Sit comfortably on a couch in front of a giant screen showing brand images like Calvin Klein or Tommy Hilfiger. Select the items you like on the shelves provided. Move to a fitting room, just change your mind and have the new size or color automatically “delivered” to the cabin.
This new fully omnichannel customer journey is offered by the phygital store, branded 6thstreet.com. It has just opened in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
Located within the Dubai Hills Mall (owned by Emaar group), which opened in 2022, this 680 sq.m store has a sales staff of 10 people, 38 touchscreen tablets and 7 large fitting rooms. This store comes from a collaboration between the Dubai-based Apparel Group (2,010 stores in the region, 78 brands and 17,300 employees) and the Polish specialist in point-of-sale digitalisation called Nanovo. After a year of research, the store, which runs on Nanovo’s Signio platform, provides access to 40,000 products. “Stock is 7 times greater than that of an ordinary store, with almost all the brands in the 6thStreet.com application including Birkenstock, Crocs, Levi’s, Skechers, Adidas and Nike,” explains the press release.
Regarding the online version, the 6thstreet.com e-store offers 1200 international brands. Launched in 2016, the Apparel Group’s subsidiary (turnover of US$2.77 billion in 2021, up by 35% year-on-year) is one of the most popular sites in the U.A.E. for sneaker purchases. In the most recent quarter to July 31, 2022, Apparel Group’s sales increased by 25% to US$605.2 million from US$483.1 million in Q2 2021. The company reported a net profit of US$36.3 million, up 89% from US$19.2 million a year earlier.
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