Comcast’s new Xfinity store format is heavy on interactivity, engagement
Photo Credit: Andy Ryan
Chicago -- Comcast enlisted the help of a prestigious design firm to help it create a new, tech-savvy store prototype aimed at enhancing the cable giant's brand reputation and customer service experience.
Comcast and experience design firm ESI Design joined forces to create a new format, Studio Xfinity, which is designed to create an engaging and fully integrated customer experience and embody Xfinity's commitment to “entertainment and connectivity, anytime, anywhere.” The 9,000-sq.-ft. store, in Chicago, is a showcase for the company to debut and test new customer service initiatives. Customers can test drive Xfinity products and services on the store’s 46 tablets and touchscreen demo surfaces, play custom-designed multi- and single-player games and engage with special content and programming in the media-rich entertainment space.
“ESI Design created the Studio Xfinity experience so that customers can engage with everything Xfinity connectivity can bring into their lives — fantastic media, incredible games, and exciting communication tools,” said Ed Schlossberg, principal designer and founder of ESI Design. “It's the community center of the 21st century — a fun, warm and interesting place where customers will be drawn to visit again and again.”
Highlights of the store include:
• A new customer engagement model that provides customers with dedicated service support from the moment they enter the store via a tablet-based, custom designed app. ESI Design worked with the technology design firm Control Group on the technical development of the new customer timeline app, which the company is testing at the store. The app helps team members provide service quickly and efficiently by giving them access to customer information, ranging from the services they have to troubleshooting histories.
• Three flexible, multipurpose studios with 12-ft. by 7-ft. LED screens and theater-style seating. In each studio, customers interact with each other and the studio screen while playing single- or multi-player games, participating in live demos, or test-driving new or existing Xfinity products. The studios’ media can be focused on a unique activity or coordinated together for hosting store-wide events, launches, movie premieres or larger-scale games.
• Demonstration towers, located throughout the space offer guests the opportunity to explore products and services via iPads or take part in one-on-one or group demonstrations led by associates.
• An immersive and interactive media environment with over 800 ft. of LED screens and large-scale media installations, including a 107-ft.-long LED media band wrapping the store’s upper walls. The media screens and installations display brand messages and live or on-demand programming that can coordinate with each of the studios.