Indigo Books & Music Inc. has rolled out the first phase of its store-within-store concept called Indigo Tech that carries personal technology products from Apple and other lifestyle-focused brands.
Indigo Tech at a London, Ont. location
After opening a pilot location in Toronto earlier this summer, Indigo introduced the new concept – which expands its tech offering beyond small booths and kiosks to a branded department – to eleven of its stores in the lastfew weeks. The retailer hopes to have Indigo Tech within 40-44 of its stores by the end of the year.
In addition to Apple products such as the iPod Touch, iPad, iPad Mini and Apple TV, Indigo Tech offers health and wellness gadgets like Fitbit Zip, wireless speakers, headphones and even baby monitors.
Tod Morehead, executive vice-president and group general merchandise manager at Indigo, told Marketing that the chain is focused on delivering technology products that can be easily integrated into the everyday lives of its consumers.
“The assortment is different from what you’ll find in a lot of places. It’s very fashion-oriented [and] very much about how people live today,” said Morehead, who has been with Indigo for nearly a year.
The Canadian book seller is no stranger to the tech world, of course. In 2009, it founded the e-reader company Kobo, but sold it two years later for US$315 million. The chain still carries and promotes Kobo products, having just announced a new fall lineup of e-readers and tablets.
As consumers continue to shift to digital reading devices, Indigo has tried over the last few years to boost its profitability by stocking more high-margin products such as gifts, toys and lifestyle items.
Indigo Tech is part of a larger plan to revamp many of its large-format stores into a series of smaller shops – including its existing Indigo Kids brand, as well as new labels such as and Indigo Home. The strategy, said Morehead, is to become the premiere gifting destination and to expand upon categories other than books.
“As books are being cannibalized by e-readers and Amazon and online, we know we need to grow our business in other areas to really make up for that book decline,” said Morehead, who according to the Indigo website is “accountable for identifying and building the Lifestyle, Kids and Paper product categories.”
The hope, he said, is that Indigo Tech becomes a shopping destination as more of them roll out and awareness increases.
When asked what differentiates Indigo Tech from other electronics retailers, Morehead said, “Best Buy and Future Shop are very business related… They’re very large and hard to navigate and there’s not much sales help… We really help people live their life better,” he said.
Indigo Tech’s employees are dedicated to only that section of the store. “They have to be very passionate about this category of product and have to be very knowledgeable and very much at the forefront of what’s happening in these types of products,” said Morehead.
Indigo supported the first phase of Indigo Tech with full-page newspaper ads. Marketing will increase as more locations introduce Indigo Tech, said Morehead.
In addition to expanding its merchandising mix, Indigo is also exploring international expansion. In June the retailer announced its plans to open brick and mortar stores outside of Canada in about two years.
Indigo operates under several banners including Indigo Books, Chapters, the World’s Biggest Bookstore and Coles.
