos of vitality and growth. Soft padded materials were used to contrast with hard elements, such as solid surfaces, to stimulate the senses.

To underline Oskar's shift away from its previous low cost positioning, quality materials were used at every touchpoint: customers wouldn't just see the difference, they'd feel it. Mirrors bounced images and light around the walls to pick up and reflect the colours consumers were wearing and to make the retail space feel more aligned with the individuals.

A new queuing system was developed to enable people to browse at leisure. Instead of numbers, each customer was given a letter of the alphabet to mark their place. This was based on the fact that people don’t make the same association of time they must wait when given a letter. For example, if the letter O comes up and you hold Z, it is perceived to involve less of a wait than if 15 comes up and you hold 26.

A 'self-expression wall' was also introduced in every store allowing customers to write messages on a wall. Store windows, meanwhile, offered unobstructed views into the store over low-level plasma screens playing latest campaigns and promotions.

Developing design concepts through 'immersion'

Design development began with our four-strong design team spending three weeks working with Oskar’s team in central Prague. We then returned to London to develop models and prototypes, maintaining constant contact with the client and meeting every three or four weeks for a project update.

A detailed design phase began as a prototype was produced for installation in the basement of Oskar's headquarters in October 2004. Staff training was required to ensure that staff behaviour reinforced the new retail experience. Three pilot stores were opened soon after. Then, following refinements, the first six new-look Oskar stores opened to the public. A national roll-out followed.

The new design attracted significantly more spontaneous visits, and visitors browsed in-store for longer. Sales in redesigned stores rose by 10%, and 98% of visitors felt positive about the retail environment compared with 81% before the re-design. Meanwhile, nine out of ten visitors now say they can easily find what they are looking for - a 27% increase.

In June 2005, Oskar was acquired by Vodafone.