Myer today announced the roll-out of a unique concept in Australian retailing.
The department store will launch a Myer Christmas Giftorium in all 67 stores nationwide.
Giftorium was developed to bring back fun and theatre to Christmas shopping, creating a one-stop destination for all festive gift giving.
The heart of Giftorium is the provision of a unique set of services, creating a new level of engagement with Myer customers.
Each store store has a dedicated Giftorium section with colourful displays, merchandise offerings and fully trained staff dressed in quirky Christmas uniforms.
Across all Myer stores this Christmas, Giftorium will offer over 2.2 million products, enough to fill the MCG.
Giftorium will showcase the extensive Myer product range across all areas including toys, homewares and fashion and cosmetics.
Myer chief Bernie Brookes said this is a first for the sector.
"No other retailer in this country is offering such an extensive Christmas program of events and services to engage customers and get them excited about shopping this festive season.
"The truly great international department stores place huge importance on their Christmas programs. We saw a unique opportunity to bring fun and theatre back into Christmas shopping for all Australians.
"Giftorium is a fantastic initiative that shows we are committed to new and innovative ways to improve services and engage our customers in a totally new interactive in-store experience.
"Customers will be wowed by exciting in-store demonstrations including dazzling magicians, personalising an array of products, wine tasting from Plumm, tea education sessions from Dilmah Teas and learning to make your own bespoke drinks from SodaStream.
Brookes said Giftorium called for new and inventive recruiting methods to attract potential employees.
To create excitement amongst candidates, the Myer HR team devised a series of ‘casting and audition’ style interviews, much like a talent show.
In five weeks, the HR team interviewed thousands of candidates for just over 3,000 newly created Christmas positions.
Giftorium staff went through extensive training on services including gift selection, gift wrapping, Christmas gift registry and the new iPad ordering system.
To make shopping easier, Myer has developed an extensive personal shopping service centred on expertly trained Gifticians and Producticians.
Gifticians are gift giving experts helping customers choose the perfect present. They will assist with choosing gifts for varying age groups, interests and budgets.
If customers are stuck for ideas, Gifticians will make gift suggestions from the Myer 12 Themes of Christmas which group into categories including Dapper Dad, Glamour Gran, Techno Freak and the Fashionista.
Producticians will be on hand to provide product demonstrations.
In select stores around the country, Producticians will hold demonstrations from brands including Marvi's Magic, Sodastream and Mr Men and Little Miss.
Plumm will offer wine tasting sessions and help customers with glassware selection in the Melbourne and Sydney stores.
Dilmah Teas will be running tea education and tasting sessions from their extensive range of fine teas in the Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth stores.
Another service on offer is from online personalisation brand Vistaprint which will be opening their first ‘bricks and mortar’ retail spaces in the Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth stores.
Customers will be able to select from an array of product including t-shirts, iPhone covers, mouse pads, baseball caps personalised with photos and phrases of their choice.
Once orders are placed on the day, the final product will be posted to customers.
Myer will also launch a dedicated Giftorium microsite to guide customers through the product offering and services.
Customers with a 2km radius of select Myer flagship stores can have their gifts delivered by a Same Day Elf Delivery Service.
The activation will see gifts delivered by a fleet of uniformed elves.
The office launch celebrations of Giftorium will take place on Saturday 8 November with activities in every Myer store.
From this date, every Myer store around the country will schedule a host of in-store activations including musical performances and children's activities.
Myer has teamed up with Instagram to debut a huge digital screen in one of the Myer Sydney City windows which will flash Instagram images featuring the #Giftorium.
For those with a sweet tooth, every weekend from 8 November, the all-new Myer Treat Street will be in the Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth stores.
Roving Treat Street assistants will offer customers enticing free sweets to enjoy whilst shopping.
Giftorium forms part of Myer’s wider annual Christmas campaign with events and sponsorships across the country.