Through 2003 to 2005 Unilever and United Co-op Stores collaborated on designing, testing and implementing a ‘Perfect Store’ layout. Research was commissioned in response to a realization that important Shopper Missions were poorly supported by the layout of typical convenience stores.
We look at Unilever’s’ initial findings and the Virtual Store tests we conducted to understand local shoppers’ reactions to the layout changes. We discuss the insights gained, the new store layout principles developed for refurbishing the format and their subsequent implementation in the pilot store .
The pilot validated the research and proved that, after an initial sales surge, average weekly sales stabilized 8.9% up overall; average spend per customer rose by 9% and the pilot store’s gross profits increased by 9.7%. These improvements were then rolled out to more convenience stores in the Co-op portfolio with similar success. [...]
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An Article written by James Durston and published in The Grocer in January 2006
When Unilever UK Foods and United Co-operatives decided to work together to create ‘the perfect store’, it sounded like wishful thinking – not least because it demanded genuine collaboration between a manufacturer and a retailer.
But after two years of research, they’re confident that they’ve pulled it off.
In November, the Co-operative store in Bradwell reopened following a total refit to transform it into a copy of a virtual store created by software company Fifth Dimension. The Grocer visited the store to see how well the reality matched the [...]
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An article written by Liz Hamsen which was published by The Grocer in September 2005.
When you picture perfection, what do you see? Brad Pitt? Angelina Jolie? Bradwell Co-op? Unlike the majority of the population who plump for the Hollywood stars when asked to name images of perfection, United Co-operatives and Unilever UK Foods have rather a different ideal. And the Bradwell store in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire is it.
At the moment, Perfect Store, as the project is known, exists only in the virtual world, but the plan is to translate it into reality at Bradwell. The store has been the subject [...]
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Look out for a new series of articles on how Aisle Management is evolving from the well established principles of Catgory Management.
In the series we’ll look at how the new approach is changing the relationship between brand manufacturers and retailers, and how they will work together in the future. We’ll discuss it’s role in Shopper Marketing in Retail and what it will take to be a leader.
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Stand by for a series of rivetting and really useful articles on the impact of Computer Aided Design technology in retail store planning.
To set the stage it’s interesting to outline the beginnings of computer based drafting systems in general. As a matter of historical interest, reviewing Ivan Sutherland’s work on ‘SketchPad’ in the early sixties is a fascinating subject. What Sutherland developed is nothing short of truly amazing by modern standards and well worth your reading time.
As an appetizer, here’s a snippet from an article entitled ‘Toward a Machine with Interactive Skills’ (from Understanding Computers: Computer Images Time-Life Books, 1986) describing one of the first challenges - that of simply ‘drawing’ a straight line. How difficult can that be - right? [...]
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