Discount retailer B&M Group has created a fully immersive digital twin of one of its flagship stores for the first time.
Working with 3D virtual mapping specialist Apollo3D, activity focused on the Worthington Way store in Wigan, supporting the retailer’s newly unveiled “store of the future” concept and providing B&M with a blueprint it can use to plan expansion and refurbishment projects across its rapidly growing estate.
Leeds-based Apollo3D was brought in by B&M in March this year, scanning the 55,000 sq ft store (including garden centre and non-customer areas) ahead of a seven-phase transformation that was completed in August. The resulting model, nicknamed “Wigan 2.0” by the project team, combined a full 3D digital twin with a drone flythrough of the site, giving B&M’s design team a way to test layout changes, signage and even floor colours before a single wall was moved.
Rob Dixon, who led the store design for B&M, said the technology changed how decisions were made: “The Apollo 3D technology and full-store scan were absolutely invaluable in giving the team a detailed and comprehensive view of the entire customer journey. The level of insight and detail enabled us to identify opportunities and make more informed design decisions across the store, from wayfinding and brand communications through to flooring execution. It was a hugely valuable tool in shaping the overall customer experience and bringing the design vision to life for the store.”
The store stayed open throughout the seven-phase rebuild, with B&M able to plan around the model rather than closing sections off for measurement and assessment. By June, the first phase of the physical rebuild was complete, informed almost entirely by the virtual staging Apollo3D had produced months earlier.
Beyond the build itself, the model has taken on a life of its own inside B&M. Footage from the scan, including a side-by-side before-and-after walkthrough, was shown to management and staff at the company’s annual conference, and VR headsets were used to give colleagues a first look at the finished store, including new break rooms, shopping aisles, new self-checkouts, chilled food areas and customer entrance. A version has also been adapted for customers to explore online ahead of visiting in person.
Mark Shepherd, managing director and founder of Apollo3D, said the Wigan project shows what is possible when digital mapping is used beyond a single stage of a project: “We’ve worked with retailers, healthcare providers and facilities teams for years, and the businesses that get the most out of this valuable technology are the ones that keep coming back to the model, long after the initial scan. For B&M, that means using it for design, for training, for marketing and now, as a template for how they approach future stores.”
He added that the approach also points to a wider shift in how retailers manage their estates: “A single accurate scan can be reused again and again, for a refit, for planning a Christmas display, even for showing a fully stocked shelf without a warehouse full of stock behind it. That’s a real change in how retail businesses can work, and it’s one that pays for itself very quickly across a large store network.”
For B&M, which operates from more than 790 stores in the UK and France, the Wigan project is expected to inform how future refurbishments and new store openings are planned, reducing the need for repeat site visits and giving teams a shared reference point from design through to construction. The retailer has already indicated the model will be used to support decisions on range changes and seasonal displays, an area where the ability to visualise a fully stocked shelf without physical stock is expected to save both time and cost.
B&M Group CEO, Tjeerd Jegen, said the project marks a shift in how the retailer will approach its estate going forward: “This is a genuinely groundbreaking way for us to plan our stores. Having a store mapped out in this much detail, before any physical work begins, means every layout and design decision is grounded in how a real customer actually moves through the space, not a floor plan on paper.
“It gives us a way to grow that is cost-effective, sustainable and futureproof, and Wigan has shown us exactly how that can work across the wider estate as we continue to invest in our stores.”
Apollo3D, which was founded in 2017 and is based at Wharfebank Mills in Otley, has a client list spanning retail, healthcare, hospitality and facilities management, including Primark, Marks & Spencer, Greene King, the NHS and OCS.