​Sports Direct and Flannels add new tech with video walls and digital mirrors

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 3, 2018

Sports Direct is busy on multiple fronts at the moment with the retailer grappling with its House of Fraser buy as well as adding new technology into a large number of its existing stores.

On the latter front, it has made a seven-figure investment in new technology and digital displays across the group’s stores, as part of a three-to-five-year project that aims to enhance the in-store experience and drive customer engagement.

It has installed the new tech in 15 locations so far and is now ramping up the rollout programme across multiple Sports Direct, Flannels, Everlast and USC stores.

Using technology from specialist UXG, it’s offering “eye-catching high-bright video walls,” which are so far available in Sports Direct storefronts in Hull and Middlesbrough. 

New technology has also been implemented in luxury fashion store Flannels, including sensor-based digital mirrors which play ads via a digital display “and then seamlessly transform into a mirror when a customer approaches.”

The Flannels storefronts have also been modernised with full-height video walls and the company has aimed to create the kind of entrances that will help encourage passers-by inside with 4m x 2.5m LED wall displays. 

The company has been spending heavily on upgrading its store experiences in recent periods and the move seems to be paying off with the firm’s premium lifestyle division achieving a 42.7% increase in revenue for its latest full year.

As mentioned, Sports Direct has partnered with UXG on the tech project. That company designs, manufactures and installs bespoke digital and retail solutions for branded environments and has worked with Sports Direct on various technology options for the last two years.

And it holds out the promise that House of Fraser could see some new tech in its stores once the firm knows exactly how many of those stores will stay open. It’s a widely-held view among analysts and industry-watchers that HoF has suffered for many years from under-investment in its stores and is lagging rivals in taking advantage of the opportunities that new tech offers.