Born in 2012,Finlay London began as an online-only and wholesale business. In 2017, they made the decision to open physical stores and focus on the direct to consumer side of business.
As a company that sells sunglasses and prescription glasses, being online-only was proving difficult for Finlay London. People with strong prescriptions will be wearing their specs on a daily basis so it’s important they are buying with confidence. The eyewear brand wanted to provide more to their customers; eye testing, style advice and the ability to try on different frames in-store.
Alice Allsop, Product Manager at Finlay London, explained, “Although a lot of places are moving away from brick and mortar stores because of the drop in the high street, for an opticians and sunglasses brand, this was the way forward.”
Their first store opened in Soho at the start of 2018, with a second being unveiled in Notting Hill in September last year.
“When we opened the Soho store, we hadn’t considered what features we wanted from a tablet enclosure in too much depth. It was our first store, so we wanted to test the sorts of functionalities needed before we invested in one. Now we have a Bouncepad in Notting Hill and have seen how well it works. It’s definitely something we’re considering putting in the Soho one as well.”
“We chose Bouncepad because it covered security, functionality and it fitted in with our modern and homely aesthetic.”
“We use our in-store tablets for point of sale (POS), but it’s a customer-facing device. As an optician, you usually need a lot of information from the customer when you’re making the sale. These details need to be 100% correct because it’s a medical record. It’s really important we can turn the tablet around so the customer can type in their own details – this removes the risk of human error and gets the job done quicker.”
“We use it as POS, but also to check-in customers for their sight test. Employees use it regularly too as it’s the main portal in the store for checking emails. The reason we chose a Bouncepad product was the aesthetic and the functionality – the ability to turn the screen to the customer in many different ways was a key selling point. All the different functionalities that you don’t get from other options on the market, we just couldn’t find the same level of flexibility from anywhere else.”
“It’s more our customers that benefit from it, so it’s really in our interest to use the best hardware possible. They can adjust the height and position to suit them which makes the input of details or viewing the screen as practical and comfortable as possible.”
“Security was also a big thing for us. We couldn’t find any POS iPad stand that provided security and didn’t look ugly. As a brand, ensuring we have a beautiful space is of utmost importance. A lot of traditional opticians look very clinical, with white walls and plastic chairs. We tried to move away from that clinical atmosphere and create a homely, welcoming space for our customers. In our store in Notting Hill, we’ve got a plant wall and we use a lot of brass and wood to make it appealing to the eye. Our creative director spent so much time on that, so an ugly iPad case would ruin the whole thing!”
“We chose Bouncepad because it covered security, functionality and it fitted in with our modern and homely aesthetic.”
“Our Bouncepad Flex has the iPads buttons covered which is a great because it means when you flick the tablet around you don’t accidentally lock it. It encases the entire iPad so it’s a smooth transition over to the customer – it’s appealing and you’re not going to make silly mistakes, it’s just the screen in front of you which simplifies the whole thing.”
“It’s more our customers that benefit from it, so it’s really in our interest to use the best hardware possible. They can adjust the height and position to suit them and make the input of details or viewing the screen as practical and comfortable as possible.”
Give Finlay London’s beautifully curated Instagram account a follow here.