B&Q is a British institution in the home and garden retail sector, providing DIY and home improvement products and solutions to homeowners, property developers, tradespeople and beyond since 1969.
While B&Q have an extensive online presence, it’s their stores that truly capture the imagination of their customers. Standing tall in major cities and towns across the UK, their warehouse-scale stores offer everything from plants and lamps to bathrooms and tools.
The challenge
B&Q set out to find a partner that could provide a range of display components, including a new-look dump bin. While the products had already been designed by B&Q, Harrison was invited to tender for the project at a later date.
The Harrison design team was then tasked with completing a full set of drawings, renders and prototypes to enhance and refresh the home furnishing areas in their stores, known as their Décor Neutron, which required a new layout and fixtures.
The solution
Harrison went on to produce all of the required display items, opting for acrylic to ensure that every element was durable and easy to read and understand. As every item would come into contact with customers and interacted with on a daily basis, the design team ensured that smooth edges and finishes were integrated into our designs from the start.
In a store environment where customers can be spending a long time browsing, making crucial decisions about their property, or visiting quickly for an essential item, the designers at Harrison knew that it was important to maximise the visual impact of B&Q’s merchandise on display. This ultimately benefits the customer and helps increase sales.
The results
Once designs were approved, Harrison produced each element in its manufacturing facility in West Yorkshire. The manufacturing process included sheet material cutting, laser cutting, CNC cutting and product polishing before sending 570 pallets of products to more than 300 B&Q stores.
Following the successful production and deployment of the new displays, B&Q’s Marketing Procurement team said: “We’ve developed a great partnership with Harrison, and now use them as our sole Point of Sale equipment supplier.”
