An optician is putting high-tech customer experience at the forefront of a revamp of its store.

The Brighton branch of Specsavers is one of the retailer’s first outlets to offer a new “digital customer journey”, focused on improving standards of eyecare and enhancing the overall retail experience.

The concept, which is being rolled out to all Specsavers stores in the UK and Ireland over the next few years, including 160 by the end of the year, involved a full redesign of the retail area.

The Brighton store has stripped out desks and replaced the reception-style format with a more fluid experience where, following eye examinations, the customer can move around the store as a frame stylist takes them through options using a tablet device to audition, measure and dispense glasses.

The traditional waiting area for examinations has been upgraded, too, becoming a customer lounge with news on a TV and tablets on-hand.

The first of its kind in optics, the retailer compares the customer experience to the sort of cutting-edge interaction found in Apple stores, which revitalised the high street a few years ago.

The staff might be pleased that the days of using rulers and marker pens to take measurements are behind them.

For Andrew Wallbank, Brighton’s retail director, the new concept represents a “step change in how we engage with our customers”.

He said: “Alongside the clinical benefits it is also about the retail theatre and ensuring the customer experience is not just good enough to convince them to buy the product, it also excites them about the journey they’ve been on. We want people to talk about the journey, not just have a better journey.”

Mike Horler, ophthalmic director at Specsavers Brighton, said: “Specsavers has really taken optics a huge leap forward with the creation of a very modern and efficient retail environment.

“So far the feedback we have received from customers has been very positive.”

Specsavers undertook customer research and garnered feedback from suppliers to create the new shop floor concept, which was launched with a pilot trial programme in Bolton in 2013.