Stewart Samuel, Director of Retail Futures at IGD, on Global Grocery Retail Best Practices & What Retail Looks Like in Ten Years

You know, as you look at retail and you walk retail stores and you think about the physical stores and the intersection of physical and online because we're going to talk about both uh you know what do you what do you look for what you know what what is it that's um sometimes i put it in table stakes and differentiators but let's talk about it as non-negotiables right to be a modern retailer what are those kind of key things a modern grocer what do you need to have that is like you've just got to do them if you're not doing them you're not going to be in the game

Yeah, it's a good question.

One sort of we've sort of talked about quite a lot internally.

And about two years ago, we developed a store the future framework.

Quite a pragmatic approach.

So this is less about sort of the kind of science fiction side of the store of the future.

If retailers are in a particular position today, what do they need to do over the next two to three years to ensure they sort of stay relevant for shoppers? So there's four key pillars to this framework.

And it's about delivering an enhanced experience for consumers, optimizing operations, delivering on value, and having a positive impact.

And on that latter one, it typically tends to fall either into sustainability or health.

When we sort of go and visit stores, we have this framework.

We have this benchmark.

We have about 23 different levers that sit under those four pillars.

So it's quite easy for us then to go and visit those stores and score those stores and make the assessment.

Now, you asked me what the non-negotiables are.

It's very unlikely a retailer can pull like a five-star on all those 23 levers.

And they probably wouldn't want to because you're going to get sort of something that maybe sort of doesn't differentiate itself much.

in the marketplace.

What we typically see is, depending on the format, maybe the retailer strategy, that they will lean into one or two of those key pillars.

So if you're a discount retailer, if you're a no-frills, you're really focusing on optimizing the operation and delivering on value.

Somewhere else, you may be more focused on delivering just a great, fresh, food service-led experience.

I think what's interesting with this store that we're in today, Michael, is actually it is one of those very rare stores that actually ticks all those four pillars.

I was going to have you unpack that because right back at the beginning of our conversation is like when I asked you what category you focus on.

As you walk this store, you've got everything from... amazing amount of grocery, but then you've got Joe Fresh apparel, you've got beauty, you've got toys, you've got electronics.

So it's not like a single category grocery focus.

And then my part two to that question is, you know, the first of your quadrants is experience.