Nous parlons francais!! September 2012
It’s amazing what a quick trip to France can turn up – electronic SELs in abundance, a
complete shop front in vending, not to mention some great wine ideas.
The big Grocery players such as Intermarche and Carrefour are making even more of
their wine than usual, running special promotions front of store on top of aisles of well
segmented stock that really do put the UK selection to shame. Rather than the simple
BOGOF meaning one bottle paid and one free, selected stock is granting you a half case free
with a half case purchase.
We were very impressed with the segmentation in all the stores, not just the hypermarkets
but even the small residential outlets clearly categorised into regions by well signposted
fins. The odd wobbler and some bright yellow shelf barkers highlighted the really low price
deals. The QR code is also making its presence felt on posters and shelf barkers although
the jury is still out on whether the shopper is really paying much attention to them.
A red carpet heralds the really great wines on offer, alongside classic wooden crate displays
and the token wine expert to help you make your choice. But there really is some thought
going into the displays with accessories such as wrought iron farm machinery and even a
wine guide to look up details on your favourite sup.
Bottle collars seem to be making something of a come back and we spotted a fair few onpack
competitions throughout the stores. Off shelf displays were often larger than the UK
equivalent and there’s definitely more opportunity for brands to make their presence felt
with what appears to be less retailer restrictions. FSUs are mostly of a good quality with
strong headers to shout the brand out.
Loyalty schemes are everywhere and not just at the tills. Shelf barkers and fins are clearly
communicating percentage extra discounts and Intermarche were linking some really deep
price cuts to the loyalty card.
We’ve already mentioned QR codes but what of other technology in the Grocers? Electronic
SELS were everywhere although interestingly they were combined with traditional barker
pricing. One small regional Intermarche we visited had in-store TV above the tills to watch
the adverts whilst queuing to pay. We tend to think though that the standout was restricted
to those who were looking hard rather than the typical local shopper who seemed to be
pretty much ignoring them.
Staying with supermarkets for a minute we can’t help but be impressed by the vending
machine we came across. Well, we say vending machine but it was a shop really, well at
least a shop front. This fantastic “store” from Casino really makes 24/7 shopping go local.
There were too many product options for us to count but it stretched from soft drinks to
hams to moisturiser to baby wipes and more. We spotted it in the middle of France, in the
traditional town of Bourges, and at 11pm it was really in demand.
Convenience does rule. Motorway service stations let you get your hot drinks from the
vending machine with a pre-paid card that gave you 10% or more free depending on the
card purchase value. It was cleverly communicated right at the point of purchase, or point of
consumption even, with standing height tables offering full flood advertising and promotion.
Whilst we were in the service station we had a quick look around. Some rather cool
permanent displays for kids games caught our eye, mainly by the beach hut type umbrella
header and its circular shop-a-bility. There was local produce on promotion – cheese and
hams in the chiller – not bad local marketing even if the prices were a bit steep. But you
have to hand it to them for the wine cellar – yes we did say wine cellar. It was a real shop in
shop, lots of clear pricing, a quality feel and an atmosphere that said “browse, this is a wine
shop”.