The Challenge
In an increasingly competitive brick and mortar retail landscape, MARLI New York was looking to design an engaging, interactive experience for customers, giving them the opportunity to try on jewelry without stepping into the store. The display required several elements to make the interactive component possible, including a camera for the virtual try-on as well as a touch screen, and needed to be visually appealing in line with the jewelry brand’s standards.
Solution
Two (2) NEC P554 55” Professional Large Format Displays, featuring 700 cd/m² brightness combined with full HD resolution. TSItouch offers projected capacitive (PCAP) touch technology engineered specifically for consumer and commercial customers looking for a rugged and durable touch screen without sacrificing image quality.
Result
In a post-COVID environment, MARLI New York’s vision to create a contactless experience for customers was ahead of their time. By installing mirrored glass with a built-in hidden camera and touch screen capabilities, customers can browse through the MARLI New York digital catalog and virtually try on jewelry in a fun, interactive way.
Background
MARLI New York is a fine jewelry brand that creates bold pieces to accentuate refined individuality through a minimal, magnetic aesthetic, drawing inspiration from the world’s most dynamic city. Architectural, contemporary, and refined, MARLI New York’s flagship store in Hudson Yards showcases the same modern appeal as its pieces.
TSItouch is an employee-owned company in providing interactive touch screen and protective solutions for large format professional displays, video wall solutions, as well as direct view LED and outdoor displays. Headquartered in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, TSItouch equips companies all over the world in countless industries with touch solutions, displays, and more.
More than a store – an experience
MARLI New York enlisted the help of JB&B Consulting Engineers to design an interactive experience for customers walking by the store on the first level of the iconic shopping mall in Hudson Yards. The goal was to have the installation completed by Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days in the retail industry.
Reach Out and Touch Style
Initial discussions for the MARLI installation centered on infrared (IR) technology with a gold bezel attached to it. Ultimately, because the gold bezel was considered less aesthetically pleasing in this sort of retail environment, they decided on a projected capacitive (PCAP) touch screen, used to create a flush, seamless installation. PCAP technology does require a bezel, however the glass extends to the edge of the display, creating a more seamless look with the display flush against the mirrored wall. The NEC P554 was selected as the best fit for this application as its construction allows for a nearly seamless integration of a PCAP touch, and peak brightness of 700 cd/m² would allow for bright and impactful images to better showcase the jewelry in lifelike color. The touch screens were manufactured by TSItouch, Inc. and installed by Elyon Systems.
There is a real challenge in selecting the proper glass to use with PCAP (touch technology) in a mirror application, as metallic elements in the glass pose a real risk of blocking much of the touch signal, rendering the touch solution non-functional. TSItouch leveraged its years of experience and extensive testing to identify the proper type of mirror glass that would allow the touch to function properly while also ensuring the visual content has the right impact.
Once the glass was chosen, identifying a display that would have the right brightness to ensure the visuals remain as impactful as intended, was the next challenge. TSItouch selected the NEC P554 commercial display because the display provides an optimum blend of brightness and visual accuracy – appealing in a retail environment, and the 5-year warranty term exceeded the industry norm by 2 years and provided further peace of mind to our customer.
Bright Like a Diamond
The NEC P554 boasts 700 cd/m² brightness along with a Full-HD resolution. This allows for the beauty of the content to shine through, even in a high ambient light retail setting and captivate an audience. The 700 cd/m² brightness of the NEC P554 makes it the perfect solution when used with mirror glass. A mirror finished glass will reduce the amount of brightness reaching the audience. By starting with a brightness that is higher than the current industry standard of 500 cd/m², TSItouch was able to provide a finished product with enough visual impact to faithfully showcase the stunning jewelry MARLI has designed.
The new retail CX
The retail industry is pivoting, and retailers are looking for ways to engage with customers to draw them into brick-and-mortar stores. Creating interactive experiences and allowing customers to flip through a digital catalog and use a camera to try products on virtually – like a social media experience – establishes innovative ways for retailers to connect with customers and gather customer data. As the pandemic accelerated the use of digital retail and consumers’ use of digital shopping experiences, Retail CX has quickly become more flexible and set new standards that will persist even after the pandemic.
