Waitrose’s new shop in shop partnership with premium chocolatier Hotel Chocolat kicks off with dedicated bays and gondola ends in 27 stores. While the brand has been stocked as part of John Lewis’s gifting ranges since 2009, this marks a new opportunity for Hotel Chocolat to bring its products to its customers in a new and convenient way and for Waitrose to blur the boundaries between traditional grocery and luxury retail, again in a way that is convenient for shoppers, giving quick and ready access to products that are consistent with their buying profile.
At the most premium end of the spectrum we see that Eataly in the heart of the City has launched a partnership with high end organic greengrocer Natoora to provide its fresh fruit and vegetables. While this might signify a departure from every item originating from Italy, to discerning Londoners, the Natoora brand represents the highest quality, restaurant-grade produce that is available to retail consumers and therefore serves to bolster Eataly’s quality credentials.
Continuing the trend of bringing favourite brands to where customers are, Sainsbury’s has recently announced that three Carluccio’s formats – a Coffee Shop, Counter and multi-brand Restaurant Hub – will launch from June in test sites in St Albans, Leamington Spa and Selly Oak The formats are being developed in conjunction with Boparan Restaurant Group which acquired the brand a year ago, with our team here at CADA designing the Counter and Restaurant Hub concepts. The partnership embeds the Carluccio’s brand into a big four grocer, there is sufficient flexibility within the family of formats to allow for geographical differences in likely customer behaviour and it enables Sainsbury’s to boost the value of a visit and emphasise its foodie credentials.
Pret is to trial concessions in Tesco supermarkets, starting with its Kensington superstore in June. This represents a concerted effort by Pret to move beyond its city centre, skyscraper heartlands and take the product to where it believes its customers now are. Chief Executive Pano Christou acknowledges that while ‘Tesco is a bit more value and Pret is a bit more premium’, his teams have noted that the Pret £20 monthly coffee subscription has served to broaden the brand’s appeal beyond its white collar, office worker mainstay, giving him the confidence to focus on attracting ‘all sorts of different customers’. It’s notable that the concessions will be run by Pret rather than Tesco, with its own baristas and kitchen staff running the on-site kitchen and preparing the organic tea and coffee.
Asda has always been a reliable source of ‘extras’ that transcend normal category boundaries; on a recent visit to a north London store with an average footprint their ranges of birthday cards, children’s party equipment and baby equipment were impressive. Last year the grocer went one step further, partnering with The Entertainer to install more substantial shop in shops over a number of aisles in an effort to appeal to customers looking for more than just food and clothing under one roof and to broaden its range of toy products from leading brands. This first foray into a more mixed-use retail concept seems to have proved fruitful, judging by recently-announced plans to streamline grocery lines and hive off more space within stores for branded concessions.
We’ve given a snapshot of what’s new for shop in shops across some of our larger retailers here. Supermarkets are seeking to broaden their appeal, either by partnerships with brands that complement their existing offer or by branching out to make more of the local catchment. Arguably, they’re taking the fight to the discounters by making themselves increasingly useful, relevant and convenient for existing, target and lapsed customers.
