WITH HUNDREDS OF beauty brands to showcase, Target had its hands full with its latest “Beauty 2.0” project. Eschewing the expected gondola-laden beauty section, this rollout project (for nearly 1900 stores) strove to strike a balance between inspiration and capacity, and consisted of an experience overhaul of lighting, flooring, fixtures and signage. The merchandising, however, was what won the judges’ hearts in this year’s competition.
“The guiding principle for our remodeled stores is to make shopping at Target even easier and more inspiring. And you can see that came through loud and clear in our beauty section: we’ve elevated the design with modern features and lighting to invite guests to explore while making it easy to find the products they’re looking for with clearly defined sections and lower sightlines,” says Sarah Amundsen, Sr. Director, Store Design, Target.
Soft-line style fixtures and flexible wall fixtures, as well as small fixture statements and groupings, replaced gondolas, and low sightlines aid guests in taking in the full breadth of product. One challenge for the team was adapting beauty fixture accessories, originally intended for gondolas, into the soft line fixtures.
“The team had the opportunity to physically set the full experience in a lab environment, which allowed us to iterate, sharpen our focus, and validate design concepts. It was incredibly inspiring and allowed us to experiment in new ways while working across the enterprise to collaborate,” Amundsen says.
VMSD competition judge Michael Brindley, Big Red Rooster, noted the operational elements of the project were “incredible” and that this is a difficult category with so many SKUs to merchandise. “A lot of great designs never reach the store because the client says they can’t operationalize them,” he says.
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