Barneys personalizes experience via iBeacon placement

Department store chain Barneys New York is offering its consumers an elevated shopping experience by embracing in-store technologies at its newly opened Chelsea flagship.

Barneys’ new downtown New York flagship opened its doors Feb. 15 and while increasing Barneys' footprint within the city by 55,000-square feet, the space also acts as a kind of homecoming for the retailer. Located between 16th and 17th Streets along Seventh Avenue, the block-long store is situation on the same block where Barneys first opened in 1923 (see story).

Opt-in for experience
With the flagship’s location in mind, luxury brands and retailers are often looking at the past to embrace the future, as nostalgia for days past and modern-day relevance is increasingly a primary driver for consumers.

As Barneys looks forward, the retailer has ensured in-store technologies are part of its future-facing strategy. Within the flagship, Barneys has incorporated state-of-the-art technology to further elevate the shopping experience.

According to the retailer, it is the first luxury department store to launch iBeacon technology within a bricks-and-mortar space. Barneys plans to use iBeacons to share rich multimedia content such as videos, look books and interviews with designers to inform and entertain its consumers while creating a seamless and efficient in-store experience.

Barneys has placed iBeacons throughout the Chelsea store to create a personalized experience as well, available for those who opt-in. Using the technology, the retailer can send personalized recommendations sourced from The Window, Barneys’ editorial site, to consumers' smartphones.

Barneys downtown flagship's women's department (Photo by Scott Frances)

The Chelsea flagship also features a custom clienteling system using customer-centric personalization to connect the online and offline behavior and preferences of Barneys' core consumer base. Mining available data for use by sales associates will help Barneys better serve consumers on a daily basis.

Barneys’ clienteling application will be used on iPads and doubles as a mobile point-of-sale device, as it is enabled with Apple Pay.

The freedom of not being chained to a cashier station will free up Barneys’ sales associates’ time and make purchase transactions flow more naturally. The mobile concept also allows Barneys’ sales associates to easily share brand and product knowledge and offer more individualized attention to consumers.

“[Barneys’] customer experience in this store runs parallel in importance to the design, product and historic location,” said Daniella Vitale, COO of Barneys New York, in a statement.

“We want the customer to feel as though anything is possible when they walk into the store,” she said. “With the seamless integration of technology, our incredible staff and a deep appreciation of our customer, we really do feel that everything is possible.”