Mi Arcus

Shopping for the little ones should not feel overwhelming. It should be a joyful experience instead. Yet for many parents, long aisles and scattered product categories often convert baby care shopping into a stressful task.

Mi Arcus, an Indian baby care brand that specializes in baby and kid’s products, wanted to change this. The brand is built on comfort, trust, and thoughtful design and has a simple yet powerful vision: build a store experience that simplifies decisions, reassures parents, and delights children.

The Challenge

When Mi Arcus approached D’Art, they were clear about a few critical issues within their retail operations that they wished to resolve. The brand was managing more than 4000 SKUs, that created significant complexity in the project management process. In addition, a lack of clear categorization of products resulted in customers being heavily dependent on sales staff for product information and guidance. These problems didn’t just slow down the overall shopping experience but also limited customers' independence in navigating the store.

During the initial audits, D’Art did not just validate these concerns but also identified several other issues that were severely affecting the customers’ in-store journey, along with the store's performance.

• Unclear Product Segmentation: Age-wise categorization was inconsistent. Also, some products were placed out of children’s reach.
• Weak Navigation and Layout: Overcrowded flow and poor mirror placement created confusion within the store.
• Limited Visual Merchandising: The Mi Arcus stores had minimal branding, a lack of storytelling, and low visual appeal. All these aspects made the space feel merely transactional rather than immersive.
• Customer Disconnect: Instead of being child-friendly, the stores felt more parent-focused. Also, they contained very little personalized messaging for different target groups.

For D’Art, the main challenge was to design and execute a solution that facilitated simplified choice making, created seamless navigation, and established emotional connections with both parents and children.

The Solution

Our store design and execution strategy revolved around a customer-centric layout. While addressing the pre identified issues by Mi Arcus, including managing 4000+ SKUs and the absence of proper categorization, D’Art also resolved the hidden challenges that were impacting the conversion rate and the brand’s overall identity.

Simplifying Choices

Our team introduced a product family approach to categorization led planogramming that included grouping related items together. Implementing this strategy didn’t just streamline decision making for customers navigating a vast SKU count but also encouraged cross selling by presenting parents with complete lifestyle solutions.

Effortless Shopping Journeys

D’Art executed intuitively designed pathways that had ample clearance for strollers and allowed the parents to smoothly navigate within the store. Aspects like strategic mirror placement and central island displays, in addition, ensured complete accessibility while boosting the interaction between customers and products.

Our team effectively resolved hidden navigation bottlenecks and transformed the in-store flow into a seamless and immersive journey.

Reassurance Through Experiences

We implemented child engagement zones, including playful mirrors, interactive walls, and experience rooms. These concepts made the store more welcoming for kids. Also, the experienced rooms showcased Mi Arcus products in a real life setting. This helped the parents visualize how the selected products would fit into their homes.

Enhanced Visual Merchandising

Our team immersively introduced the concept of storytelling through custom and clear signage, playful graphics, and other branded elements. This did not just enhance the overall aesthetic appeal of the store but also improved the functionality by reducing customer dependency on the sales staff.

We executed a power wall with digital screens and brand video in order to strengthen emotional connection and reduce shopping fatigue in turn. Redesigning the cash counter to feature impulse gifting and wrapping services was indeed the best decision taken. It turned the checkout into a value adding touchpoint.

Results Achieved

The freshly executed retail layout transformed the Mi Arcus store from a purely transactional shopping destination into a brand-led experience center. Here are just a few outcomes achieved:

• Organized Product Segmentation: The products were placed in an organized manner, further establishing operational efficiency and enabling shoppers to easily navigate throughout the store, explore the available categories, and make quick and more confident buying decisions.
• Child and Parent Engagement: The implementation of playful zones and other interactive elements kept the kids engaged, further providing parents with a relaxing shopping experience.
• Stronger Brand Recall: Interactive elements, thoughtful zoning, and other retail aspects directly appealed to the eyeballs of potential customers and provided them with immersive experiences. This further allowed Mi Arcus to strengthen its position as a trusted baby care brand.
• Enhanced Brand Storytelling: The freshly designed and executed Mi Arcus stores clearly communicated the brand’s values. This built trust amongst customers and emotional resonance with the families.