Reitan Retail takes convenience to the next level in the Nordics and Baltics

Reitan Retail CEO Mariette Kristenson at 7-Eleven Market in Oslo

Reitan Retail, a leading retail company in the Nordic and Baltic countries, is focused on taking convenience to the next level.

That’s according to Mariette Kristenson, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer for Reitan Convenience, Nordics and Baltics.

“Our ambition is to take the next step in convenience for Reitan Retail, both in the Nordics and Baltics, and to develop the customer offer even further, but to do it with local operations and excellence in each store,” Kristenson says.

She’s well equipped for the job.

Kristenson has enjoyed an 18-year career with Reitan (formerly Reitan Group). She joined the business as a trainee in Sweden in 2003 and has progressed through regional sales and marketing roles, “learning the business from the ground up”.

Kristenson was appointed CEO at Reitan’s Norwegian convenience business in 2012 and was responsible for the company’s convenience operation in Sweden for the last three years before taking on her new role in summer 2021.

Her appointment is timely. It follows Reitan Group’s rebrand to Reitan in January 2021 and the launch of a simplified business structure focused on Retail, Real Estate and Asset Management.

Reitan Retail operates in the convenience (Reitan Convenience), grocery (REMA 1000 Norge and REMA 1000 Danmark) and mobility (Uno-X Mobility) sectors in seven markets: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Reitan Convenience Brands

The structure means Kristenson is able to leverage learnings from the country organisations within Reitan Convenience and apply them in operations and services in each local market.

“For the big development questions, we try to get synergies within the group and use our common resources to take big steps,” Kristenson explains.

Examples include Reitan Convenience’s loyalty programmes and apps. Working in partnership with Liquid Barcodes, for example, the retailer operates a common loyalty programme in all markets but is also testing new initiatives including a subscription model for coffee in the Baltics. It is being piloted in Estonia with a view to launch in other markets.

Similarly, the business is developing kiosks and convenience formats in all markets, Kristenson reports.

PBX in Sweden

In October the business launched a sustainable convenience store format in Stockholm, Sweden, called PBX. Kristenson describes the format as a “living lab for all of our markets”. It has been developed in close co-operation with scientists to ensure all of the elements delivered to the store are of the highest environmental standards. That spans the store’s construction and energy consumption as well as staff uniforms, which are made from recycled plastics. Plastic packaging has been significantly reduced too with refillable solutions on offer and facilities to encourage consumers to recycle and win credits to spend in store.

Kristenson reports the business has invested heavily in understanding all aspects of sustainable product design from initial concepts right through to the end user. That includes how products are sourced, the social impacts on producers, are well as the health and wellbeing of the consumer.

And it’s a push and pull relationship, Kristenson maintains.

“We try to hold hands with the consumer and challenge each other,” she says. “The aim is to learn quickly and test out new ways of executing the customer offer to take to other stores.”

A second new format store – 7-Eleven Market – was unveiled at the beginning of November in Oslo, Norway. It’s a hybrid format, which combines the convenience of a 7-Eleven with a top-up grocery offer from Reitan Retail’s REMA 1000 brand, a soft discount store and major player in Norway.

“7-Eleven Market shows the synergies that we can get from close collaboration between the business areas within Reitan Retail,” Kristenson explains.

“The store combines convenience and groceries but at attractive price points so that shoppers can buy fresh food and coffee-to-go but they can also shop for their dinner. The name of the store is 7-Eleven Market but the price promise is that the 100 most popular products are sold at REMA 1000 prices and there’s private label from REMA 1000 in the store too so that people trust the pricing.”

The initial customer and franchisee feedback has been very positive, despite tough restrictions in the Norwegian market, due to Covid, which limit people’s movement, especially at night.

Future plans for the format remain under wraps, however.

“It’s still a pilot and under development. I can’t say anything more but it is interesting,” Kristenson says.

At a more local level, Reitan Convenience plans to expand fresh foodservice, an area where it is seeing good growth. It is also taking its first steps with partnerships for e-commerce and delivery and has teamed up with Take Out in Denmark to deliver a fresh food proposition, for example.

New technology is on the agenda too, including payments. Kristenson reports the convenience business offers a variety of payment methods including traditional served cashier points. However, 90% of payments are now contactless and self checkout is winning huge traction with uptake accelerating during the pandemic. A scan, pay and go pilot is on the cards, again minimising interactions and giving the consumer more control over their own store visits.

Reitan Convenience is also trialling unmanned stores. Working in partnership with Swedish company Instant Systems, the retailer has opened four ‘walk in, walk out’ stores to date in Sweden and Finland with Denmark next in line. According to Kristenson, there are a lot of players currently testing unmanned concepts and the key lies in understanding the customer needs and expectations in this marketplace.

The future of mobility is firmly on Reitan Retail’s radar too. Its Uno-X Mobility subsidiary has a mission is to develop and promote sustainable mobility solutions. Headquartered in Norway, the business has an enviable position, as the country is a world leader in this field and particularly EV.

“Everyone is looking to Norway for big developments in EVs and new concepts,” Kristenson says.

E-charging is offered on Reitan Retail’s roadside network and adoption is on the up. “It’s increasingly used by customers and becoming more user friendly for both users and operators,” Kristenson says.

The convenience chief is particularly interested in how customer behaviour and needs evolve as they move from ICE to EV, and whether they no longer combine station and store visits. “It is interesting to explore and analyse their moves,” she says.

Kristenson also hopes public transport will be expanded in the region, despite people retreating to the safety of their own vehicles during the pandemic.

“I hope that public transport will continue to be built out so that people can travel sustainably without having to be jammed in traffic in their own cars,” she says.

In the meantime, Reitan Convenience will continue to up its game.

“What we challenge ourselves on is to provide the best convenience offer for customers post-pandemic,” says Kristenson. That includes the products shoppers want to buy, how they want to buy them and pay for them and whether they wish to pick them up or have them delivered.
“We want to understand the changes in the way people move and eat and use their time going forward.”

“Flexibility is the key word,” she continues. “It’s about adapting to new customer needs, increased quality plus aspects of sustainability – social waste, climate etc – and we want to work commonly in the group to take the lead in that area.”