After taking back ownership of its Disney Store brand, Disney has revamped the in-store technology to create an experience that is designed to be “the best 30 minutes of a child’s day,” said Paul Gainer, VP and General Manager, North America for Disney Stores Worldwide, during a tour of the newly opened 20,000 square foot Times Square store in New York. From 2004 until 2008 Disney had a licensing agreement with The Children’s Place to market and sell the Disney brand in North American stores.
In November 2010 Disney completed the rollout of Oracle Retail POS into its global network of 330 stores worldwide. The Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) and SkillNet (partner and systems integration company) helped to complete the rollout into approximately 200 U.S. stores, more than 40 stores in Japan, and approximately 100 in Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK.
The technology enhancements are improving the parent’s experience as well as the child’s. A point of sale upgrade from Oracle Retail is helping customers get through checkout quicker and more efficiently. Additionally mobile POS, implemented with Oracle and partner InfoGain, is allowing customers to complete their transactions at different locations throughout the store; children and their families can continue enjoying their in-store activities while the purchase is taking place.
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While improving the in-store experience for customers, the new POS has delivered a 2-2.5% increase in comp store sales during a holiday season 12-store test of the system, versus the non-test stores, all other variables equal, according to Gainer. This is significant for the retailer, he explained, noting that on Black Friday alone Disney stores typically have 300-500 guests in line at midnight.
Mobile also is proving to be a successful addition to checkout at Disney. During the holiday season, in the 40 stores that implemented mobile POS, mobile sales accounted for 15-18% of total sales, Gainer reported. He expects to have 140 of the 200 U.S. stores outfitted with mobile POS by the 2011 holiday season.
To facilitate mobile sales, Disney store associates use the Apple iPod touch and carry portable printers on their belts. Via the iPod touch, associates can conduct product lookup, print gift receipts and suspend the transaction if the customer needs to complete it at the regular POS. Many Disney Store customers still use cash to pay for their purchases, Gainer noted, so often if the transaction begins on the mobile POS it must be completed at the regular POS. But, he added, regular POS transactions can be quick if all items were scanned at the mobile unit; then the purchase can be completed using one UPC code.
Technology Facilitates Fun Throughout Disney Stores
Disney is using technology to create “an immersive experience” for children and their families throughout the entire store, Gainer explained. For example, in the princess area of the store, visitors can swirl a wand in front of an interactive mirror to view videos of their favorite princess. The wand’s packaging is armed with an RFID tag that is removed before the customer leaves the store.
In the stores’ 200 square foot theater area, store managers can customize an entertainment experience for guests, creating birthday party events, coloring activities and more. Because the in-store technology is controlled via a web browser from a mobile unit, the store manager can customize the experience at a moment’s notice. This gives store managers the ability to function like a “shopkeeper,” Gainer said.
The store environment also is enhanced with digitally decorated trees that can be customized for an event or for a season. Throughout the store, which is divided into “storytelling franchise” sections, character-based videos entertain customers.
At multi-level locations, Disney also utilizes traffic counters, at the store entrance, elevators and escalators, to determine if the store design is attracting customers to the upper level. To date, two out of three customers do enter the second level when visiting the store, Gainer noted. At the Times Square location, most of the interactive retail space is located on the second level, which is approximately 6,000 square feet. The lower level, designed with a New York/Times Square theme, is 3,200 square feet, which is the average total square footage at the retailer’s many mall-based locations. The New York theme brings many people into the store; on average 8,000 people walk past the Times Square store every hour, according to Gainer.
Disney has implemented a number of Oracle solutions including Oracle Retail Point of Service, Oracle Retail Central Office and Oracle Retail Back Office to establish a single, flexible system across all of its international locations and enable the business to localize offerings based on customer preference. Disney Store is running 1,500 registers worldwide on a broad Oracle technology software stack including Oracle Database 11g, Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Linux.
You can view more images from the Disney Times Square store opening here: Oracle Retail’s Flickr Oracle Retail’s Flickr
