Saint Charles opens first digital store in Vienna

With a new virtual experience offering, Saint Charles is creating an innovative link between the real and digital worlds in retail.

In September 2019, Saint Charles opened its first store in Vienna's Herrengasse. As the little sister of the well-known Saint Charles Apotheke, pharmacist Alexander Ehrmann and his partner Richard König designed the first mono-brand store that exclusively offers Saint Charles products. The elegant city centre store offers a total of over 300 products from the field of natural medicine and cosmetics, produced in the store's own manufactory. A journey for all the senses is offered on more than 15 solid oak stelae. You can smell, taste or even feel the world of herbal medicine here.

But the Saint Charles Store was also intended to establish a connection to the digital world from the very beginning. By means of an in-store touch screen, another 50 international partner brands are offered, which can either be picked up directly in the store via Click & Collect or also sent home via Home Delivery. Via the Saint Friends customer loyalty programme, bonus points can be collected both in the Saint Charles online shop and in the store.

However, due to the Corona crisis, the Saint Charles Store had to close its doors like most companies. For this reason, the company considered how to still offer customers shopping with an experience factor and decided to digitise the entire store. Saint Charles is the first company in Vienna to offer the extraordinary possibility of visiting the shop virtually from home around the clock. At the click of a button, health tips, videos, exciting background stories and, of course, the opportunity to shop directly are offered.

The digitalisation was carried out in cooperation with the Viennese company Eyecandy using a 3D camera. Via a central platform, additional concrete information and links to products or subject areas were stored, making the visit a digital experience. For example, tips from pharmacist Alexander Ehrmann on supporting the immune system can be accessed, which is currently in particularly high demand.

"With the digital store, we want to show how a connection can be made between the real and digital worlds in retail without leaving the familiar visual environment. The shortcoming of the personal experience is contrasted with multimedia content and interesting content. And that 24 x 7," said Richard König, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Saint Charles.

The Saint Charles store in Vienna's Herrengasse, like many other shops, will reopen its doors from 14 April. The digital store will then continue to complement the existing shop opening hours and provide customers at home, as well as international visitors, with new tips on health care and natural healing on an ongoing basis.

Link to the digital store: digitalstore.saint-charles.eu

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=SV2GH9LiVW5

More on the Saint Charles Store concept: https://saint-charles.eu/erster-saint-charles-store-herrengasse/