CASE STUDY: SNOWSCENE X IGU GLOBAL

The holiday starts here.

When you walk into the new Snowscene flagship in Brisbane, Queensland something shifts. Not the temperature (though that comes later). It’s something subtler. More human.

A sense of anticipation. The quiet excitement of “we’re doing this.” The promise of snow in the middle of a Queensland summer. It’s not just retail. It’s arrival.

That was the brief, and the opportunity. To design a physical space that doesn’t just sell ski holidays and soft goods, but makes people feel like they’ve already left. To blend the emotional environments of a winter escape with the functionality of premium physical retail and travel.

The Challenge

Snowscene exists in contrast. A snow travel business in one of the warmest climates on Earth. A family-owned retailer selling premium, performance snow gear in a market where it rarely drops below 10°C. But it works. Because they sell more than products. They sell joy, connection and adventure. The magic of going somewhere together, doing something new or revisiting those feelings from a special trip their customer has already experienced in the past.

When it came time to relocate their store and rethink their presence, founders Hayden and Emma knew they needed and very much wanted more than new walls. They needed a new perspective, approach and system. A new way of showing up with the clarity to repeat time and time again . A flagship that reflected who they really are, and who they’re becoming whilst remaining consistent. That’s where IGU Global stepped in.

The IGU Method: Go Inward First

At IGU, we don’t start with design. We start with emotion. With why. With answering the question and always with humans.

We conducted a two-day immersive workshop with the Snowscene team to understand and get clarity on:

• Their emotional default — now the feeling they were selling, the anchor to why and build the brand as a human.

• Build out the psychographic profiles of their most aligned customers and their personas.

• How to translate those feelings into functional, consistent, real-world systems and physical spaces.
  

From that, we co-authored a comprehensive design brief, not just for architects and shop fitters, but for every touchpoint across the business.A strategic document that clarified how Snowscene should look, feel, sound, and behave, in-store, online, in-person, always.

It became their north star. A retail operating system anchored in emotion.

A Studio, Not a Store

At IGU Global, we help brands rethink what their store really is.

Not just a place to sell. But your most valuable, manageable, and tangible marketing tool. Your studio. Your flagship. Your physical media.

Snowscene’s new store is proof of concept. Designed not just to perform, but to provoke feelings, spark emotions and meet someone regardless of where they are at on their buying journey. Built around experience, not transaction. 

The cold room to experience the product in actual winter temperatures to build confidence, excitement and trust.

Showcase product like a gallery.

Goggle bar for to showcase like a theatre and personalise experience.

Consultation Lounges for holiday planning and booking.

Every zone has purpose:

• The Cold Room: A first of its kind. Customers step into freezing conditions and feel how gear performs in snow, validate feelings and build confidence and move them one step closer to their adventure. Confidence becomes tactile. Doubt disappears.

• Goggle Bar: Product as theatre. Curated, elevated, gallery-like.

• Consultation Lounges: A space for shared planning, trust, and time. The soft start to something meaningful.

• Store Flow: Mirrors the emotional rhythm of a snow holiday. Anticipation. Preparation. Belonging.
  

The result was an environment where people begin their trip before they’ve even booked. A space that sells through feeling and emotion.

The Results (Six Months In)

• +22% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year

• +30% uplift during the previous 23/24 season

• +26% improvement in gross margin

• +11% increase in new customers

• All-time records in single sale, daily revenue, and weekly turnover
  

And more importantly? A business that now shows up the same, with the discipline and clarity on what they should do and focus on and most importantly knowing what they don't do, in-store, online, in marketing and in every human interaction. A team with clarity. A customer with confidence.

“It’s expanded our expectations of what’s possible.”— Hayden, Co-founder

Emotional Discipline = Brand Power

Most brands focus on what they sell or quickly become functional and transactional. The anchor to the bottom line and forget what they wanted to create in the first place. Great brands focus on how they make people feel and see their physical store not just as a sales distribution strategy but as their most valuable marketing tool and experience. Snowscene does both now, and that’s why it’s working.

By aligning their store design, service model, content, and team culture to one emotional default, they’ve built something few brands ever achieve:Consistency. Integrity. Trust. This is the quiet power of emotional clarity.And this is what we do at IGU Global.

I can't tell you what a pleasure and joy it was to be involved in this journey and work with Snowscene and seeing you fly makes me truly happy. 

Hayden. Emma. Thank you.

For your courage to go deeper.For your willingness to trust the process.For your discipline to build something that truly reflects who you are.

You got comfortable being uncomfortable, and you made something remarkable.

Not just a store.

A feeling.

A flagship for what matters.