The retailing team is very pleased to announce the best retail concepts as part of our ongoing research. The best retail concepts were nominated in four categories – grocery, non-grocery, non-store, and digital through votes from all Euromonitor International staff across the 12 offices.
The aim of the competition was to showcase the diversity and richness of the retail environment covered by Euromonitor’s retailing research.
Out of the initial 120 concepts, 40 were shortlisted and staff in all 12 offices discussed and voted for the best innovations in the four categories: grocery, non-grocery and non-store, and digital.
Winning retail concepts
Grocery Concepts
1st place: Mega Image SRL (Delhaize Group SA), Gusturi Romanesti (Romania) Mega Image opened its Gusturi Romanesti (private label brand) store, offering consumers a wide range of traditional Romanian products prepared based on traditional recipes.
2nd place: Statoil Fuel & Retail Lietuva, UAB, Forecourt stores (Lithuania) Statoil opened its first forecourt retailing store in Vilnius, offering the same assortment of goods one would expect to find in a typical convenience store. The smaller store format is attractive to urbanites in need of a quick snack or coffee. The store will soon change its name to Circle K.
3rd place: Grupo Bimbo, Bread outlet (Argentina) The outlets sell Grupo Bimbo’s packaged bread and crackers at half the price compared to those at hypermarkets and supermarkets. Products are very cheap because their expiration dates are near and cannot be sold at leading grocery stores. Outlets are strategically located in high traffic areas (ex: subway stations).
Non Grocery Concepts
1st place: Culture Convenience Club Co Ltd, Tsutaya Electronics (Japan) Tsutaya Electronics is a hybrid of a bookstore and electronics specialist. It provides consumers with lifestyle recommendations from both cultural and technological perspectives. In addition to unique groupings of products, the store hosts a number of workshops for hobbies related to the store’s products.
2nd place: Etam Developpement SCA, Undiz Machine (France) Undiz Machine is a hybrid concept between a lingerie store and an automated store/vending machine. Customers select their lingerie products on large touchscreens/tablets and receive them via transparent aero-propelled tubes.
3rd place: Olfattorio, Srl, Fragrance Bar (Italy) Olfattorio’s fragrance minibar enables customers to “taste” premium fragrances, similar to how one would try wine. Consumers can smell and taste fragrances from paper cups, sitting at the bar and enjoying a different shopping experience.
Non-Store Concepts
1st place: Independent farmers, Adopt a laying hen (Hungary) Consumers can “sponsor” hens living on farms among the Matra mountains. Sponsors can pick up ~30 eggs/month delivered at select Budapest locations. The service creates an online platform to make ordering, managing transactions, and delivering products to consumers easier, and eliminates retailers in the supply chain.
2nd place: ThesGala-Pies Cooperation, Fresh milk vending machine (Greece) Customers can purchase fresh milk at these vending machines that operate 24/7. Customers can purchase half or a full litre, and may use their own bottles or buy one on the spot, and milk prices are lower than the average packaged products sold in grocery stores.
3rd place: Alepa Kauppakassi Alepa, Mailbox delivery service (Finland) Alepa Kauppaskassi, an online grocery service in Greate Helsinki, extended its service to deliver food to chilled mailboxes. Part of the mailbox is for ordinary mail and another part chilled for food deliveries. A mailbox delivery guarantees that consumers with tight schedules who are most likely to use the service are provided with a flexible and convenient solution.
Digital Concepts
1st place: L’Oreal HK Ltd, Makeup Genius app (Hong Kong) The Makeup Genius app enables consumers to virtually try out makeup products. The app utilizes a facial mapping technology to turn mobile devices into a mirror, which enables virtual makeup to stay in place as users move their faces. Consumers can scan barcodes at point-of-sale areas to try on different products.
2nd place: Amazon.com Inc., Amazon Dash and Amazon Dash Buttons (United States) Dash buttons are placed in consumers’ homes and used to reorder items. Amazon Dash is a scanner of product codes that sends the items to the consumers’ carts. They offer quick reordering of commonly used items in consumers’ homes.
3rd place: Rappi SAS, Groceries+ ordering app (Colombia) The app enables users to order anything from one gum to monthly groceries in one place. It also offers delivery on prepared food from consumer foodservice operators. Once an order is placed, a Rappitendero goes to the store to make purchases. With no minimum order, the delivery usually takes no more than 15 minutes. Consumers can track the status of their order, and can communicate directly with the delivery person to add to their order.
