– The goal is to make people’s everyday lives easier. Stop by is adapted to the urban customer, where we have taken the best from our store and kiosk concepts. We want to create a new and better customer experience, says Øyvind Breivik, communications manager at Reitan Retail, to Nettavisen.
The first store in Rema’s new store concept opens on 5 May at Grünerløkka in Oslo in the former room of Rema 1000 in Thorvald Meyersgate.
– Stop by is an innovative mix between convenience and grocery – the best of both worlds. Here we will test the store of the future for urban customers with high demands for both simplicity and responsibility, says Reitan Retail manager Ole Robert Reitan in a press release.
The concept, which will be the new little sister of Rema 1000, will sell groceries at the same low prices as Rema 1000. In addition, customers can pick up fresh baked goods, ready meals and healthy snacks adapted to people on the go, Breivik explains.
He says that they will now test the store of the future on urban customers.
– The customer group are those who want to buy groceries, and those who are going to buy food for a spontaneous picnic in the park, an outdoor lunch with a colleague, or a coffee on the way to work. We believe this will be a very good replacement for the Rema store that was located in the same premises previously, says Breivik.
Thus, Norgesgruppen’s local stores Joker and Bunnpris are challenged, but for the time being the store will not be open on Sundays even if they have permission to do so. However, the store has the same opening hours as the grocery chains.
– We look at the customer’s response, so we plan to be open on Sundays when the time is right. This is a pilot, so we move in step with the need that is in the immediate area and in dialogue with the neighborhood, says Breivik.
Also read: Reitan starts a new store chain for cities: Stop by
– Joker and Bunnpris must sharpen
Tor Wallin Andreassen, professor of economics at the Norwegian School of Management (NHH), welcomes the new concept. He emphasizes that the population outside the city has a car, and that today’s grocery market is adapted to their shopping pattern – often on the way home from work.
– Those who live in the city are often young, free and single. Often there are people in the start-up phase of their careers who have little free time. They have neither the time nor the desire to spend a lot of time getting food or shopping. They want to take items home from the meeting or work, but it must be done quickly. We are talking about busy people on the go, he says, and points out that it is common with similar concepts abroad.
The expert believes it is good that Norway adapts food purchases to urban life.
However, he believes that the establishment is a wake-up call for the local grocery stores Joker and Bunnpris, which, among other things, profile themselves during long opening hours and shops open on Sundays.
He points out that local stores score poorly on customer satisfaction and innovation according to the Norwegian customer barometer and the Norwegian innovation index.
– Joker and Bunnpris now have competition. The store chains are at the bottom of innovation and satisfaction. It seems to me that they are deliberately running a concept where they can charge a market price with minimal investment, he says.
– How will Joker and Bunnpris meet the new challenger?
– They must now change direction, and increase customer satisfaction and the ability to innovate. Now the Sunday open concept is not enough. Now they have to start competing in other areas, he says.
Brevik in Reitan Retail will not directly comment on the competitive situation with Joker and Bunnpris, but says they will continue to cultivate their own concept.
Bottom price: – The competition is not as big as many people think
– We do not know the concept Rema 1000 is launching now, but we will of course visit the store on Grünerløkka when it has opened. We are positive about more competition, it can only make us better, says Hanne Evensen, Communications Manager at Kjøpmannshuset Norge, which runs the Joker stores.
She further says that the comment to Tor Wallin Andreassen that Joker has poor customer service and customer satisfaction, must be at his expense.
– We conduct continuous customer surveys, and they largely show that customers are satisfied with our concept, but we are constantly working to improve and the Joker concept is constantly evolving, she says.
Anders Moe, category and marketing manager at Bunnpris, says that he does not want to enter into a polemic with economics professor Andreassen.
– Bottom price’s turnover in the category city and living, makes up 10 percent of turnover. 90 percent of our turnover is outside the segment described by the economics professor, Moe emphasizes, and adds:
– There is a real competition in Oslo in the segment. And beyond that segment, the competition will be intensifying, he says.
Moe has no idea if they will now lose market share as a result of Reitan’s new establishment, and says they do not plan to get rid of any stores.
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