Dallas had not seen anything like the new 560,000-square-foot Nebraska Furniture Mart before it opened there in the spring.

Neither had anyone else: It is the largest store of its kind in the country. But “impressive” can quickly become “overwhelming” if shoppers get lost in its cavernous space. So the retailer, with the help of Interbrand Design Forum (Dayton, Ohio), set out to create an “experience” that is also easy to shop.

“NFM wanted to create a destination,” says Amanda Kohnen, Interbrand Design Forum’s senior creative director. “Part of that is having the scale to provide everything you could ever need under one roof, but still creating intimate, manageable spaces for shoppers to easily find and explore.”

Store planning was key. “NFM is a huge believer in sightlines,” Kohnen continues. “The ability to stand at one end of the store and see how it’s all organized allows shoppers to feel confident in understanding the experience.”

But “the experience” is truly defined by the use of creative digital tools providing a balance of entertainment, information, customer service and useful data gathering, according to Lee Summers, NFM’s marketing technology manager.

An infrastructure based on about 320 NFC (near-field communications) beacons in the rafters communicates directly to shoppers’ mobile devices through Bluetooth, getting them to the product or department they’re looking for and transmitting real-time messages the retailer feels are useful.

“We can send a coupon or voucher directly to a shopper’s smartphone while she’s in the store,” Summers says.

A wayfinding system communicates in-store locations of products to smartphones; digital sales flyers on several of the store’s columns transmit ads to a shopper’s mobile device for a specific product, and a map for how to find it; and digital price tags automatically lower a shelf price if there’s a better price found among the major competitors in the local market.

Soon there will even be an app that can help an approaching driver locate available spots in NFM’s parking lot and garage of around 5000 spaces.

For shoppers without mobile devices, there are a number of touchscreen monitors that allow customers to search and obtain directions to specific categories, brands or products.

Twenty kiosks in the store allow customers to open an NFM credit account without standing in line at a counter – an important factor in helping NFM open as many store accounts as possible.

Then there’s what Summers calls the “eye candy,” like a 25-foot-high kids’ tree house in the children’s furniture area with beanbag seats and looping Disney movies, as well as two inspirational video walls that work alongside the merchandise displayed in the area.

A ribbon of screens over the customer-service line broadcasts interesting information and trivia quizzes to make the wait seem shorter. And there’s a 24-channel feed to display TVs in the electronics department, showing movies, sports and brand messages.

But beyond all the gee-whiz digital technology, what set this project apart for Matt Schmitt, president of Reflect Systems Inc. (Dallas), was being involved from the beginning, even before the physical store was designed and built. “It gave us the latititude to determine what kind of messaging could and should go where,” said the man whose company designed, installed and monitors the intricate digital media program. “Being able to fine-tune it meant being able to tell all the stories – the NFM brand message, the promotional messages and shopper-assistance messages – in exactly the right places with the right content.”

“There are more than 500 miles of network cabling in the building,” says NFM’s Summers. “While we do not issue wearable technology like at a [theme] park, where you have bands that talk to your smartphone – telling you where you are in the park and giving you information – we are one of the few retail complexes prepared with the infrastructure to support a fully immersive experience.”

PROJECT SUPPLIERS

Retailer
Nebraska Furniture Mart, Omaha, Neb.

Design and Architecture
Interbrand Design Forum, Dayton, Ohio

Architecture
Ken Hahn & Associates, Omaha, Neb.

General Contractor
Turner Construction, New York

Audio/Visual
Reflect Systems, Dallas

Digital Price Tags
Margin Mate, McKinney, Texas
Pricer AB, Stockholm

Fixtures
Universal Display & Fixtures, Lewisville, Texas
Heartland Scenic Studio, Omaha, Neb.
Lozier, Omaha, Neb.

Exterior Signage
Chandler Signs, Dallas

Interior Signage
D|Fab, Madison Heights, Mich.
Heartland Scenic Studio, Omaha, Neb.