H&M’s flagship store in New York is probably the fashion retailer’s most digitally enabled outlet.
The most retail fun you can have with your clothes on is to be had at H&M’s flagship store on New York’s Times Square.
This is probably the fashion retailer’s most digitally enabled branch and visitors are provided with a clue about what to expect in-store by the outsize screen adorning the exterior, in the bottom right-hand corner of which is the legend ‘H&M Runway’.
Step inside and a few stairs take you up, past a trio of female mannequins sporting small mask-like screens across their eyes, to the Runway level on the mezzanine.
Here you are invited to take your place on the brightly lit runway and instructions flash up before your eyes: ‘Walk, strike a pose’ and suchlike.
The whole process takes a few seconds. Afterwards, a video and still images of your moment of fame appear on small screens around the store.
The best is yet to come though.
A few minutes later, providing the staff think you look good enough, the same video appears on the big screen overlooking Times Square. You know when you’ve made the grade because an email is sent to your phone informing you what time you’ll be parading in front of the masses.
Your video also appears on runway.hm.com, so you can keep looking at yourself in the privacy of your own home. As an exercise in narcissism it has few equals and as a way of generating excitement about the brand it is a highly effective vehicle.
All this and the rest of the store’s not bad either. If retail really is about theatre and experience, then in this instance you have the opportunity to become a strolling player.
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