Wal-Mart Retail Environment
Project Vision
Lippincott was tasked with creating a new standard for Walmart retail environments, with an emphasis on signage, graphics, colors, and fixturing.
The new Walmart retail environment, debuted at a new store in Jacksonville, Fla., was created to improve customers’ in-store experience through a more consistent and less cluttered brand expression in the store. The objectives of the new store design are to convey the new brand identity, support the strategic goals of the business, provide a differentiated customer experience that helps to shift perceptions of the brand, and establish greater consistency across the store network.
Two major objectives of the new store layout are to clearly delineate grocery from general merchandise and to establish strong sightlines into key departments. The new store environment is also visually cleaner, faster, and friendlier for customers to shop due to wider aisles and the removal of in-aisle palette displays.
The interior of the store was transformed through the addition of color to the walls, which creates a more branded experience while also being friendlier and more approachable. The yellow, green, and orange on the grocery side of the store signals freshness and indicates food credentials. Blue delineates general merchandise from grocery and reinforces the brand.
The Lippincott team devised a complete signage and graphics system that aids in wayfinding through all points on the shopping journey. Departments are identified by a combination of large signage components and lifestyle imagery representative of the merchandise and Walmart customers. Smaller overhead signs identify subcategories within departments.
Graphics, information, and price identification signage are used at the fixture level to merchandise products and communicate with the customer. A cornice element throughout key departments provides a flexible communications system that can be tailored to merchandise, promotional displays, and seasonal campaigns. This flexible kit-of-parts changes out quickly and easily to make communications relevant and up-to-date.
New fixturing was designed for the fresh grocery items to better communicate Walmart’s produce and bakery offerings. Nesting tables incorporate a wood finish with black detailing that feels fresh and authentic. The rest of grocery incorporates black metal fixtures, which act as a good staging color for food items. Finishes used in general merchandise, including metallic silver and black, are standardized to provide a consistent expression.
The new concept has been rolled out in multiple Walmart locations.
Project Details
A graphic program that probably touches more lives than all of the other entries combined. Clean, organized, and appropriate. Not overdesigned. That a project of this scale survived intact the gauntlet of meetings, tests, and prototypes is a great testament to the designers.
Design Team
Rick Wise, David Leis (project managers); James Wright, Su Mathews (project managers/creative directors); Mike Sloan, Alissa Tribelli, Li Xu, Saki Tanaka, Adam Davidson, Jung Shin, Thy Nguyen-Huu (designers)
Design Firm
Lippincott
Consultants
BRR Architecture
Fabricators
Hudson Construction Company (general contractor)