
Creating a UK first retail experience.
Over three years, we developed and executed Maybelline’s first and only direct retail experiments in the UK, starting with a pop up boutique store in Soho, London, and then a six month test retail environment in Bluewater, Kent, allowing the brand to retail directly for the first time.
Taking on a brand that had only ever been sold indirect before, we Traded and managed stock, staffing and marketing during a 6-month retail placement in Bluewater.
Offering a full product range and makeover experiences and gift sets, the pop up attracted thousands of consumers!

Key stats

2 retail units designed and built for long term experiments

9 month’s trading

UK first for global brand

Average basket size +58% vs traditional model

+100,000 consumers served

What problems are we solving?
-
Direct to Consumer retail – taking a brand that had only ever sold through multiples direct to customer for the very first time; elevating the brand and delivering a plug-and-play retail ops solution.
-
Direct customer feedback and learnings – understanding how new retail propositions might work for customers; from over 100,000 customers served during the trials, we obtained detailed and credible learnings to inform the brand retail strategy moving forward.
-
Low risk testing – through Agile Retail services, we were able to create, supply and trade retail sites with low CAPEX, low risk and maximum agility, giving the brand the fastest and strongest chance of success with least risk.
-
Low ATV – when sold in traditional channels alongside competition, ATV is very low; direct retailing increased this by 58%.

What are we most proud of?
-
Growing customer value – increasing average transaction value by 58% during the trial, demonstrating the potential to increase penetration amongst engaged consumers.
-
Successful trial! – the brand trials were considered successful and the project was rolled out into international markets.
-
Agile Retail operations – our team delivered engaging talent to acquire and upsell to customers, plug and play Trading solutions to enable effortless trading, and all after Building an inspiring and exciting retail environment.
-
Bringing experiential to a consumer goods brand – helping a famous brand jump off the shelf and into an experience, with great teams educating customers and showing the value of the products.

What do our Partners say?

It’s a really beautiful way to express the brand and it brings the modernity that we were missing before!
Lizz Wainwright
Senior Product Manager, Maybelline
More info?
If you'd like to get more info on this case study, please fill out your details below, and we'll be in touch!