The Retail Expert Summit, organised by Rational in Dublin, Ireland, featured a discussion on what the future holds for supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol stations.
The participants comprised Scott Annan of Blue Ananta, Gavin Rothwell of Food Futures Insights, Thomas Ennis, CEO of Thomas Ennis Group, Nathan Watts of Interstore Schweitzer, Marijke Streng, Lead Foodservice Albert Heijn, and Mike Fogarty of Choice.
Scott Annan collected ideas from all over the world and made it clear that petrol stations, in particular, need to rethink their strategy.
He highlighted that the more electric vehicles there are, the less need there will be to drive to a motorway service station or petrol station.
Watch the full video here:
Founder of Food Future Insights, Gavin Rothwell, spoke about opportunities for food-to-go in retail.
He noted that new wave convenience stores are actually more like neighbourhood hubs driven by food and drinks missions.
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Thomas Ennis, CEO of Thomas Ennis Group, noted that food-to-go has evolved as people travel more now, see food and want to experience it.
He went on to add that you can sell anything to anyone, but the trick is to get them to come back.
Watch the full session here:
Marijke Streng, lead foodservice at Albert Heijn, demonstrated how supermarkets adapt to the respective customer requirements.
The retailer adjusts the size, product range, opening hours, and convenience levels based on the location of a store.
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Creative director of Schweitzer design, Nathan Watts, demonstrated how to retain flexibility by cleverly arranging fixed elements such as water or power lines, and how to reconfigure an entire shop without much effort.
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CEO and founder of Choice, Mike Fogarty, spoke about new opportunities in the convenience sector.
He noted that 80% of customers will still shop in stores despite growth in e-commerce.
Watch the full session here:
For more information on the event, visit www.rational-online.com.
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