SPAR International – A global perspective

In this special edition of Shop Talk LIVE, we focused on one retailer, SPAR.

SPAR International CEO, Tobias Wasmuht and Head of Brand Gary Harris walked an audience of 28 countries through the pivotal role flagship stores play in driving forward retail innovation in 14 of the 48 markets they operate in.

It’s an inspirational global journey of store design excellence across the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa looking at format development and innovation; how ideas move between markets, are adapted locally plus a unique strategy for attracting the best young entrepreneurs.

Though the presentation we visit Austria, China, Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, UK, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Hungary and Italy which includes a video tour of ‘Despar Teatro Italia’ – a landmark store in Venice.

A journey around the world

The journey starts in Ireland in 2007 with Barrow Street EUROSPAR, this store was instrumental in creating the change and trialling solutions which lynchpin the ongoing strategy today. The key is responding to changing customer shopping missions, whilst the smoothie bar and noodle offer launched in this store were highly innovative at the time, foodservice solutions have a lifespan and have got to keep moving to stay relevant.

However taking learnings from one market to another does not mean carbon copying exact ideas, its about finding out what worked best, adapting to local customers and implementing the pieces which are relevant, whether this be the brand, equipment, design or technology.

This brings us to China and the 2009 NACS International Convenience Retailer of the Year, SPAR Hongtu Lu. This 600m² community supermarket was extremely innovative and ground-breaking at the time, and was the forerunner for what has now become the norm in China. Referred to as the cousin of the Barrow Street store, this was the smallest store to launch in China at the time, kickstarting the growth of the community proximity lifestyle store that now dominate the market.

In another satisfying circle of life, the Kistu noodle bar which was so successful in Ireland was transposed to Hongtu Lu and of course the origin of the idea was inspired by the team’s visits to Asia in the first place. To make the offer relevant, it was expanded to include Dim Sum; highly popular in the province, but the central island design and flow came straight from its Irish relative.

A decade on and the flow of information is the other way around, Western Europe now look to China and the East for innovation and learnings. At the heart of this is technology, China’s online grocery percentage has grown from 4% in 2015 to 10% in 2019 and is predicted to rise to 20-25% by 2022, they often lead the way and were the first markets where SPAR integrated QR codes and intelligent scales. We still look that way for digital technology; mobile payments, in-store technology – self scanning, facial recognition and integrated communications.

SPAR is nearly 90 years old, but they work hard to stay relevant and this is never more important than in University stores, where the youthful customer is digitally literate. This therefore becomes a hub for integrating their technological learnings as these customers do not want to queue, they want to swipe and go or prepay.

Tobias uses an example of university stores in the Netherlands to highlight the importance of the independent retailer, how these entrepreneurs are the catalyst for innovation with their awareness of the local area and customer needs and SPAR Natural is another idea born from the retailer which is now growing and developing across SPAR markets.

SPAR Natural, Gran Canaria is another winner of the NACS International Convenience Retailer of the Year, this time in 2017. The brand focuses on health and wellness, food intolerances and lifestyle choices and was a step change for SPAR but something they were committed to in partnership with Jesus Diaz, the retailer. The stores are still looking modern, relevant and inviting 4 years on and so it could definitely be considered ahead of its time – we have seen the prominent rise of dietary choices and options, and so SPAR have been able to leverage their early success and expand SPAR Natural. Whilst this may not materialise as more stand alone SPAR Natural stores, they always had plans for a shop-in-shop or departmental solution and its now in 24 markets with a large portfolio of products supporting this.

The episode takes us to many more flagship SPAR stores which highlight the collaboration between SPAR international and the independent retailers which keep the innovation fresh, relevant and moving – so watch for visits to South Africa, Denmark, Norway, Sri Lanka, Italy and more.

Tobias concludes the episode by referencing SPAR’s beginnings in 1932 “it’s in the name” Door Endrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig, loosely translated to ‘by working together all benefit regularly’ or in its modern context Better Together.

Global Convenience Store Focus would like to thank Shopworks, Liquid Barcodes, Fri-jado and Bona Design Lab for their continued support of Shop Talk LIVE.