Sunday, October 21, 2007
DOUBLE W SPAR EXCLUSIVE WEBSITE IS BACK!
We are back on the net, all the latest information of SPAR Exclusive, sizes and colours can be found on: http://www.doublew.co.za/
Monday, August 27, 2007
"The Seriously Sexy Supermarket"
more: http://kitsunenoir.com/blog/2007/05/25/mpries-the-best-supermarkets-in-the-world/
MPreis, a chain of supermarkets in western Austria, bills itself as "The Seriously Sexy Supermarket". The company's stores literally stand out because of their unusual and progressive architecture.
MPreis has been commissioning up and coming architects for the last fifteen years, encouraging them to design buildings that make the most of their settings in the Tyrolean Alps. Which is in stark contrast to most chain retailers, who find a formula and repeat it, regardless of location.
A keen eye for aesthetics continues inside the stores, which feature sleek café's and carefully chosen materials. And the experience goes beyond design – MPreis also understands the value of storytelling, emphasizing that the company is family-owned, and was founded by an entrepreneurial woman (Frau Therese Mölk) in the 1920s.
Surprisingly, price levels at MPreis aren't higher than at competing supermarkets in the region. Although award-winning design comes at a slightly higher cost than generic structures, the buildings look more expensive than they are.
The key of the matter is that everything can be upgraded, and creating a richer customer experience doesn't necessarily require raising prices (see no-frills chic for more examples). Plenty of opportunities for big-box retailers across the world to become patrons of good architecture and bold design!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
SPAR enters new franchising agreement for India
SPAR International has announced that it has entered into a new franchising agreement in India with Dubai based Landmark Group for its Max hypermarkets and supermarkets. Under the agreement, SPAR will also handle the entire merchandising and display for the chain. The first two stores carrying the SPAR brand name will open in Bangalore next month. The agreement with Max envisages building a chain of 9 hypermarkets and supermarkets over the next two years. In a statement, SPAR International MD Gordon Campbell said, “This is an exciting and important development for us. Developing SPAR hypermarkets in India is a key element in our strategic plan. India is a market with enormous potential and we are pleased to have found an excellent partner in Max Hypermarkets.” The moves follows a failed tie-up with Radhakrishna Foodland in Mumbai nearly two years ago.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Real Mystery Shoppers
Retailers, beware. The Big Customer is watching you! And takes pictures. And blogs.
Emerging market design - Think again.
A great storie and must a must read...
Highlighting the efforts of one Indian retailer (Pantaloon Retail) to re-create the confusion, chaos and, yes, grimy mess of the outdoor bazaar within the structure of a big-box supermarket. According to the head of Pantaloon Retail, Indian consumers prefer to shop in dusty, crowded, dirty, clogged markets and he's trying to foster exactly those kinds of conditions at his Food Bazaar stores around India:
"On a tour of one of his supermarkets, Kishore Biyani notes that shopping carts are getting stuck in the narrow aisles, wheat and lentils have spilled onto the floor, black spots cover the onions and it's difficult to hear above the constant in-store announcements. He grins and congratulates the store manager. Mr. Biyani, 45 years old, has built a large business and a family fortune on the simple premise that, in India, chaos sells.
Americans and Europeans might like to shop in pristine and quiet stores where products are carefully arranged. But when Mr. Biyani tried that in Western-style supermarkets he opened in India six years ago, too many customers walked down the wide aisles, past neatly stocked shelves and out the door without buying.
Mr. Biyani says he soon figured out what he was doing wrong. Shopping in such a sterile environment didn't appeal to the lower middle-class shoppers he was targeting. They were more comfortable in the tiny, cramped stores -- often filled with haggling customers -- that typify Indian shopping. Most Indians buy their fresh produce from vendors who keep vegetables under burlap sacks.
So Mr. Biyani redesigned his stores to make them messier, noisier and more cramped. "The shouting, the untidiness, the chaos is part of the design," he says, as he surveys his Mumbai store where he just spent around $50,000 to replace long, wide aisles with narrow, crooked ones: "Making it chaotic is not easy."
That's an interesting takeaway lesson for any Western company thinking about setting up operations in an emerging market.
Highlighting the efforts of one Indian retailer (Pantaloon Retail) to re-create the confusion, chaos and, yes, grimy mess of the outdoor bazaar within the structure of a big-box supermarket. According to the head of Pantaloon Retail, Indian consumers prefer to shop in dusty, crowded, dirty, clogged markets and he's trying to foster exactly those kinds of conditions at his Food Bazaar stores around India:
"On a tour of one of his supermarkets, Kishore Biyani notes that shopping carts are getting stuck in the narrow aisles, wheat and lentils have spilled onto the floor, black spots cover the onions and it's difficult to hear above the constant in-store announcements. He grins and congratulates the store manager. Mr. Biyani, 45 years old, has built a large business and a family fortune on the simple premise that, in India, chaos sells.
Americans and Europeans might like to shop in pristine and quiet stores where products are carefully arranged. But when Mr. Biyani tried that in Western-style supermarkets he opened in India six years ago, too many customers walked down the wide aisles, past neatly stocked shelves and out the door without buying.
Mr. Biyani says he soon figured out what he was doing wrong. Shopping in such a sterile environment didn't appeal to the lower middle-class shoppers he was targeting. They were more comfortable in the tiny, cramped stores -- often filled with haggling customers -- that typify Indian shopping. Most Indians buy their fresh produce from vendors who keep vegetables under burlap sacks.
So Mr. Biyani redesigned his stores to make them messier, noisier and more cramped. "The shouting, the untidiness, the chaos is part of the design," he says, as he surveys his Mumbai store where he just spent around $50,000 to replace long, wide aisles with narrow, crooked ones: "Making it chaotic is not easy."
That's an interesting takeaway lesson for any Western company thinking about setting up operations in an emerging market.
Truth about gondola ends
The function of today’s front endcaps is dramatically different than rear endcaps. Yet, they are often designed to be the same. The front end of most supermarkets is a lot like a train wreck. The amount of congestion from cash wrap lines and increased power aisle traffic has made the front endcap an uncomfortable place to be. There are just too many bodies and too many carts to allow for easy shopping and examination of endcap products. Although supermarkets have changed over the years, the amount of ‘personal space’ customers need around them has not. The magical three-foot radius we all have around our bodies is there for a purpose. We don’t like other human beings invading our personal space, stealing our stone axes, our wooly mammoths or our boxes of fortified Rice Chexs.
There is a long held saying in the design world: ‘It is easier to design for existing human behavior than it is to try to get humans to change their behavior to fit new design.’
Read more: http://envirosell.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=101
There is a long held saying in the design world: ‘It is easier to design for existing human behavior than it is to try to get humans to change their behavior to fit new design.’
Read more: http://envirosell.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=101
Making first impressions count
One of the dangers in store planning is the romance with presentation drawings. Somehow, the art form that is a mix of technical skill and surrealistic vision is seen as the hallmark of a good design and designer. From the standpoint of the consumer or businessman, it is important to recognize that any architectural rendering is a means of getting to a three-dimensional end. One of the first drawings you see in a store planner's presentation is a front view of the store.
Myth No. 1, which we hear often in American retailing circles, is the right product, at the right price, at the right location. The truth is that in the 1990s, we can accept all of those conditions as givens.
Myth No. 2 is about competition. Again, we hear retailers comparing themselves to other retailers in their specialty area. The truth is that retailers, from dress shops to electronics stores, are competing with one another in the big scramble for the same piece of the public's discretionary income. The dollar spent on fashion might just as well be spent on almost anything else from fast food to auto accessories.
read more: http://envirosell.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=154&Itemid=101
Myth No. 1, which we hear often in American retailing circles, is the right product, at the right price, at the right location. The truth is that in the 1990s, we can accept all of those conditions as givens.
Myth No. 2 is about competition. Again, we hear retailers comparing themselves to other retailers in their specialty area. The truth is that retailers, from dress shops to electronics stores, are competing with one another in the big scramble for the same piece of the public's discretionary income. The dollar spent on fashion might just as well be spent on almost anything else from fast food to auto accessories.
read more: http://envirosell.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=154&Itemid=101
Supermarket Science
By: Jeremy Caplan
CHEESE
Shelving cheese near wine can nudge shoppers into impulsively buying a bottle of Bordeaux. And posting an attractive salesperson with a small selection of samples--five is often more effective than 50--seems to boost buying.
SILVER POLISH
Some products have a lucrative rub-off effect. A supermarket-strategy firm found that shoppers who buy silver polish tend to spend more than $200 a trip. So even though it's a low-turnover product, shelving experts keep it around.
KETCHUP
To capitalize on customers loyal to certain brands, supermarkets make sure that popular labels, such as Heinz ketchup and Cheerios, are easy to spot and positioned near profitable store brands.
DIAPERS
They're not shelved next to condoms because diapers don't scream "sexy." But should they be positioned alongside baby food? Given that many consumers spend just seven seconds at a particular display before selecting a product, some store planners want to encourage shoppers to grab related baby products by stocking them all in the same area. Research also suggests that diapers in opaque packaging may evoke less disgust than those in a see-through bag.
KITTY LITTER
Even before the recent pet-food scare, supermarkets had to be careful about where to put kitty litter, since its use carries a definite ick factor. Attractive, bright packaging may help, but positioning in the pet section remains a challenge.
CHEESE
Shelving cheese near wine can nudge shoppers into impulsively buying a bottle of Bordeaux. And posting an attractive salesperson with a small selection of samples--five is often more effective than 50--seems to boost buying.
SILVER POLISH
Some products have a lucrative rub-off effect. A supermarket-strategy firm found that shoppers who buy silver polish tend to spend more than $200 a trip. So even though it's a low-turnover product, shelving experts keep it around.
KETCHUP
To capitalize on customers loyal to certain brands, supermarkets make sure that popular labels, such as Heinz ketchup and Cheerios, are easy to spot and positioned near profitable store brands.
DIAPERS
They're not shelved next to condoms because diapers don't scream "sexy." But should they be positioned alongside baby food? Given that many consumers spend just seven seconds at a particular display before selecting a product, some store planners want to encourage shoppers to grab related baby products by stocking them all in the same area. Research also suggests that diapers in opaque packaging may evoke less disgust than those in a see-through bag.
KITTY LITTER
Even before the recent pet-food scare, supermarkets had to be careful about where to put kitty litter, since its use carries a definite ick factor. Attractive, bright packaging may help, but positioning in the pet section remains a challenge.
Supermarket Usability
It’s an undeniable fact that supermarkets are designed to make us buy things. The science of supermarket design is widely practised with the intent of guiding shoppers to purchase not only as much as possible, but the specific products the supermarket wants us to buy. From the positioning on shelves to the layout of the store, every effort is made to control the behaviour of the shopper.
This, almost by definition, flies in the face of what we might term supermaket usability or even consumer friendliness. The customer’s objective is to get into the store, collect the things they need, get to the check-out and leave as quickly as possible.
This, almost by definition, flies in the face of what we might term supermaket usability or even consumer friendliness. The customer’s objective is to get into the store, collect the things they need, get to the check-out and leave as quickly as possible.
Friday, August 17, 2007
The Fundamentals of Supermarket Design
1 .Place the highest-selling food departments in the parts of the store that get the greatest flow of traffic -- the periphery. Perishables -- meat, produce, dairy, and frozen foods -- generate the most sales, so put them against the back and side walls.
2. Use the aisle nearest the entrance for items that sell especially well on impulse or look or smell enticing -- produce, flowers, or freshly baked bread, for example. These must be the first things customers see in front or immediately to the left or right (the direction, according to researchers, doesn't matter).
3. Use displays at the ends of aisles for high-profit, heavily advertised items likely to be bought on impulse.
4. Place high-profit, center-aisle food items sixty inches above the floor where they are easily seen by adults, with or without eyeglasses.
5. Devote as much shelf space as possible to brands that generate frequent sales; the more shelf space they occupy, the better they sell.
6. Place store brands immediately to the right of those high-traffic items (people read from left to right), so that the name brands attract shoppers to the store brands too.
7. Avoid using "islands." These make people bump into each other and want to move on. Keep the traffic moving, but slowly.
8. Do not create gaps in the aisles that allow customers to cross over to the next one unless the aisles are so long that shoppers complain. If shoppers can escape mid-aisle, they will miss seeing half the products along that route.
2. Use the aisle nearest the entrance for items that sell especially well on impulse or look or smell enticing -- produce, flowers, or freshly baked bread, for example. These must be the first things customers see in front or immediately to the left or right (the direction, according to researchers, doesn't matter).
3. Use displays at the ends of aisles for high-profit, heavily advertised items likely to be bought on impulse.
4. Place high-profit, center-aisle food items sixty inches above the floor where they are easily seen by adults, with or without eyeglasses.
5. Devote as much shelf space as possible to brands that generate frequent sales; the more shelf space they occupy, the better they sell.
6. Place store brands immediately to the right of those high-traffic items (people read from left to right), so that the name brands attract shoppers to the store brands too.
7. Avoid using "islands." These make people bump into each other and want to move on. Keep the traffic moving, but slowly.
8. Do not create gaps in the aisles that allow customers to cross over to the next one unless the aisles are so long that shoppers complain. If shoppers can escape mid-aisle, they will miss seeing half the products along that route.
Visual Merchandising 5
Go to: http://www.harperdesigninternational.com/html/visual-merch5.htm
SYNOPSIS
A showcase of designs involving the merchandise sold at retail stores and related businesses. Among the examples within these pages are point-of-purchase displays, windows, signage and graphics, innovative fixturing, and elements that really accentuate the merchandise on sale.
SYNOPSIS
A showcase of designs involving the merchandise sold at retail stores and related businesses. Among the examples within these pages are point-of-purchase displays, windows, signage and graphics, innovative fixturing, and elements that really accentuate the merchandise on sale.
New Supermarket Design Book
Go to: http://www.harperdesigninternational.com/html/newsupermarket.htm
Order it! I did.
SYNOPSIS
The title says it all. Now, more than ever, supermarkets are inviting, exciting, and sometimes even theatrical. New layouts and presentations are emerging so quickly that it’s nearly impossible to keep abreast of the trends. Featuring the work of some of the best architects from around the world, the visually stunning NEW SUPERMARKET DESIGNS shows 40 of the most groundbreaking examples of contemporary supermarket design and architecture, illustrating the most creative approaches to store architecture, signage, lighting techniques, and floor design as well as food case innovation, fixturing, wall art and texture, and thematic concepts. Supermarkets from around the world are included.
Order it! I did.
SYNOPSIS
The title says it all. Now, more than ever, supermarkets are inviting, exciting, and sometimes even theatrical. New layouts and presentations are emerging so quickly that it’s nearly impossible to keep abreast of the trends. Featuring the work of some of the best architects from around the world, the visually stunning NEW SUPERMARKET DESIGNS shows 40 of the most groundbreaking examples of contemporary supermarket design and architecture, illustrating the most creative approaches to store architecture, signage, lighting techniques, and floor design as well as food case innovation, fixturing, wall art and texture, and thematic concepts. Supermarkets from around the world are included.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Comments on managers pulpits
If you vote on the managers pulpits, please tell us why, leave a comment at "managers pulpits".
Comments from Danie and Adrian:
Adrian said...
Personally I hate them - they use up space and create a visual obstacle. Can be used if necessary to create flow but they are generally managers dumping grounds. Rather put it against the wall attached to the front end offices and kiosk.
danie.grove2 said...
An info kiosk makes sence as a service to customers, but a managers pulpit does not fulfill it's purpose. The manager can not have meetings with supliers or staff in the pulpit, therefor he still need an office and the pulpit becomes a unused monstrosity. (like adrian said: 'dumping ground') The genaral excuse that the manager wants to keep an eye for security resons also stand no ground, that's why we've got camera systems...
Comments from Danie and Adrian:
Adrian said...
Personally I hate them - they use up space and create a visual obstacle. Can be used if necessary to create flow but they are generally managers dumping grounds. Rather put it against the wall attached to the front end offices and kiosk.
danie.grove2 said...
An info kiosk makes sence as a service to customers, but a managers pulpit does not fulfill it's purpose. The manager can not have meetings with supliers or staff in the pulpit, therefor he still need an office and the pulpit becomes a unused monstrosity. (like adrian said: 'dumping ground') The genaral excuse that the manager wants to keep an eye for security resons also stand no ground, that's why we've got camera systems...
The Next Generation Supermarket
Designer Diana Jess is out to debunk the myth that American consumers are apathetic about the environment. To prove this, she has designed a supermarket concept called R3 (Rethink the Way You Shop) that builds on the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" concept. A finalist in Metropolis Magazine's 2005 Next Generation Competition, her store would include a package-recycling center shaped like an oversize stack of newspapers that adjoins to the store, whose design is inspired by a two-liter bottle. Connecting the two is a boutique stocked with a colorful array of branded but empty reusable bottles. In the main grocery section, digital filling stations equipped with informational LCD touch screens invite consumers to inquire about their purchases. "It disturbs me that American packaging is so wasteful and supermarkets are so ugly," she says. Her project recognizes that without package recycling laws in place in the United States (as they are in a country like Germany -- more details below the fold), financial incentives and provocative branding will need to coerce consumers to do the right thing.
Much of this seems to be inspired by Germany's system for package recycling -- in 1991 the nation enacted a packaging ordinance, requiring all industries to take back used containers -- and Duales System Deutschland, the country's leading package recycler. Not only does the German system compel nearly everyone to sort their refuse and recycle their used bottles, it also encourages manufacturers to design products that are less of a hassle for consumers. Companies that enroll in the Duales System Deutschland pay a licensing fee based on the weight and material of their goods, so minimal packaging is in everyone's best interest. Diana lived in Germay for four years, and had a chance to see the system at work, and she asserts that the Germans are no more partial to sorting their waste than stateside citizens are.
Germany's progressive environmental legislation may be responsible for the nation's good behavior. A survey by Duales System Deutschland revealed that 91 percent of the population sorts their household waste, but of those, according to Jess's research, 44 percent admitted to not caring about environmental issues. Here's to hoping she can get her store off the ground, so we can keep more packaging out of the trash. ::Diana Jess via ::Metropolis
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Nautical Boating Terms - The Manta-Ray II Boat.
Bow (a)
Front of the boat, the power display end - great for bananas.
Deck (b)
Surface above a bilge. Area you walk on. That's the fruit & veg main display area.
Stern (c)
Back, or after end, of a boat, the scale end.
Waterline (d)
Where a boat rests in the water. A separation point of how much boat is above the water and how much is below the water. Shoppers normally don't shop below the waterline, but a great area for bulk.
Centerline (e)
A measurement halfway between the port and starboard sides. The best area to display price and product information.
Freeboard
The amount of the hull above the waterline. Remember, product is king, all you want to see above the waterline is great merchandised product.
Hull
Physical structure of the outside of a boat. The new manufacturing methods of using Melamine and steel makes the Hull robust with a great look.
Port
Left side of a boat when looking toward the bow.
Starboard
Right side of a boat when looking toward the bow.
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