Three Ireland has announced a €27 million investment into its stores as well as an expansion to its retail stock. Titled the ‘New Connected Lifestyle Experience’, the plan aims to offer a range of smart lifestyle devices with the staff in every store to advise you on them.
Part of the plan is a major overhaul to retail stores in what Three Ireland themselves call “[…] a new category of retail stores for Ireland’s towns and cities.” Three claim that all 60 of their Irish outlets will carry some or all of a list of 100 smart home and personal tech ‘curated’ for the market here.
New Retail Experience
DJ Stephen Byrne led a small tour around one of Three Ireland’s new-look stores and gave us a look at a few piece of electronic gadgetry. However, the space itself was hard to ignore. Teeming with polished wood, spotlighting and greenery, it resembles a boutique more than a tech shop.
Three Ireland claim their New Connected Lifestyle Experience comes after three years of preparation. Their timing on refurbishments is fortunate – the shuttering of many stores for the past year and a bit gave them the opportunity to gut and refit quite a few stores already.
In addition, consumers are hungry to get back to the high street and experience the human touch and brain-picking that comes with walk-in stores. According to their own research, 60% of consumer still prefer the in-store experience and of that, 26% want to touch and feel the product. 23% want retail staff knowledge.
Three Ireland’s 60 stores are expected to complete their overhauls by 2023. 13 of those will be done by the end of 2021 while three stores (Henry St., Dublin; Patrick St., Cork; Parkway S.C., Limerick) will re-open in their new form this month.
Expansion
Three showed off around 15 products from their line-up of 100 smart home and personal gadgets. Byrne himself obviously chose headphones – the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H4.
Three said of the Beoplay H4 “[a] contemporary over-ear design fuses with the latest audio driver tech to deliver these fantastic headphones. Made for Google Assistant, they’ll help you keep up with the news and weather while making calls and controlling your music. They look great and are built for hours of listening comfort too. You can even go wired if the 19 hour battery life isn’t good enough thanks to the included 3.5mm cable.”
Other unique products shown from the line-up include the Ion Vinyl Motion Air Record Player, the Ecoset Water Bottle and Closca Loop Reflective Foldable Bike Helmet.
Ion Vinyl Motion Air plays 33/45/78 RPM records and can convert to them MP3 to archive your collection. Has Bluetooth, RCA phono and 3.5mm aux output so you can connect it to almost everything.
Ecoset Water Bottle can keep drinks cool for up to 24 hours. Or hot for up to 12 thanks to a double vacuum. It’s leak proof, easy-grip and made of stainless steel.
For more info on the 100 new products or to skip the shop and buy online, visit Three.ie.
Are you one of the many who can’t wait to shop in person? Will Three Ireland’s new store look encourage you in the door? Is smart tech something you are on the lookout for when hitting up Three stores? Let us know in the comments below…
