Tommy Hilfiger digitizes the showroom
At its global headquarters in Amsterdam, Tommy Hilfiger has introduced a digital showroom that streamlines and simplifies the traditional product selection and ordering experience through a touchscreen interface.
The centerpiece of the digital showroom is an interactive half-meter by one-meter touchscreen table set in a sleek walnut frame, which connects to a four-meter-high wall-to-wall grid of ultra-high-definition 4K screens. Retail partners can digitally view every item in the Hilfiger sportswear and denim seasonal collections and create custom orders with all product categories laid out across a single screen. They can view head-to-toe key looks, zoom in to see unique design features, and click on a garment for specific information such as color offerings and size ranges.
The interface allows for in-depth discussions on styling, merchandising and deliveries that are tailored to each client. Complementing traditional sales tools with an array of brand information helps relay the Tommy Hilfiger brand story.
Heralding it as a "new fashion industry benchmark for business to business sales," Daniel Grieder, CEO, Tommy Hilfiger, said the new showroom "revolutionizes the buying and selling journey" for both retailers and its internal sales team.
Said Tommy Hilfiger, "The platform reflects values which are at the heart of our brand DNA: entrepreneurial, inspirational, surprising, inclusive and accessible. We believe this is the sales experience of the future and look forward to working with our retail partners in this exciting new setup."
Hilfiger’s ongoing sustainability mission is also supported through reduced sample production, eliminating the need for printed order forms, and diminishing the ecological impacts of shipping.
Hilfiger is establishing a global rollout plan to expand the concept into markets worldwide.
Discussion Questions
What benefits and potential drawbacks do you see from Tommy Hilfiger’s digital showroom? Do digital technologies promise to transform the product selection and ordering experience for categories outside fashion as well?
The digital showroom with the table-embedded touch screen is a step in the right direction, it’s just not a new thing. Putting the “revolutionizes the buying and selling journey” PR hype aside, this is an obvious forward iteration to update decades-older practices. Something similar could have been achieved with tablets that interact with the screen array or other approaches that can engage more buyers than a single touch screen can.
Transformational? Nah. Ten years ago this would have been much more impactful, but digital cataloging and access to inventory is old news, even for retail.
A digital showroom can be anywhere and that may be the major benefit to both the retailers and their shoppers. However, everywhere includes shopping from home which can be a negative to many retailers. If all the information is available online then a lot of younger adults would shop online vs. traveling to a store to shop online. Digital showrooms also have two drawbacks, you cannot try on product and you cannot take it home with you. If the product is in the storeroom and you can that is a plus, but given all the sizes, styles and colors that may not be practical. I see it as great brand awareness and should help Hilfiger’s image.
From the article headline, I had the impression that this was another rendition of a digital showroom in-store. Moving digital interactive to the merchandising selection process could be something entirely different.
Death by PowerPoint has occurred so long that we are all numb. What is interesting about this technology is the ability to engage retail partners in new ways beyond a scripted, static slide show of products and features.
With a group of retail buyers it is easy to lose focus. The large touch screen on the table enables an interesting opportunity to engage them, and even let them “drive” the discussion to the parts that most interest them.
Sure the digital showroom is cool and, to Frank’s point, can be used by consumers in the store. They’ll still have to try everything on, though, because the arbitrary, even capricious sizing in women’s apparel makes it necessary.
No real drawbacks. This move is supportive of the end-to-end business platform which is where retail is heading. We automated and applied “digital” to everything in the store and related channels. We have turned the middle of the process—parts of the supply chain, and it is now time to re-address the supply chain—from ordering to production to key stages of the supply chain linked with assortment planning and more (store/channel zoning, forecasts, etc.).
Way to go Tommy H. Crank up the orders and let technology help prove this is the way!
This is a great use of technology for this particular application. Hilfiger’s retail customers can engage in business discussions with high-definition imagery access to the products they are marketing and selling. This is a cost-effective method to access and view a broad catalog of products for these types of meetings and engagements. Local, cultural and other factors can be evaluated to optimize the most relevant product mix and marketing efforts can be discussed.
The technology is not transformational but the use and application of it for this particular purpose is innovative and enabling—exactly what technology should be. This application of technology could certainly be used in other categories that would benefit from local relevance to optimize a particular product or service mix. Car manufacturers and dealerships come to mind as well.
Everything is going digital. In addition to having digital showrooms, Hilfiger should roll out the technology to buyers’ own devices. Let buyers review, select and order products from anywhere.
It is very cool, and has some obvious space, and rendering advantages. However the real test of the digital showroom will occur in its perceived value and use during the first year. Time, usage, and feedback will determine the true viability of this concept.
I look forward to going past digital to virtual reality. Really trying on products in a way that is so real that it triggers an emotional response. I have already had this experience with Oculus glasses. It is truly amazing how your logic cannot override your emotion.