Welcome to the perfect store

Creating a perfect store is every retailer’s dream. But there is such a place – in a modest shopping parade at Bradwell in England.

It is a store where shoppers visit virtually every square metre of floor space. It is a store where average weekly sales have increased by double figures. The margin here is twice that of similar updated stores. Bradwell is unique. It is literally a store out of the fifth dimension, a store seen in all its details before a single display case or packet of biscuits had been put in place. For Bradwell is a virtual store brought to life.

Brainchild

The idea was the brainchild of United Co-operatives and Unilever who got together to examine how Bradwell’s business could be expanded.

First they looked at current business, filming shoppers and discovering behaviour patterns including the fact that, as it was a convenience store, shoppers would go direct to a required item without a basket and without considering other offerings. While its news agency business was 15 per cent compared with a four per cent benchmark, buying meals for that night were only nine per cent against a benchmark of 19 per cent. Top-ups were only 26 per cent compared with a 33 per cent benchmark.

“Cold spots” in the shop were identified together with patterns of customer flow. “Shoppers didn’t know what is on sale because they were on a mission,” explained Suzy Ford (Unilever). Store staff, marketing and planning experts were involved in the evolution of a new type of store, painstakingly created on a computer. Out went the old parallel banks of shelves. In came sweeps of shelving along the length of the store.

When it was done, 500 shoppers were invited to deliver their comments and focus groups were set up to discuss it. Approval was wholehearted. With the slogan, “You created it, we built it” the new store re-opened last November, the dream now a reality. Immediate results were better penetration, with 95 per cent of the store being visited. Sales soared. Shoppers unanimously voted their perfect store the quickest, easiest and best.

Sales

Average weekly sales jumped by 10 per cent compared with the 5.5 per cent increase in other redeveloped stores. Average spend was up 9.1 per cent compared with five per cent. And Fresh participation rose 2.4 per cent compared with 0.4 per cent.

Now the perfect store is on the move. Its concept is being rolled out as the test model against different store profiles. An aggressive PR campaign will underline the move from industry to shopper mission- based layouts. Further down the line, that fifth dimension shop could be the one that on-line shoppers visit.

The perfect shop indeed – in the shopper’s living room.

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