Foot Locker’s test of Pop By Foot Locker and Power Store formats, along with its plans for augmented reality (AR) apps, are part of its larger effort to play to its customers’ non-footwear interests, VP Global Store Design Kambiz Hemati tells us.

The chain opened Pop by Foot Locker sections last fall in two New York locations. It will open its first U.S. Power Store (a format that incorporates gaming zones stocked with Microsoft Xbox consoles) next week in Detroit, playing to what it sees as a correlation between its existing customer base and the videogame business. It also has Power Stores in Hong Kong, London, Liverpool, Singapore and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the AR apps will be available in the first half of this year, letting customers use their smartphones to sample different sneaker styles and colors.

The AR plans follow Foot Locker’s arming its store sales staff with tablets that can recommend and track down every style and color of products it carries (beyond what’s in a specific store’s inventory), giving its stores a means to compete with ecommerce retailers. In the same vein, products it carries now roll out nationally rather than regionally, since consumers expect to be able to buy and receive them anywhere almost immediately.

Contacts:

Foot Locker, Kambiz Hemati, VP Global Store Design, 212-720-3700, khemati@footlocker.com