To view our photos of the Printemps revamp click here

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Introduction

*Paris has gone through significant retail upgrades in the past 2 years, with the opening of La Samaritaine in June 2021 and the general stores and branding overhaul at Galeries Lafayette in September 2021.

In the meantime, the global events that have been unfolding one after another are blurring the visibility when it comes to getting back to normal touristic flows, a situation that has forced all major players in Paris to rethink their approach almost in real-time.

Apart from launching “7ème Ciel”, which is a second-hand and circular fashion initiative (quite different both in terms of spirit and business model when compared to Re-Store from Galeries Lafayette), Printemps has remained silent since the arrival of Jean-Marc Bellaïche, the new CEO, in March 2021 and the subsequent store closure plan in French regions that was announced.

This is the reason why the relaunch of Printemps is significant, both in terms of brand identity, customer approach and new services offered. We have visited the new Haussmann stores and reviewed the novelties for you, drawing some comments from our visit in addition to the pictures that are available separately.*

The Printemps situation in a nutshell

Printemps, founded in 1865, currently operates 29 stores, 20 with the Printemps brand (16 in direct and 4 in Franchise) and 9 with the Citadium brand, after having closed respectively 4 Printemps stores and 3 Citadium stores in 2020-2021. The group achieved a turnover of €1.5 bn in 2021, a far cry from the estimated €1.7 bn turnover from 2019 but increasing +38% compared to 2020. The CEO mentions that the 2021 turnover is -12% on comparable days (i.e. on the days when Printemps was opened in 2021) compared with 2019, which gives an idea of the tourists’ absence impact. In 2019 70m customers visited the Printemps stores, 20m of them in Haussmann only.

The goal of the Printemps brand, offer and services revamp is to regain local customers (2/3 of the customer base, with locals already growing in 2021 +10% vs. 2019 overall and +15% in Haussmann) and attract US, Middle East and European customers, through new customer journeys, starting with “less retail, more F&B and entertainment”.

The revamp took place on the 19th of March, the Spring day, with a “Tout commence au Printemps” catchphrase, playing on the meaning of Printemps (Spring in French, which means that the slogan is akin to “Everything starts at Printemps”). This allows the company to play on the concept of renewal, which is quite catchy these days when customers are tired of the Covid-19 related restrictions and are also looking to escape the gloomy news of the war in Ukraine. It is also an efficient way to emphasize all the “first times”, both in terms of advertising messages (my first emotion, my first shopping spree…) but also present Printemps as an innovative company which led the way in many aspects of modern retail (for memory, Printemps was a founding member of the IADS in 1928). In a nutshell, Printemps presented their new initiative as a moult, to complete the springy message.

A new in-store experience

The company has decided to review its logo (a stylized P which also evokes a heart), colour code (green, white and gold) as well as its tagline (everything starts at Printemps). The new advertising campaign is quite dynamic and transmits a lot of positive energy.

The in-store execution is quite effective, both in terms of signage and the use of the green colour, vivid and visible from afar, which is dotted across the floors, be it via the in-store displays, elements of décor, but also the products developed in collaboration with brands. At the entrance of the store, the information desk has been decluttered and is quite welcoming. The staff has been well briefed, 100% of them saying hello to all customers and showing enthusiasm even 1 week after the re-opening, which suggests that sales and traffic were extremely sluggish prior to this welcome rebranding and upgrade.

10 new permanent concepts have been introduced across the 3 buildings (Women’s, Men’s, Kids and Home) mixing retail, experience, leisure and F&B, also making the most of the building specificities:

• In the Women’s store: La Coupole (6F), a spectacular animation area mixing a 6-months long pop-up zone with a restaurant, Ready Up (4F), an area dedicated to promising students in fashion and design, Hors Saison (3F), a space where clothing from former seasons are sold at a discounted price, and L’Endroit (2F), a comfy designers’ multi-brand space replacing the former Maria Luisa concept store,
• In the Men’s store: a new “Café vert” area (GF), mixing coffee and plants, and an experiential shop-in-shop operated by Au Vieux Campeur (-1F), an iconic Parisian outdoor retailer,
• In the Kids and Home store, L’Appartement de Made in Design (2F), a co-op space selling design items in a home-like environment, and a new retail concept on the Beauty lower floor.

What’s new in the Women’s Store

La Coupole Plage on the 6th floor: this place makes the most of the Art Deco cupola, which housed a brasserie in the past and its name makes a reference to “Paris Plage”, the townhall yearly initiative which transforms the Seine riverbank into beaches.

The F&B area has been quite reduced and pushed on the edges, which also allows emphasis on the presence of terraces (4 terraces which can each accommodate 6 customers) while providing a sense of exclusivity and luxury. The restaurant is managed by a Chef, who co-develops with a food personality a new menu every 6 months. For the first iteration, a food critic who recently published a recipe book has been invited.

The freed space has been dedicated to an experiential retail zone, which is supposed to change every 6 months. For now, the whole area is dedicated to swimwear in a very immersive environment which is quite well executed.

Also, the whole area easily communicates with “7ème Ciel” on the 7th floor, the second-hand space that was opened in September 2021. This zone also opens on the rooftop of the store, with a food truck-like F&B offer, giving a feeling of lightness and joy that was catalysed by the sunny weather. Even though La Coupole takes time to be reached, either via escalators or lifts, it is well indicated across the store, and impossible to miss. It might be more effective in terms of traffic generation than the brasserie, at least in terms of traffic spreading across the day.

Ready-up! On the 4th floor and directly in front of an escalator, this space is the result of a partnership with Campus Mode (a structure federating fashion schools in Paris) and is dedicated to fashion students. There, they have the possibility to take part in conferences, explain their work, expose their pieces and sell them with 3-months long popups. 19 talents will be promoted for a period of 3 months, with 3 to 4 participants per session lasting 15 days.

During the visit on a Sunday, the space was not especially welcoming to customers, as students gathered to congratulate themselves, creating de facto a world where it was difficult to enter if not invited. Also, the very interest of the products can be questioned, as well as the business efficiency of such an initiative.

Hors Saison: this clever initiative on the 3rd floor aims at selling former seasons stocks on 200 sqm in a beautiful space, and singing the tune of social responsibility and care for the environment, instead of appealing to customers with low prices. Brands represented there range from APC to Victoria Beckham, and prices can go as low as -60%.

The space is beautiful and appealing, however, its location and structure make it less inviting than other initiatives. During the visit, there were no customers and sales staff were clearly desperate to have anyone coming in.

L’Endroit on the 2nd floor: replacing the former fashion multi-brand store Maria Luisa, this space emphasizes a selection of edgy designers in an apartment-like setup, where photographers are invited to display their works.

Salespersons are extremely well trained and efficient, as several sales were concluded during the visit. They know the products and brands (which is not the case in other parts of the store) and also mentioned that they were extremely happy since the rebranding of the store, as this immediately translated into an increase in terms of customer flow and purchases. Printemps CEO mentioned that traffic jumped +20% during the week of the reopening.

In the women’s building, the ground floor also displays a new selection of gifts and “easy” products, called Le Joli Cadeau, but which is not referenced as a new concept per se. This space was formerly dedicated to a multi-brand premium leather goods area.

What’s new in the Men’s Store

Le Café Vert on the ground floor, open as early as 8 am (before the store opens), aims to become a rendezvous point with a healthy and qualitative offer, enhanced by plants dotted all across the space, appealing to the need for nature that everyone experienced during the various lockdowns.

The café is operated by Brûlerie Belleville, a local Parisian coffee roaster, but the space will be also offering an aperitivo time at the end of the day, and the décor is set up with Kaki (a hydroculture plant specialist), knowing that all plants on display can be purchased by customers.

Au Vieux Campeur on the lower floor is truly a premiere, as this is the first time that this iconic Rive Gauche retailer makes a partnership and expands outside of its own stores. Au Vieux Campeur has been founded in 1941 and is known by every Parisian who had to purchase anything related to outdoor activities in the past (think a high-end Decathlon staffed by proud specialists). The store is 400 sqm wide, highly immersive and is organised by the universe: climbing (with a 6 meters high climbing wall, very visible from the ground floor, that can be used by customers), trekking, sailing and a library. Testing surfaces for shoes are also available. Dedicated Au Vieux Campeur salespersons also allow customers who might not find what they are looking for in the store, to the entire Au Vieux Campeur catalogue via a marketplace system.

What’s new in the Kids and Home Store

Many new beauty initiatives are available on the lower ground floor:

• Beauty food: a holistic cosmetics zone part of L’Officine (a space dedicated to dermo-cosmetics) where food complements are sold in addition to cosmetic routines by specialized (and exclusive) brands such as Agapem (period alleviating treatment), Apnee (collagen in powder), So Much (emotions regulating coffee) or Dijo (infusions with intestinal ingredients).
• Partnership with Kisskissbankbank (a crowdfunding initiative), which enables Printemps to contribute to the development of new brands, through a contest with an independent jury selecting 3 new brands which will be promoted by being introduced to the “Green market” area in Le Printemps.
• Large areas dedicated to manicure, pedicure, brows, as well as a large space gathering hair products and salon: such services were already available before the revamp but were not gathered in a single place. This organisation makes the offer powerful and efficient.
• Face 2 Une: a spa developed with the Face 2 Une beauty tech brand, proposing no gender services through manual massages and machines.

L’appartement with Made in Design on the second floor: Made in Design (owned by Printemps) is an online design retailer, often curating a selection of brands but also developing its own products. L’Appartement is an initiative where selected designers are invited to make a selection in the Made in Design catalogue and create a physical and immersive point of sales for Made in Design, while also bringing a new experience to Printemps.

And the Metaverse?

Printemps has also developed a phygital initiative, with an immersive virtual store accessible from their website showing a selection of products as well as exclusive collaborations (overall, the e-commerce store has increased its offer by +31% vs. 2019). In the event of the purchase of an exclusive product, customers will enter a contest to earn an NFT, which will, in turn, give access to another contest where the winner (1 out of 30 NFT winners) will receive the original piece of art from the artist who has designed the atrium and the 7ème Ciel art tunnel in the Haussmann store.

Interestingly, there is also an initiative with DressX in the form of a pop-up on the ground floor, which allows customers to buy virtual dresses for their Instagram or other social media pictures. However, after checking in person the offer, the pop-up does not offer anything more than what can be purchased online directly.

For customers who are not into such subtleties, 500 exclusive pieces have been developed with brands ranging from Loewe and Sandro to Logan and Lacoste, displayed in a spectacularly redesigned Atrium at the centre of the Women’s floor. However, during the visit, sales staff were not really inviting and busier making comments about customers who had left the space than taking care of those present.

What to think about this revamp? Execution is excellent and the feeling of renewal across the 3 stores is clearly there. Printemps is upping its game and getting back into the Parisian fight for local customers, after a period when it was lagging behind. They have based their whole campaign on the promise of permanent non-retail animations (conferences, workshops, DJ sets, etc…) which could translate into an effective traffic-driving strategy if properly conducted. The main question is therefore to know if Printemps will be able to maintain the momentum on the long-range and keep teams mobilized?

Credits: IADS (Selvane Mohandas du Ménil)