30 May The new immersive Topshop virtual reality campaign
Topshop has always been keen exploring new digital retail innovations including Virtual Reality (VR), (i.e.: its ‘’virtual catwalk’’ in store from the London Fashion Week in 2014) and they continue down this path. The company has just set up a VR-installation in its Oxford Circus flagship in London, created in partnership with Fat Unicorn and Your Studio.
A total immersion into summer
Virtual reality aims to provide immersive shopping experience and the fashion retailer totally got it. Why that? Shoppers begin sitting in a giant inflatable and wearing an Oculus headset. They will then virtually race down a giant looping slide along all Oxford Street and encounter exclusive Topshop surprises along the way within a 360-degree VR experience. Designed to mark the start of the summer season, the installation is running from May 25th til June 4th and a branded Snapchat lens also went live until May 27th to support the live campaign.
In addition, to strengthen the experience, the smell of sun cream is pumped in store and a number of summer-themed pop-ups have been added (such as swimwear personalisation stand or an ice cream area in partnership with the brand Milk Train). No doubt, summer is here.
Sheena Sauvaire, Global Marketing and Communications Director at Topshop, mentioned that: “Topshop Oxford Street has one of the most prominent store fronts in the world and we are excited to offer our consumers the opportunity to be part of it with an exhilarating VR experience. As VR technology continues to advance our desire was to blend it with retail theatre to create an immersive and shareable experience for our consumers, as a fun way to celebrate the start of summer.”
UK high street footfall
Footfall across the UK remained positive throughout April seeing the fastest growth in shopper numbers for three years. Indeed figures from the BRC – Springboard Footfall & Vacancies Monitor revealed a 1.6% growth in footfall in April compared to April 2016. Physical retail is not dying but changing thanks to the appearance of a new generation of stores offering a connected and experiential shopping experience. Indeed, we have seen several examples over the past months such as Farfetch which unveiled its ”Store of the Future” (SOF) including augmented reality (AR) and other digital innovations (you can read more about it here). Physical retailers must go with the flow to cope with the tremendous Ecommerce growth (UK online retail sales grew 13.5% in April – IMRG Monthly Sales Report).
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