When you walk in Leon’s new store in Coquitlam, you’ll notice a big difference. It’s small.
“It is but it’s big,” said Mike Walsh, Leon’s divisional president.
That seems counterintuitive. The store is only 15,000 square feet, the smallest in Leon’s 86 store chain.
“We challenged the team. We said, 'How can you take 80,000 square feet of merchandise and put in a 15,000 square foot store?'" he said.
They did it by installing four interactive console sets around the store for consumers to search for merchandise not on display. The interactive screens allow consumers to change the color and let’s them use QR readers on their phones to open up more details on the web.
A giant screen in the front of the store will allow you to see a life size image of the item you want.
And Leon’s website has augmented reality on selected items which allows you to place a sofa or coffee table or other item in your room at home so you can get a feel for what it will look like without having to have it delivered first.
David Lee had just walked into the store looking for a new bed and was introduced to the new technology.
“It’s really high tech these days. Pretty impressive, very nice,” Lee said.
It’s also a great cost cutting measure to reduce the company’s real estate footprint. That’s if consumer’s take to the hybrid concept of a combination of real life and digital display of items.
“This is the test market. And it’s a big one,” said Walsh.
Also, Leon’s is switching over to e-tags. Prices can be instantly updated on electronic price tags that contain a lot of other added information about the product.
“All the features you need to know about a fridge, the dimensions. All of it’s right up here. Updated for ya,” said Stuart McBride, Leon’s Coquitlam store manager.
One touch of a button could introduce sale items in a flash across the country, so staff can spend less time managing price tags and more time with customers.
Point of sale tablets will also be introduced, so you won’t have to line up at a cash register. Staff can come to you to check you to check you out and arrange for delivery which you can monitor and control on your phone.
