Article written by Clément Fages and published in Marketing magazine N°231 on 1 September 2021
After months of health crisis, the prospect of returning to the shops should delight customers and retailers. But it is not so simple! The new consumer habits developed online by the former are forcing the latter to redouble their efforts to offer them a truly attractive experience.
Faced with quick commerce players, who promise delivery in less than 15 minutes by relying on dark stores, Monoprix wants to defend its vision of commerce: “We wanted to talk about ‘bright commerce’, for the double meaning of intelligent and bright. We don’t do retrocommerce, which is opposed to technology”, says Maguelone Paré, concept and innovation director at Monoprix. She advocates a mixed consumption: “We must position ourselves between quick convenience, shopping pleasure and the practicality of e-commerce, by developing our offer and the in-store experience. “
Faced with quick commerce players, who promise delivery in less than 15 minutes by relying on dark stores, Monoprix wants to defend its vision of commerce: “We wanted to talk about ‘bright commerce’, for the double meaning of intelligent and bright. We don’t do retrocommerce, which is opposed to technology”, says Maguelone Paré, concept and innovation director at Monoprix. She advocates a mixed consumption: “We must position ourselves between quick convenience, shopping pleasure and the practicality of e-commerce, by developing our offer and the in-store experience. “
In addition to offering food, fashion and decoration, Monoprix is strengthening the importance of its own brands, which account for 40% of the items sold in the new Monop’ concept, which is also distinguished by “Je m’appelle reviens”, an offer of free loans of objects for 48 hours, which concerns both coolers and cargo bikes. The store is strengthening its offer of fruit and vegetables, local and seasonal products, by the slice, in bulk – via partnerships with Les 2 Vaches, Gallia or Carambar – and finally those made on the spot, from chips to candyfloss! And what about technology? On 30 m2, it is possible to buy more than 300 references 24/7 without even going to the cash desk..
However, it is possible to access the Monoprix Plus and Monop Eat delivery offers, and customers can enjoy the video content shown on the doors of the storeroom, showing the Monoprix warehouse in Fleury-Mérogis. “It’s a way of saying that our stockroom is not limited to the few square metres that are hidden behind the door! It is rich in 30,000 references that can be delivered”, says Maguelone Paré. As Jean-Paul Mochet said: “This concept was designed to bring together the best of both worlds. “Yes, but…
Is this enough in the face of the promise of being delivered, without leaving home, in about fifteen minutes by a Gorillas, Getir, Flink, Cajoo or Dija, not forgetting KOL and Frichti, or even the one-hour offers of La Belle Vie or Mon-Marché.fr? Like Uber in its early days, these services rely on the quality of the contact with a delivery person, sometimes a salaried employee, but also on the multiplication of promotions and attention. They have rapidly increased their offer of fruit and vegetables and local artisanal products, to break with the image of a convenience service. All this while claiming prices equivalent to those of local shops, or even supermarkets. One may wonder about their profitability or consider that their weight is still tiny in a home delivery segment that only accounts for 7% of the food e-commerce market, according to Nielsen. However, since the first half of 2020, this channel has grown by 20%, compared to 9% for the drive-through…
“Time spent shopping online will have increased by 50% by 2020. You have to be there to sell and offer experiences that are also ‘differentiating’,” says retail expert Frank Rosenthal. Although at least 80% of sales are still made in physical stores, he points out that “the players in quick commerce are redefining the meaning of local commerce in large cities. We should not be too quick to dismiss the impact of the promise of a 10-minute delivery. Remember that three years ago, some people said that no one was interested in one-hour delivery! “With this in mind, a retailer can try to compete on the basis of convenience… Or defend its prices and offer even more advanced experiences.
This is what Vincent Grégoire, director of studies for the NellyRodi trend consultancy, indicates, who sees two models developing in this area: the “monostore”/”expert store” for in-depth exploration of a range of products, a material or a colour, and the “bazaar store”/”bordel store” where experiences will multiply. “The first model is likely to host a “learning lock”, through which the customer acquires knowledge or know-how. The first model is likely to host a “learning lock”, through which the customer acquires knowledge or know-how. His or her consumption choices are enlightened, while distinguishing themselves from digital thanks to a sensory approach: a touch table, perfume diffusers, etc. Conversely, a bazaar has a more “messy” approach! We will copy the characteristics of an online marketplace, offering everything, at all prices, including the experience: a workshop where products are repaired or customised, a third place that hosts a bar or café, a conference or exhibition space, or a place dedicated to special offers, co-branding or shop-in-shop. We go there when we don’t need anything, it’s a bit of a theme park. “
However, it is important not to come up against the simple reality of the figures. “Some products lend themselves to demonstration areas, where you can give the customer personal advice. But when you know the price of real estate in the city, you have to be sure of making sales there. Adopting an experiential approach to a flagship, where we will try to work on consideration or NPS, and do earned media, why not? But to generalise it…”, warns Frank Rosenthal, joined by Pascal Malotti, consulting director at Valtech France, who, while he believes that there will be “an increasingly clear polarisation between delivery services and the physical shop, with two very different value propositions”, acknowledges that “for the moment, many retailers are in the middle of the road. They are far from having the resources of an Amazon or an Alibaba to offer experiences as disruptive as Amazon Go or Hema Fresh”. But in order to industrialise the experience found in a Monoprix Montparnasse or a Franprix Opéra, “the brand must have an ecosystem capable of absorbing the cost of these investments”.
Polar bears in the middle of Galeries Lafayette, a Pandora shop transformed into a field of flowers or a virtual store for Bulgari that opens onto scenes of Italy. In addition to animating the shop or virtually extending its surface, the AR/VR experiences of the Sky Boy studio can be deployed on a large scale, including online, and become interesting sources of data for retailers. But also of sales, with a conversion rate of 30% on certain devices. According to Snapchat, the new generations are looking for omnichannel experiences, such as being able to try out products using augmented reality. However, half are also looking for human interaction in the shop…
” “Digital makes the product accessible everywhere and all the time. But the shop is different in terms of experience: when I buy online, I often get a product, not always in the right size, in sloppy packaging. It’s a bad brand experience, which is catastrophic considering the money spent to recruit the customer,” analyses Jeremy Dahan, president of GLOBE Groupe, which promotes live shopping: “Accessible when the shop is closed, it allows a level of experience and advice close to the latter thanks to the exchange with the salesperson. It is the brand image and the experience that justify the price! In addition to the advice, live also allows real-time access to data, unlike the point of sale where the customer is identified and his purchase history is only accessed once he has passed through the checkout. “GLOBE thus offers, via its thirty or so studios, live “one-to-many” events, based on a product or a guest star with whom Internet users want to chat. But the agency is also developing the “one-to-one” live event, by proposing to put an Internet user in touch with a salesperson in a shop.
This is perhaps the first step towards an omnichannel experience that allows certain brands to distinguish themselves, such as Leroy Merlin, the French people’s favourite brand in 2021 according to EY-Parthénon and Marketing Magazine. “We have to be able to meet all needs. An online tutorial or a one-on-one coaching session is more practical than a course when you are doing a task and need help at the moment. Views on our tutorials increased by 35% last year to 22 million, while 130,000 people participated in our online group courses, which were well received with a satisfaction score of 4.8/5. But to really learn, it’s better to practice and have the material available. This is an essential reason why people come to the shop… Beyond meeting the salespeople they see on our live shows for real! In addition to meeting the salespeople they see on our live shows!”, explains Charline Nuttin, head of DIY (Do It Yourself) services.
In stores, customers can also take advantage of the “Parlons Maison” service offer: the possibility of discussing and designing their projects with architects or landscapers who are members of the brand’s network of local partners. “The product is still at the heart of our offer, but it is now systematically accompanied by advice or services, and this applies to both work and DIY. DIY also includes a simple furniture restoration workshop for beginners. This is what allows us to create brand preference and to make the difference with the pure players when buying or renting the necessary equipment for more advanced work in the future! “
For its part, beyond the revamped offer and services, Monoprix wants to develop this omnichannel experience by providing each new Monop’ with a dedicated Instagram account, in order to maintain a link with local customers, while highlighting in-store initiatives, for example the promotion of local projects and associations, via a partnership with the crowdfunding platform Ulule. Will this allow the experiments carried out at La Place Publique in Monoprix Montparnasse to be rolled out on a large scale? The future will tell.
