[MDA2013]

2013 Melbourne Design Awards

Giant Bicycles Australia Store Revitalisation (HAMPTON)

 
Image Credit : Andrew Curtis Photography Giant Bicycles

Winner 

Project Overview

Diadem is working with Giant Bikes to reinvigorate the Giant in-store experience with professionalism, quality and personality.

In creating a customer journey that is both sensory and functional Diadem has focused on three guiding principles: craftsmanship, innovation and inspiration. Giant’s aim is to inspire adventure in all riders from casual to competitive.

The new stores are designed to present the healthy, fun and environmentally friendly virtues of the new cycling lifestyle. An enhanced customer experience is offered through custom fitting and the front-of-house visibility of the bike workshop allowing customers to interact with mechanics and experience the customer service attributes of the Giant brand.

Project Commissioner

Giant Bicycles

Project Creator

Diadem

Team

Adrian Calleri - Director
Craig Benton - Interior Design
Jason Daya - Interior & Exterior Signage
Stuart Jacobs - Industrial Design
Ivan Pashutin - Site Documentor
EMily Mawson - Finished Art
Indrie Suwita - Visual Overlay
Sung Chua - Documentor
Tom Portelli - Senior Project Management
Vania Marotto - Project Management

Project Brief

A cycling revolution has been unfolding across Australian cities. Dedicated cycleways are being developed by local councils and cities as well as corporations are promoting a healthier lifestyle.

Giant started in 1972 with one goal - To create a better cycling experience for people around the world. Giant's retail transition has been built on the objective of improving the professionalism of the retailer and enhancing the customer experience.

Giant is dedicated to continuous design improvement in terms of product development, manufacturing and retailing. Our brief is to align the positioning and personality of the Giant brand in the physical environment through store layout, merchandising, product design, signage and customer engagement.

In a true collaboration Giant and Diadem are recreating the way bikes and cycling are experienced through the development of retail spaces that push the brand ambition of Giant Bikes into the heart of the customer's physical brand journey.

Project Need

The new Giant retail stores feature a physical brand narrative that carries each customer through every touch point from store approach and shopfront entry, to product range presentation and service.

Innovative store layouts and product display solutions place the Giant Bike products centre stage. Diadem's expertise around materiality and industrial design has helped bring character, warmth and personality to the retail stores and helped marry the Giant brand with the customer experience.

Examples of design innovation include exposing the concrete ceilings to add depth and character. The patterning and the way the ceilings have been formed give a hand crafted and unique feeling to the stores. The LED track lighting provides function to a flexible space and also creates depth and theatre to the interior.

Recycled brick was introduced into the space to bring character, a hand crafted quality and warmth into the space. The existing carpets were removed, and the existing concrete floor was polished.
The joinery platforms act to stage the product, a mix of whitewashed plywood and form ply on castors, elevate the product and allow for a flexible and evocative retail space.

Design Challenge

The Design Challenge was to display the varied array of products in an innovative way that echoed the values of the brand, creating a streamlined efficiency and visual consistency, in a fresh way. The product must be the hero.

Bikes are ordered zonally to aid the customer in identifying type with
the bikes sitting within specially designed steel tracks that fit all size and bike types. The wheels are held in place to the front and rear, negating the problem of the front wheels from turning and creating a untidy look. The latest bike wheels are also on show, mounted on specially designed stands that allow the customer to touch, spin and also remove with out damage to the wheels themselves.

An enhanced customer experience is offered through custom fitting, where customers are measured and physique is analysed using advanced video technology. The Bike workshop is fully visible and sits centre stage, no longer held back of house and out of sight. State of the art tools are housed and accessible in purpose built joinery.

The resulting design provides a customer experience that excites and invigorates.




Sustainability

Sustainability was addressed with though to material selection. Sustainably harvested timber resources were used throughout the fitout. Low energy lighting options were considered. The rack and display systems are minimal and made of metal selected for durability.

Overall the new stores have all received an uplift in sales. A combination of customer research as well as a robust retailer selection process has resulted in positive results being achieved from the stores completed to date.

The program has been successful to the point where retailers are approaching Giant to be included in the program.




This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.  


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