The Christmas period sees stores all over the world create specialised festive window displays for the holiday period. The tradition goes back to the late 1800's when the likes of Macy's and other large-scale US department stores began to create bespoke displays for Christmas.

New breakthroughs in store design like plate glass windows and improvements to lighting meant that retailers could turn their shop fronts into 24-hour billboards. These developments took place right around the time when Christmas was becoming a major retailing season, moving from a religious celebration, to a sales opportunity for consumer and retail brands.

Physical versus digital

It is said that each year Manhattan attracts 5 million visitors during the Christmas holiday period, one of the key attractions is said to be the window displays of stores on Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue. Seeing the window displays has become an event in its own right, another tradition that sees families come together to get into the festive spirit.

This acts as a proof point in the offline versus online retail debate, providing retailers to create rewarding and unique store experiences, where the physical store will always have a place. In actual, fact is that real winners will be the brands that can blend the physical and digital worlds. This fundamental truth is now influencing how retailers approach visual merchandising and displays over the Christmas period.

The digital world is now elevating the entire store, not just the windows. Technology is now heightening the shopping experience into something far more sensory.

 From winter wonderland to "window wonderland"

Building on the physical windows of Manhattan, Google has partnered with 18 major New York retailers to create "Window Wonderland". Rather than remain in competition, retail heavyweights including the likes of Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue have come together allowing Google to create a virtual experience enabling anyone in the world to experience a tour of Manhattan's Christmas windows.

Building off its Street View technology, Google has taken hundreds of photographs of window displays and stitched them together creating a panoramic experience that can be viewed by phone, tablet or computer via an app. An additional 360-degree feature allows the viewer to see the entire street scene and if they wish, they can listen to descriptions of the displays and their back-story.

Augmenting the experience

Galeries Lafayette, one of Paris's most famous department stores has developed a new approach to presenting Christmas, the experience goes beyond the window display. The theme of "Amazing Arctic Christmas", tells an environmental story about a family of polar bears who have left the North Pole to escape melting ice caps.

Augmented Reality (AR) brings the story to life for shoppers, displays made from paper transform through the use of tablets provided by the store, allowing customers to watch the bears explore the store.

London's Covent Garden has set a new benchmark for combining the physical and digital. Over 140 stores and restaurants, across one million square feet have united in partnership with AR pioneer Blippar.

Believed to be the biggest AR experience of its kind, Covent Garden has become an interactive shopping destination. An easily downloadable Blippar app makes visible layers of new content; AR features include a reindeer that appears to fly, a treasure hunt to locate reindeer hidden throughout the area, and a virtual Christmas tree that releases information about exclusive offers.
Stickers on the windows of participating stores provide access to menus, online product reviews, virtual displays and an AR map that supplies directions, event listings, and other forms of bespoke information.

The merger of the physical and digital is redefining the world of visual merchandising. The ubiquitous mobile phone provides nearly everyone with the key to reveal richer and more creative retail experiences, more than ever; retailers have an opportunity to establish fully immersive experiences.

Dominic Twyford is Client Services Director of FITCH South Asia and can be reached at dominic.twyford@fitch.com