Audemars Piguet - Retail Boutique

The Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet, engaged Materials & Methods as the lead design and strategy consultant for developing integrated digital signage and customer experience systems for their retail boutiques. Working in collaboration with AP’s retail team, Creative Circle architects, and Spin Design – Materials & Methods developed an architectural space and digital media platform to enhance the retail experience. A prototype store was built in Bal Harbour, FL to beta test the digital media platforms and customer service strategies. Eventually, Audemars Piguet will implement the new store concept in 22 locations worldwide.

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For AP’s newest Bal Harbour boutique we designed and managed the integration of a virtually seamless 7’ x 16’ HD video wall composed of nine bezel-less Christie 55” direct backlit LCD displays. Other installations included a 70” Sharp LCD display and two vertically oriented 32” Samsung displays positioned at sales desks. The content delivery system utilized Apple’s Mac Minis and leveraged the inherent networking ability of iOS to control content on all screens via an iPad interface. Additionally, our designers created a short term, cost effective digital watch browser application for the iPad that allows retail associates immediate access to AP’s entire collection of watches.

Materials & Methods’ creative team conducted interviews with AP’s retail sales associates and filmed scenarios with different boutiques to help evaluate in-store retail challenges that associates encountered, and to develop improved work flow and sales choreography. Based on the information gathered during these workshops, M&M collaborated with the architectural development and retail teams to refine the programming and design for the boutiques to support an optimal customer experience that accommodates the widest range of recurring customer scenarios.

Technologies

  • 55” bezel-less Christie direct backlit LCD displays
  • 70” Sharp LCD display
  • 32” Samsung displays
  • Mac Minis Server System
  • iPad