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Client: Kettley's
Project: Brand Innovation & Presentation Solutions
Brief: Out with the old...
The production team of the BBC Two TV show The Fixer asked for our help to transform Kettley’s, an established family furniture store in Yeadon near Leeds. On visiting the store it was immediately clear that the décor had not been updated for years. The shop interior had an unappealing, aged look, and did not present the extensive product range or customer service expertise to its best advantage.
Instore the layout was cluttered, disorganised and required comprehensive re-planning to maximise the three floors and ten rooms which made up the total showroom space. Visual Thinking was asked by Alex Polizzi to help and take full control of this massive project and to transform Kettley’s into a modern retailer which could compete more effectively with other quality furniture stores.
Solution: A professional new look
We developed a new brand identity for Kettley’s, working with designers to create a modern, more appropriate and carefully considered look for the business. This included a new logo, updated colour scheme and branding elements that could be successfully applied to the exterior signage and retail environment, to thoroughly update and modernise the customer experience.
We replanned the store layout, and refurbished and reorganised the entire retail space in only four days. As part of our visual merchandising and display improvements, we created separate living, dining, and sleeping areas instore, incorporating new room sets to show off furnishing ideas and product solutions.
A key part of Kettley’s success had been established from selling premium quality motion chairs and beds to customers requiring extra comfort or those with special mobility needs. We considered this to be a vitally important aspect to protect and enhance as part of our improvement work to the store.
We developed dedicated shop-in-shop areas to present these products more effectively, creating convenient and authoritative displays to demonstrate Kettley’s product expertise and exceptional service in these categories. Following the relaunch, the first sale was for a £1,000 motion bed, showing our expertise in understanding the customer needs, and how to reflect these with effective visual merchandising instore.
Delivering the improvements to Kettley’s was a massive task, but we succeeded in many ways. It was much more than a complete retail makeover. It was a transformational process for everyone in the family. Owner John Butler “simply could not believe” he was in the same shop where he had worked for over thirty years.
John’s niece Nicola Davison, reflecting on the changes made, said: “It’s made us think totally differently about the products and how we show them in the shop. I won’t think the same way about our displays ever again.” In essence, we refitted both the store and the minds of the management team.
