September 2021 – Be allured into Allure’s first physical store that debuted in the epicentre of retail in New York City, SoHo, on 2nd July 2021. This retail store allows customers to physically interact with their assortment of products – bringing favourite brands to ‘life’ with new innovative concepts and technologies that enhance the retail experience. Being a premier publication that focuses on women’s beauty, fashion, and wellness, Allure has adopted a novel concept to merchandise its products in-store.

In the age of experiences, online to offline brands have been gaining popularity these past few years, with e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Alibaba opening experiential retail spaces to great success. As such, innovative brick-and-mortar stores have leaned toward radical concepts and technologies to revolutionise its business operations and provide a compelling retail experience for its consumers. These solutions enable features that brands and consumers desire, including:

• Improved brand interaction through the engagement of the 5 senses
• Inventory transparency
• Unique shopping experience
• No shipping cost
• Real-time data collection & analytics
• Assistance in decision-making, among others

Allure has jumped onto the bandwagon to create an immersive and fun retail experience to shop ‘inside a magazine’ through headlines and picks from both its editors and readers. For instance, one section of the retail shop could be labelled ‘How to Customize Your Ultimate Self-Care Kit’ with relevant products under that category. Alternatively, it could have a section featuring picks from readers and editors. By doing so, no single brand would occupy one whole section at any given time, allowing for more brands and products discovery. Furthermore, all products will be analysed based on performance, with fresh new products being introduced every 90 days. These approaches can give brands better visibility and bring more awareness to their products across the board.

Challenging the traditional way of retail, the use of cutting-edge technology is predominant throughout the store. Notably, traffic sensors are strategically placed at the entrance of the store for zone heatmapping and traffic monitoring. As consumers browse in the store, they can look at the iPads accompanying most products for curated digital content from the brand. Allure also strategically leverages on every bit of square footage to simplify the customer journey to purchase through the utilisation of QR codes and iPads beside all the products to facilitate convenient digital payment.

The installation of ‘magic mirrors’ within the store provides an alternative shopping experience for consumers, allowing them to discover new products and makeovers through the use of augmented reality. After choosing their preferred digital makeover, consumers are able to take a photo and record the whole experience to share on social media, further generating content and buzz around the products.

Allure’s new store concept is just a sneak preview at what exciting experiences and opportunities retail solutions can bring forth for brands. The Allure store is helping up-and-coming brands reach a larger customer base, with opportunities for niche and new brands to follow suit in the future.

Meiyume’s vision is to enhance the in-store experience by streamlining the customer’s overall shopping journey using traditional systems, cutting-edge technologies and anonymous real-time data tracking and insights; helping global brands and retailers transform how they engage with their customers and providing a gateway into the future of retail.

Meiyume is part of the Fung Group, a business entity headquartered in Hong Kong, whose core businesses operate across the entire global supply chain for consumer goods including sourcing, logistics, distribution, and retail. Rooted in rich history and heritage, with a global reach and end-to-end supply chain in the beauty industry, Meiyume is your global partner in trailblazing retail solutions.