Selfridges Turns to BrightSign to Launch its New Denim Studio

Selfridges, one of the world’s best-known department stores, used BrightSign’s solid-state players to help launch Denim Studio, the world’s largest denim store at its flagship location on London’s Oxford Street. The new Denim Studio at Selfridges London is the ultimate destination for denim lovers, encompassing approximately 26,000 square feet staffed by 50 denim experts selling total of 60 brands. Customers can choose from thousands of styles and hundreds of exclusives priced from £11 to £11,000, including specialties such as Paige’s diamond-encrusted skinnies and J Brands’ Little Black Jeans.

"Selfridges’ Oxford Street storefront is one of the best known in London. For this application, BrightSign players were the obvious choice, delivering crisp, Full HD playback – reliably and daily – for years on end without fail," said Mike Fabian, manager of Freehand’s Digital Signage division. “BrightAuthor and BrightSign Network make it easy to generate new content for the players, schedule playback and update as required. BrightSign’s players provide a flexible and utterly reliable solution that is low-cost and easy to work with.”

Selfridges hosted an event – Denim Exclusives – to mark the launch of Denim Studio.

BrightSign’s solid-state players used in the Denim Exclusives event powered screens in four of the most notable windows in Oxford Street’s best-known department store. Its most prominent window – on the corner of Oxford Street and Orchard Street – was converted into a photographic studio featuring eight screens driven by BrightSign players. Two additional windows incorporated a mixture of portrait and landscape screens delivering a live Instagram feed showing customers wearing their own favorite denims. A final window displayed a looped time-lapse video. Displays in each of the windows also featured a ticker tape based on an RSS feed of Selfridges’ own content.

The windows promoting Selfridges’ Denim Studio will be on display throughout the months of July and August 2013, two of the prime shopping months of the year. Selfridges rotates its display windows frequently to reflect seasonality and store promotions. Digital signage typically plays a prominent role in these windows, and BrightSign’s players are integral to enabling these unique deployments.

Key Facts

Industry: Luxury retail

Location: Oxford Street in London, England

Distributor: Pixels UK Ltd.

Integrator: Freehand Systems

Project: Selfridges’ Denim Studio opening

Installation

• Digital signage utilized in a total of four display windows fronting Oxford Street in London, England
• BrightSign XD230 solid-state digital signage players powering a number of Samsung screens in both portrait and landscape orientation

Challenges

• Display windows were visible by pedestrian and automobile traffic 24/7, making reliability a primary concern
• Dynamic installation required periodic updates, as well as real-time integration of customers’ content
• Selfridges needed to attract customers to help support its aggressive goal of selling two pairs of jeans every minute of its business hours
• Selfridges sought new ways to engage with its customer base – digital signage is a central component of this objective

The Solution

• BrightSign’s solid-state players delivered near-zero downtime, ideal for Selfridges’ prominent Oxford Street location
• BrightAuthor and BrightSign Network were used to author, integrate and manage content
• Digital signage drove awareness for Selfridges’ Denim Studio in the highly competitive retail market on London’s Oxford Street
• BrightSign’s players enabled customers to display their own content via Instagram – a first for Selfridges as it explored new ways to engage its customers
• Freehand conceived and implemented the screen-based content

Benefits

• “Always-on” installation drew attention to Selfridges at all hours of the day and night
• BrightAuthor made it easy to create content, while BrightSign Network provided straightforward integration and management capabilities
• Increased foot traffic and customer awareness helped drive sales to feed Selfridges’ aggressive sales goal
• Customer-contributed content squarely supported Selfridges’ commitment to find new fun, interactive ways to engage with its customers