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Stationer Smythson expands into a lifestyle brand by finding new connections between its paper products and the customers' needs
In honor of its 125th anniversary high-end British stationer Smythson has refurbished and expanded its Bond Street store, under the direction of former Burberry executive Andy Janowski. Bringing a new luxury lifestyle approach to the brand, Janowski and his design team, which includes British Prime Minister David Cameron's wife, Samantha, doubled the store's selling space by converting backroom offices. Now the store showcases an expanded range of goods, most notably leather goods, which team superbly with the brand's fine writing papers.
"It's about celebrating our extraordinary legacy and bringing it to life in an expression of contemporary classicism. It's a translation of Smythson's intrinsic identity, and the key is in the detail. The concept of the store is not just spatial or visual; it's a comprehensive, sensory experience." - Samantha Cameron, Smythson creative consultant
By thinking outside of the traditional stationery box, the design team expanded the tore to feature more leather, including leather-bound notebooks and sketchbooks; leather covers for high-tech tools including iPads, iPhones and Kindle readers; wallets, handbags and briefcases, including an ultra-luxe $23,220 snakeskin and crocodile bag.
In the bespoke stationery department, Symthson offers an expanded range of customization options, from gold stamped initials to personalized messages, even to emboss a child's sketch on a leather book, which makes a great gift for proud parents or grandparents. The store has added a men's accessory room, which includes belts, and a new home collection showcasing picture frames, cashmere throws and leather-covered trays.
Coinciding with the new Bond Street opening, the company has revitalized its internet website to include films that highlight the history and the craftsmanship of the brand. The other eleven Smythson retail outlets are planned for similar renovation with the goal to transform how the high-end customer experiences the brand. Janowski says, "We want people to say 'Wow!' What a lovely shopping experience at Smythson. And we want to make sure shoppers find the same luxury online as they do in the store."
Smythson is a traditional stationery brand that has searched out and identified new customer needs and so extended its reach beyond writing papers into a whole range of related lifestyle goods. The company's success is tied to willingness to invest in consumer insights, then deliver on opportunities they discovered.
Your brand can do this too - Develop a plan for business growth through a study of the customer's needs. Unity Marketing offers an opportunity to delve deeply into the mind of the stationery consumer through a sponsorship for a research study of the stationery, greeting card and paper goods market.
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Participate in a new consumer insight study to discover the needs of customers for stationery, paper goods and greeting cards
Unity Marketing has designed a major new research study to help to marketers and retailers of stationery, greeting cards and fine papers for crafting and hobby uses understand the evolving needs of their customers. The research will help marketers identify emerging opportunities within the category to meet new consumers' needs.
Click this link to learn more about the new study.
This research will give marketers and retailers with a commitment to understanding their current and future customers a cost-effective solution for customized consumer research.
Unity Marketing will conduct a quantitative consumer survey which will focus on both greeting card, stationery and paper goods buying behavior, including product choices, shopping destinations and overall spending, as well as the motivations and drives that propel the consumer in the marketplace.
We will learn about both male and female buying patterns, as well as the different motivations that drive consumers in their quest for these goods. We will also explore the generational aspects of this market. We will learn how the younger and older consumers for paper goods differ in their product preferences and buying and shopping behavior.
Research sponsors guide and direct the research so that it meets their specific needs
In order to make sure that this new consumer research focuses on the issues of most importance to greeting card, stationery and paper goods marketers and retailers, Unity Marketing offers sponsorships to companies who want to be more involved in the research. As a research sponsor, your company will be involved in both the qualitative and quantitative research development. The research will be 'semi-custom' as company sponsors will contribute directly to the research. Here are the deliverables:
- Input on the questions included in the survey, including addition of questions
- Your company's major product category and/or type of store included in the survey
- Your company's brand name will be included in the brand awareness and purchase incidence questions
- Topline quantitative survey results with demographic cross-tabs within one week of survey fielding,
- Detailed analysis report
- Webinar and telephone consultation about key findings and implications.
Most importantly, you will get an early read on the results of the research ahead of everybody else and insider information only available to sponsors.
Sponsors get the competitive edge
As a sponsor, you'll participate in learning what drives the greeting card, stationery and paper goods buyer in shopping and product selection. You will discover how to tap into consumers' passion for these goods in order to design new products to meet new needs. You will learn how to sell more of your company's or store's products. You'll get a view 'over the horizon' about where the paper goods market is going and find out how to get out in front of the consumer.
Exclusive sponsorships are also available for marketers that want to maximize their competitive edge.
So if you are interested in participating in the stationery goods research project, please call me at 717-336-1600, complete the request form by clicking here or respond by email to pam@unitymarketingonline.com right away. Please respond immediately, so that we can get survey into the field with final results delivered before year's end.
