Project 06 / 08 · Experiential Retail
Mango · Experiential Retail
Client
Mango, Barcelona
Role
Strategic Designer (9-month contract)
Sector
Fashion / Sustainability
Year
2022
Role
Strategic designer, experiential and brand.
Team
Solo, working with four Mango representatives at HQ.
Timeframe
2022. A nine-month commissioned contract, which also became my thesis project.
Methods
Observation, interviews, desk research, customer journey mapping, persona, spatial proposal.
Outcome
I pitched a retail proposal in person at Mango HQ in Barcelona to four Mango representatives.
The problem
Mango's flagship in Barcelona is where the brand began, and it has the biggest footfall of any store. Shoppers' interest ran cold well before checkout.
People heard about the brand from friends and online ads, compared prices and nearby stores in the shop, and left with a loyalty scheme that didn't feel personal. Sustainable choice was thin. By the end of the visit, the emotional curve had slid from excited to angry.
Mango's brief was open: rethink the role of the space, tie it to the brand's Mediterranean roots, and inform future business models.
My role
I worked alone on a commissioned nine-month contract. I did the observation, the interviews and the desk research. I mapped the journey, built the emotional curve and persona, designed the floor proposal and wrote the business case.
I pitched it in person at Mango HQ to four representatives.
The Proposal
Close the men's line on the lower floor. Replace it with three modular, co-creative workshops.
Ground Floor · 0 (As Is)
Lower Floor · −1 (Proposed)
These sessions let Mango gather rich insight directly from customers, grounding product creation and future lines in participatory data rather than assumptions.
Key decisions
I replaced the men's line on the lower floor with three workshops.
The flagship has the most footfall, so a change there counts. The workshops are modular: Mango Skin, Mango Ceramic and Mango Parfumerie.
I chose to collect insight, not just sales.
Workshops let Mango hear directly from customers, so new lines start from what people say instead of what we assume.
I designed for someone who doesn't want to be there.
Isabella is a composite persona built from interviews and observation. She shops when she has to. The proposal gives her a reason to want to be in the space.
I moved the model from fast to slow.
The proposal shifts a fast, transaction-led model towards a slower, insight-led one, tied to Mediterranean lifestyle.
Customer Journey Map
The existing trip runs cold well before checkout. That's the moment the workshops are designed to interrupt.
| Stage | Pre-Shop · 0 min | Shop · 15 min | Post-Shop · 5 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Experience | Hears from friends, sees online adverts | Compares prices, searches nearby stores | Selects payment, claims points |
| Touchpoints | Social media, word of mouth | Brick & mortar, app, website | App, website, email |
| Pain Points | Not all clothes are sustainable | Not much choice in sustainable items | Loyalty doesn't feel personal |
Emotional Curve
Persona
Isabella shops out of necessity, not desire. The workshops give her a reason to want to be there.
Isabella Alcaraz
Age 26 · Barcelona, Spain
Income 1,100€ · lives alone
Composite persona, built from interviews and observation.
A freelance job seeker who shops mainly when it's necessary, but knows she has to be well dressed for interviews. Not much choice in sustainable items, and clothes lines that don't fit her working life.
"78% of millennials choose to spend money on a desirable experience over buying something desirable."
From the research in my original pitch.
Outcome
What I made
- ·A customer journey map and an emotional curve
- ·A composite persona
- ·A floor proposal with three workshop concepts
- ·A business model shift and the pitch
What changed
- ·I delivered the full proposal in person at Mango HQ.
- ·Mango's direction since then points the same way: its stores now use micro cement in their style, with a more Mediterranean feel, it has launched a perfume line, and it ran an event in Ibiza with influencers. I can't claim these came from my pitch.
Reflection
Working alone meant every claim in the proposal had to stand on my own research. The strongest parts are the ones backed by journey evidence, and the weakest are where I leaned on argument. Pitching to four people at Mango HQ taught me to lead with what I had seen customers do.