Brighter Homes by Technal

(October 28, 2008) HBS International wants to bring Technal's 'Maisons de Lumière' shop concept around its world, where the tool can help build brand awareness in the high-end residential market. The first shop outside France has just opened, in China.

 

Maisons de Lumière is the boutique concept that Technal has pitched to metal builders to develop brand presence, with stores located in places where the targeted end users and specifiers typically shop. This year, two years after the start of the project, five shops have opened to great fanfare in France - Technal's home market. At the same time, Hydro Building Systems International, the team in charge of Technal brand outside Europe, has launched a strategy to develop the Maisons de Lumière concept outside France.

 

BRIGHTER HOMES

 

The complete approach has been rolled out in a master guide, the "Brighter Homes by Technal Master Guide" which takes into account and adapts the different themes of the original French concept. It describes all aspects of the concept as proposed to metal builders. Among the topics in the guide:
  •     Presentation of Hydro and Technal
  •     Why build new stores with windows and doors for targeted end users
  •     How to choose the location and premises  
  •     Layout details, including furniture, displays, colors, lights  
  •     Marketing and communication, special days, advertisements
  •     Complete design details, including graphics for logo, letterhead, banners
  •     How to recruit and the type of people to be targeted 
  •     Sales training
  •     Software for quotation
  •     Budget and store objectives, return on investment, legal agreement  

FIRST IN CHINA

 

HBS International started applying the concept during the second quarter of this year, in China, -Hangzhou - some two hours from Shanghai and the capital of the Zhejiang province. The first "Brighter Homes" shop established outside France opened in September in Hangzhou. The 130-square-meter shop is the largest to date, French stores included. It is also a bit different from the traditional shops with regard to location; it stands in a new shopping center dedicated to materials, end-products and decoration for buildings. Visitors have been impressed with the shop's quality and look, and with the large sizes of the frames on display.

The shops are divided into three zones: A showroom area with products, where people can get ideas and dream A workshop area, where people can openly discuss their projects  A private area, where people can discuss their projects confidentially HBS China is carefully following the evolution of the Hangzhou shop.