We went to some larger format stores for this month’s edition of store watch, with a second visit to Sainsbury’s future-focused Witney store in Oxford included too. Overall, Father’s Day featured as you would expect. However a big shift observation is the HUGE drive on storecards. Almost every gondola end, specific bays and digital 6 sheets all doing their best to reinforce the retailer’s offering in return for your data!
WaitrosePortishead
Visiting a Waitrose for Store Watch is a reminder about how a clean and tidy store can provide a more premium shopping experience. They are great at implementing the brilliant basics such as aisle fins and barkers, whether they be for price or brand rate of sale driving promotions. The power of language stands out on these types of touchpoints too, with copy such as “MUST TRY” seen in the Flora example. It has been given a great level of thought in relation to shopper language matching their target shopper. Great to see.
Also great to see was a Twinings promotional bay. Utilising POS boxes to help shoppers understand the differing SKU and also help with ease of navigation. This was executed well.
Bonne Maman stood out with a great promotional partnership with LeCresuet. Some nice consistency between on pack and their supporting instore touchpoints.
One brand that also stood out was Ottolenghi. A fantastic brand, however perhaps room for shopper-optimisation on this execution. Beautiful and premium can still work in store, however shoppers on their typically fast paced mission could also benefit from some succinct messaging to help them navigate what is on offer here.
Sainsbury'sWitney, Oxford
Sainsbury’s have integrated some test and learn technology in this store. It is really worth a visit to see how they are testing and learning with some innovative touchpoints and instore hardware. A quick nod to the multiple interactive screens where shoppers can stop to get inspiration on recipes and ideas for what to include on their visit. Plus also search for where products are situated by aisle. Whilst great in theory, we didn’t witness any shoppers stopping on their mission to interact with these screens. The overall feel of the store is fantastic however. Cleaner and more modern feel with more digital screens to help navigate and also push category relevant advertising out to shoppers.
The first observation to call out is the Mr Muscle in shelf theatre. A great attention grabber with their bold ‘cheaper than a plumber’ claim too. Bright brand colour perspex helps this stand out and grab attention.
Dolmio, consistently good instore executors, equally grabbing attention with their cash promotion – WIN £10,000. Can’t help but get shopper’s attention with this one.
Fairy utilise their bay with a strong “Number 1” claim to help increase their chances of conversion.
Giving the retailers an exclusive typically gets some strong stand-out in store, as seen on the Kellogg’s NPD. The pallet unit and the bold ‘New and Exclusive’ messaging attracting attention.
Moet have a really standout, more permanent unit to highlight. You might expect to see this in travel retail as opposed to in grocery retail. It looks just as premium as their brand with a mixture of fridge chilling product, lighting for overall aesthetics and also a screen to help drive campaign / brand messaging too. Great feature.
MorrisonsCribbs Causeway, Bristol
Morrison’s greet you with a HUGE store entry promo message supporting their big More Card activation with loyalty being rewarded via free Pyrex products. Shoppers can’t miss this big push here and throughout the store. A consistent and well positioned push from them.
Some simple but effective use of shelf stripping from Garnier was spotted. Helping shoppers understand which products might be best for them based on usage. The additional height of these ensures the messaging gets through among price cards too.
Schwartz have used small flags on their herb & spice bay to help educate and make it as easy as possible to shop the fixture. Alphabetically merchandising and calling out the different colours for herbs and spices. With choice confusion being a potential barrier to purchase, this will help make the category more accessible for more shoppers.
We also spotted a couple of examples of some slightly sorry looking floor media. Possible room for improvement in getting the shopper’s attention with some corresponding media within the fridges too – as seen in the Dairylea example.
AsdaCribbs Causeway, Bristol
Rollback is rolling on very visibly here! Literally every gondola end, almost all bay fixtures and shelves and front of store displays. They’ve gone big on it, you can’t miss it!
Asda’s partnership with the new Lilo & Stitch Disney movie was getting a lot of space. A nice digital front of store display together with some large front of store pallet displays too.
San Miguel had a standout display offering free summer baseball caps with purchase of their packs. The investment must have been large for this. The caps perhaps not being premium enough to encourage some shoppers to pick up a pack.
Stacey Solomon up next! The Airwick collaboration with the celeb was eye-catching in what is normally a pretty dull looking aisle. The power of imagery to connect you to a fellow human! The campaign photography has some great art direction, purposefully giving a casual UGC/TikTok feel. Well played Airwick.
Last thing of note in Asda this time around was John West and their push to educate shoppers on their new packaging. A very single minded message to make sure everyone’s aware that you get the same amount of product in their new format. Not pushing creative boundaries, but nice and single minded to address an insight.
Tesco ExtraQuedgeley
With this large format store, Tesco had gone biggest on their Father’s Day event. All the usual types of products on display from Toblerone’s, through beer and spirits.
The first highlight outside of this event is Yeo Valley. Our lovely client have really made an impact with their new beef burger product. Injecting some colour and life into a reasonably dull looking category. Their product really stands out with its bright colour and ‘soldiered’ merchandising.
Next up is The Jolly Hog – getting great standout in store with their on pack promo, being amplified at shelf through a nice bold SRP too.
Lynx made headlines with FSDUs like this in the past, but their bay in this store is great. Product sampling built in, with fragranced panels which allow you to try (or smell!) before you buy. A great bit of shopper marketing here.
As we saw with Fairy in their Sainsbury’s bay, the power of claims coming to light once more in the dairy free cheese section. Violife pushing their ‘Number 1’ claim out in a bold and standout way. They also leveraged the shelf strips well, for additional category standout.
