The Experience Culture, or What’s Your Fragrance Number?

I recently spent a few days in London, and while there I maximized the opportunity to see the newest in retail stores. I had done some advance preparation and had tasked my assistant with mapping out my assault based on the store list I gave her. Needless to say, the list was overly ambitious and did not allow for impromptu diversions from the prescribed route, so I only conquered half the list. However, I was not disappointed and came away from the trip reinvigorated and inspired by what I saw – or, perhaps more significantly – what I experienced.

Of course my ultimate can’t-leave-London-without-seeing-it destination was the Burberry flagship on Regent Street. I’m embarrassed to admit I hadn’t been yet, and felt I would be remiss without experiencing it firsthand given all the press and positive feedback from others who had visited it. I won’t wax on about its features, as it’s been very well documented, but I do want to share my experience during my time there.

Since time was of the essence (recall the aforementioned maps), I saddled up to one of the sales associates to give me a guided tour of all the digital enhancements. In his lovely British accent, he cheerily agreed. All in all, the enhancements were definitely entertaining enhancements, and very cool artistry, but I can’t say they’re fundamentally necessary. Definitely frosting, not the cake.

The cake was the iPad in the hands of all the associates that could be utilized to search inventory to fulfill consumers’ inquiries for a particular product, size, color, etc.

The cake was also the headsets on the associates, so they could speak to each other seamlessly and immediately without the need to go find a phone and then wait for someone to pick it up on the other side of the store. Sorry, but the bells and whistles are usually lost on me, but get me what I want fast – you have me at “hello.”

So that was my planned destination. Onto my impromptu diversion.

I had planned to hit Selfridge’s as part of the list, but my quick “drive by” became a pleasant stay when I happened upon their fragrance event. Selfridge’s partnered with The Future Laboratory to create a journey through fragrance development that allows the visitor to facilitate the creation of a customized fragrance tailored to highlight their own distinctive personality traits.

Now, bear in mind I don’t wear perfume – haven’t since I was in my 20s (and even then I only wore Chanel No.5) – so the fact that Selfridges’ managed to lure me in to share part of my precious time to take this fragrance journey is a major coup on their part. The clincher was that they offered two journeys: one that was expedited and free, or the other that was a pre-scheduled/longer version for ₤65. Being me, I chose the former.

 The expedited journey started with taking a digital questionnaire on an iPad in the freely accessible area of the Fragrance Lab. It was about a 15-minute investment answering a whole host of questions to capture reactions to disparate images and described situations. At the end of the questionnaire, the program gave me a unique number – my number was 257.

From there I was directed to go chat with the nice young man in a lab coat at the Express Window. After I gave him my number, he proceeded to read the attributes assigned to me, describing my personality to about 85 percent accuracy – also in a lovely British accent – and sharing with me the fragrance notes that translate my personality attributes into a scent that is distinctively “me.”

The scent was ultimately not very resonant with my tastes as to persuade me to purchase, but I could see a correlation between the perception of my personality and associations with the scent.

All in all, it was an educational and interesting experience. Selfridges was kind enough to email me the transcript of what the young man had read (definitely not as interesting without the accent) so that I could muse on it at a later date, and more importantly, share with friends. So, friends, what’s your number?

Kathleen Jordan, AIA, CID, LEED AP, is a principal in Gensler’s New York office, and a leader of its retail practice with over 24 years of experience across the United States and internationally. Jordan has led a broad range of retail design projects as both an outside consultant and as an in-house designer. She has led projects from merchandising and design development all the way through construction documentation and administration, and many of her projects have earned national and international design awards. Contact her at kathleen_jordan@gensler.com.