When designing different stores for Lincoln, it is an exploration starting from the construction of an ideal customer trip in the hope that the customer will receive satisfactory experience and perception with Lincoln. This is followed by the design of an overall environment for the expected experience and feeling. The key to the final experience design lies in the delivery of the sense of trust, sense of control and sense of comfortability to the customer.

When asked about an American luxury car, most people would think of Lincoln automobile. In 1990, global sales of Lincoln sedans hit a record high at 230,000, making the brand the best seller of all American luxury cars. The annual sales volume of Lincoln, however, declined gradually in more than two decades that followed. In spite of its early accession to China in 1980s, Lincoln met its waterloo in the country as a result of poor brand power. In 2008, Lincoln had to withdraw from China market with overwhelming sadness. But the brand returned to China in 2014, this time a brand-new sales experience would help it to grab the market in China. By the end of 2016, Lincoln achieved an annual sales volume of more than 32,000, growing nearly 3 times year-on-year. The brand's cumulative sales volume in China for this year has surmounted 45,000 by this October. This impressive performance is achieved for that Lincoln is an outstanding car and, more importantly, for the brand-new experience it delivers to consumers.

Compared with its competitors, Lincoln's accession to China market is more than one step behind. In the past, Lincoln was known as the car for the President of the United States in the mind of Chinese people. This impression made Chinese consumers feel worlds apart from it. In order to grab the market in China, Lincoln needs, in addition to its quite competitive cost performance, to eliminate the gap between its positioning and its stereotyped impression among the Chinese.

Lincoln Eco-system-Made for a Brand-new Purchase eXperience

Chinese consumers have accustomed themselves to experiencing and buying cars in automobile 4S stores. This distribution mode was introduced into China in about the year 2000. However, all automobile 4S stores in China, whether generic or exclusive, have gradually become homogenous in terms of service and experience. So, how can we create a different brand experience for this high-end auto brand? The cooperation between T+8 and Lincoln has led to a solution.

T+8, a comprehensive strategic cooperation between TANG and Eight Inc.(the retail experience designer for Apple), was initiated in 2015. The T+8 is user-centered, aiming to holistic experience with full touchpoint for the cooperative partners and users. The intrinsic pattern of 4S stores is subject to multiple restraints in terms of factors like distance, time and space, etc. Is there any better solution that can be used to cope with China's urbanization and Chinese consumers' behavior evolution? With this borne in mind, the Lincoln brand was redefined for China market in order to provide users with an unprecedented experience in accessing, getting acquainted with, buying and possessing the car, with real application scenarios that fit the user as points of entry. T+8 shook itself free of the fetter of traditional mindset and proposed a brand-new concept, the Lincoln eco-system.

The Lincoln eco-system can more effectively improve users' awareness of the brand and create more touchpoints between the brand and customers for expanding new markets. It consists of Lincoln centers, Lincoln brand stores, Lincoln experience stores and Lincoln member clubs, integrating multiple online and offline channels. Each category of the stores has specific scale and action. For example, Lincoln brand stores are usually located in areas where luxury stores concentrated for customers to get acquainted with, experience, and customize their cars online.

The Lincoln eco-system can more effectively improve users' awareness of the brand and create more touchpoints between the brand and customers for expanding new markets.

Lincoln Knows You Better Than “Miss Zhang”

After many interviews with loyal customers and dealers of Lincoln, the T+8 team identified the essential causes that contributed to past success of Lincoln dealers. People who bought Lincoln before did so because they had established good relationship with the sales consultants in the stores and trusted the products recommended by the sales consultants. It was "Miss Zhang" rather than the Lincoln brand per se that established a relationship with the customers. As a result, these customers would stick to the same store and the same sales consultant when buying a car, regardless of other experience.

The T+8 decided to convert the good relationship between these customers and their sales consultants into the good relationship between these customers and the experience stores and eventually into their recognition of and affection for the Lincoln brand by experience design. This means the design should not only be concentrated on the space experience in Lincoln stores and users' experience with Lincoln products but should also concentrated on the direct connection between Lincoln and every customer.

The T+8 decided to convert the good relationship between these customers and their sales consultants into the good relationship between these customers and the experience stores and eventually into their recognition of and affection for the Lincoln brand by experience design.

Making the Purchase eXperience of Lincoln an Enjoyable One

When designing different stores for Lincoln, it is an exploration starting from the construction of an ideal customer trip in the hope that the customer will receive satisfactory experience and perception with Lincoln. This is followed by the design of an overall environment for the expected experience and feeling. The key to the final experience design lies in the delivery of the sense of trust, sense of control and sense of comfortability to the customer.

Every touchpoint, every interaction, including the online customization system, the receptionist at front door, the consultant at lobby, the service engineer, and the aftersales service system, have been painstakingly and meticulously designed to make the customer truly feel that he/she is the cynosure of the service. The customers' privacy are protected better in Lincoln stores since they have independent consult rooms while in conventional 4S stores there are only open consulting area. The customers can monitor the entire repair and maintenance processes at any time through the transparent design and feel that everything is under their control.

T＋8, the Maker of Holistic Service eXperience

It is T+8 that makes the change of Lincoln matters and the purchase an enjoyable experience. The 3 Lincoln centers in Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou, all designed by T+8, have rapidly ascended to become the top stores of Lincoln worldwide in terms of sales volume. By this October, Lincoln has opened a total of 87 Lincoln centers in China and planned to increase the number to 100 by the end of this year in order to deliver human-centered purchase service to more consumers.

As the design integrator of holistic experience, T+8 provides consulting service on the experience design of digital channels and physical space for delivering user-centered ultimate, omni-channel, full touchpoint service experience in order to help more and more partners to achieve business success.