Jones New York launched a smart store design in Macy’s Herald Square location to enhance the shopping experience by letting consumers interact with apparel using their smartphones.

The store design uses Microsoft Tags to direct consumers through the shopping experience, from selecting a suit to styling it. It is targeted at time-starved women who are balancing work and family while trying to find time for themselves.

“When we were designing the shop, we put ourselves in our customer’s shoes,” said Amy Rapawy, senior vice president of marketing at Jones New York , New York. “We want to make the experience new and different and the smartphone capabilities were something we wanted to try out.

Jones New York is a division of Jones Apparel Group, whose portfolio also comprises apparel and accessory brands such as Anne Klein New York, Nine West, Stewart Weitzman and Bandolino.

Smart style
The retailer claims to be one of the first to use Microsoft Tag technology in its designs. The tags incorporate 25 videos, including a making of the “Empowering Your Confidence” campaign shoot with Annie Leibovitz. It also features career advice from celebrities and style tips.

“It’s a wardrobe essential that every woman needs to have,” Ms. Rapawy said. “It’s a new and different way for women to interact while they shop.”

The “Empowering Your Confidence campaign” commemorates Jones New York’s 35-plus years of empowering women’s lives and careers through style.

The campaign was inspired by the impact that working women have on the U.S.

To get the word out, the retailer is testing banner ads in the mobile sphere.

Scan it

Scannable signage and interactive designs are popular ways to promote collections this season, especially among Jones New York’s affiliates.

Nine West is promoting its Fall 2010 Vintage America Collection in a similar way with 2D bar codes, allowing consumers to interact with the brand’s spokeswoman Joss Stone by scanning in-store signage, online and print packaging (see story).

Since it’s opening last week, the brand has seen customers interacting with the shop and a lift in sales numbers. Due to the response, Jones New York plans on expanding the technology out to other stores.

“We see [Macy’s Herald Square] as the crown jewel where you can experience the brand,” Ms. Rapawy said. “We thought that the new shop design would perfectly compliment everything that Macy’s Herald Square has to offer.

“This shop is one of our first steps in our Empowering Your Confidence campaign,” she said.  “We are just sticking our toe in the water now with mobile technology and seeing how she [our consumer] responds.”

Final Take
Kaitlyn Bonneville, editorial assistant at Mobile Commerce Daily, New York