Salomon, Atomic Offer Unique Retail Experience

Helsinki, Finland — Salomon and Atomic, a pair of ski equipment companies in the Amer Sports family of brands, now have their custom Memory Fit technology housed in one display.At a ski boot-fitting station designed and manufactured by Concept Designs Inc., Palo Alto, California, customers choose boots with foot liners made of moldable material. The liners are heated before customers put their feet in them, then quickly cooled after the liners form around the feet. Everything needed for the process – an oven, a refrigerator and tools such as oven gloves, pads, mats and instructions – is contained in the tower.Raquel Langhaim, merchandising manager for Atomic and Salomon, says the only insight sparking the display is the desire to make the custom-fitting process as efficient and convenient as possible for the customer. “The goal was simple – to build a tool that will help us create a memorable consumer experience,” she says. “You’re winning if you have the consumer leaving the shop with a completely customized pair of boots and an amazing retail experience made possible by the fitting station.”The display will be in stores globally for as long as Atomic and Salomon sell boots with Memory Fit, Langhaim adds. She says Salomon has created a “marketing toolbox” to support the Memory Fit story, including everything from traditional and digital advertising to imagery, in-store signage, public relations and sales efforts.Larry Rockwell, business development manager for Concept Designs, says the display might not win awards, but it does the job well. “We probably wouldn’t enter this [in a design contest],” he says. “It’s more functional than high design. That said, it performs the function and combines the necessary pieces with a flexibility of application that is pretty rare. We’re very proud of having been able to address all the requirements.”The mandate to hold all necessary aspects of the custom-fit process was not the only mandate, says Rockwell. Because Atomic and Salomon sell globally, there are several graphic design packages based on language and brand sold by retailers. “It was challenging but I think that we pulled it off,” he says.“The basic design was pretty much determined by the pieces that had to be there. The overall footprint and design happened relatively quickly. It was the graphic issues, the sourcing the right refrigerator, coming up with a shell that could house all these pieces that would be durable and also mobile, because retailers need to move these to different parts of the store or entirely out in the summer and back in fall.”Rockwell says Salomon supplied the oven, while the fridge-sized freezer is an off-the-shelf product. Both run on electricity. The display comes to stores in three parts – the shell, the freezer and the oven – and Concept Designs ensures assembly instructions are simple for store personnel. “We take a page out of Ikea’s book and make it very visual,” he says.

Salomon, Atomic Offer Unique Retail Experience

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