Brian McGurk, partner at Dublin-based brand consultants, Bradley McGurk, joined Insight’s store tours in Los Angeles and Chicago last month. In the first installment of his report, McGurk is both under and overwhelmed by stores in California
McGurk: impressed in LA
Coming hot on the heels of the Insight retail study tour in London in September, it was with some trepidation I clambered aboard a Boeing 747 for the flight from Dublin to Los Angeles.
Could LA and Chicago convenience retail really surprise, challenge, even excite, in light of the best UK and Irish convenience retailing delivers to our time-pressed, lifestyle-driven consumers on this side of the planet?
I have seen the best Ireland provides in c-stores and petrol stations at the SuperValu, Centra, Spar, Topaz and Applegreen brands. I also found London delivering at Budgens, Tesco Express, M&S Simply Food and the exciting St Pancras Station shopping precinct, so the gauntlet was thrown down to US retailers this year to have their convenience house in order.
The incoming international delegation was on a mission: it was straining to see what is new, what works, what is making money in c-store design and brand experience in that crucible of creativity that is California and in that cauldron of commerce that is Chicago.
The result was conclusive. Yes, we were impressed, but for different reasons and in a range of ways.
Fresh & Easy: added value
In-store produce displays in Fresh & Easy
Outstanding concepts include Fresh & Easy with its 100% self-scanning operation. It has a whole new approach and vision of the relationship a c-store can have with its shoppers.
It is focused on delivering really fresh food in a straightforward, no-nonsense, lean, efficient store design that doesn’t push personality but which clearly seeks to deliver added-value to the customer on the back of a sober but intelligent approach to the bottom-line.
Contrast this with the heavy-themed approach of Trader Joe’s or Bristol Farms (big-box convenience?). Their pitch is much more about personality and stage-set propping.
These store designs integrate visual theatre into the shopping visit. If you like the ride and enjoy lifestyle-centred premium shopping, then anywhere else will be a real dumbed-down shopping experience, which had better offer points of difference in range and price to hold your attention and win loyalty.
In contrast, Ralph’s and Wholefoods Market appear to be positioned somewhere in between, as they mix premium with theatre but not at such a hyped-up level.
They emphasise abundant freshness. You’ll pay the price in these stores but, if you’re a premium shopper, then you’re compelled to shop these larger trolley-shop c-store formats with their meticulous merchandising and savvy in-store destination branding.
Maybe there’s nothing new under the sun, but for me the innovation in freshness, merchandising, store destination-branding, decisive and rigorous store themes and in-store messaging is what impressed most.
Retailers that put in innovations in technology or in fresh product sourcing and expect the shopper ‘to get it’ on their own, or even applaud it, do so at their peril and will pay the price in confusion and resulting lack of footfall.
The antidote is communication. Shoppers need to understand immediately what a store believes about itself, what its proposition is, why it’s relevant to their lives, and that the product type, quality and range is there to suit their lifestyle needs.
This puts customer communication at the centre of the retail strategy, closely aligning it to the overall brand experience.
For me, stores on the tour that fell down in this area were Famima and 7 Eleven.
Interestingly, while the global 7 Eleven store brand is sure of what it is, and no doubt its customers are too, its visual presentation and in-store messaging lacks discipline. This diminishes the impact and customer relevance this store brand is well positioned to achieve.
7 Eleven seems to be sitting on its global laurels – it isn’t trying hard enough. It could be so much more. Now that would be worth waiting for.
On the other hand, Famima – the c-store format of Japan’s Family Mart – is trying very hard to tune its offer to the Californian market but so far without much success.
The problem is clear: know your customer profile, listen to your customer and understand their convenience and lifestyle needs. And do so first – before opening the doors.
Famima does have a unique visual presentation. Its strong use of symbols delineate the store and its customer services, but it shouts too loud in its up-front messaging about a product range that is at best questionable in its delivery of Famima’s ‘Super Convenience’, ‘The Premium Experience’ and ‘Enjoy Everyday Life’ brand promises.
Providing some of the package that a shopper needs is not enough. Transposing a model that works excellently somewhere else is retailing in hope. But there is a strong sense that Famima could well become a great innovator of relevant, savvy, customer-centred developments.
No doubt it will do if the format gets enough time to develop. But it won’t do if it benchmarks itself on the likes of 7 Eleven or repositions its brand in that direction in its search for commercial success.
The LA side of this two-city tour also included fascinating concept petrol forecourts: BP Helios House and the new Slauson Forecourt.
Neither of these concepts would claim to be money-makers, but they are reflective of the Californian way – where else would you find the extravagant spend of millions of dollars on such concepts for which there is little if any commercial return?
Both projects (BP demonstrating the art of the environmentally-friendly forecourt; Slauson being a personal labour of love to create a forecourt design statement) would be outlandish anywhere else in the world. But they are acceptable and a reality in LA.
They sit comfortably against the backdrop of Californian mould-breaking ideas, design initiative and coolness, and they’re visually impressive with it.
What’s the take-away? For me, I was struck by the connection between culture and innovation and by the potential for entrepreneurship in the big-company endeavour as well as its place in delivering on the passion and vision of an individual owner or family business.
Next month, check out how I rated convenience stores when we travelled east to Chicago.
brian@bradleymcgurk.com
http://www.bradleymcgurk.com