Convenience retail in Russia is evolving

Benefits 'in store' for heat recovery chillers

Image courtesy of Daikin

Discussing chilled technology during a cold snap in Northern Europe makes sense when it involves utilising heat recovered from the chilling process to warm the ambient areas of a convenience store.

Differentiate or alienate?

A positive outcome in the wake of the horsemeat scandal is surely the fact that there is now a wider appreciation of the complexity of the industrial food chain.

Eka wins petrol station of the year award

Sovazs, publisher of Modern Station has named Eka as "Station of the Year". The award attributes not only Russian fuel retail group Eka but also the London-based design firm Minale Tattersfield.

Garage chic drives UK forecourt fortune

Is it a sign of our times when we see yet another petrol station sold off to become a trendy fast food restaurant – our insatiable hunger for gastronomic heaven, whether it be bespoke burgers or designer pizzas?

Austria's first autonomous, energy self-sufficient supermarket

The SPAR brand is perceived very differently outside of the UK and for good reason. Take a look at its new supermarket in Graz, Austria. The striking design has been created by local Austrian architects LOVE architecture and urbanism.

Lukoil expands non-fuel offer with new convenience store design

Lukoil wants to be the dominant petroleum convenience operator but with competition from Bashneft, Tatneft and Rosneft, how can Russia's largest independent company improve on its current position and attract a greater number of customers into its stores?

Forecourt convenience stores from around the world

Poland - a dynamic powerhouse for energy drinks

Energy drinks have for some time been associated with extreme sports including rally car racing and Formula 1 motor sports so it comes as no surprise that Polish fuel retailer Lotos has started selling its own-brand energy drink, Dynamic.

Design review: Orlen Polsce Meeting Point Stop

I like how Polish design team Kaniewski HauteDesign break the mould in roadside design with this quasi-futuristic look for Orlen Polsce Meeting Point Stop Cafe. PKN Orlen currently operates hundreds of coffee bars and bistros at petrol stations in Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic but this is a first of its kind concept designed to attract business professionals in the Gdańsk catchment area.

Omni-channel retail gathers pace

While Mary Porter, the Queen of Shops, tries to save the British Street, we see savvy retailers advancing their 360-degree views of customer relationships, with omnichannel 'click and mortar'
strategies that look set to revolutionise the way we shop in 2012 and beyond.

Battle for C-store forecourt supremacy

Over the past year we have seen further consolidation in the roadside retail market with upmarket food chain Waitrose partnering with Shell to offer a joint format c-store on existing Shell fourcourts.

Food Drives Fuel Sales

To develop a competitive food offer at a petrol station makes sense not only because the profit margin is much higher than on fuel sales. According to Steve Tremlett of UK supermarket brand Somerfield a third of customers at petrol stations come for fuel, a third come for food and a third come for food and fuel. So for the food and fuel customers, having a proper food offer also drives fuel sales.

Artoil opens in Ufa

The second Artoil station has opened to much aclaim in the Urals city of Ufa. The first station in the wealthy Moscow suburb of Rublevka caused quite a stir but not as much as Ufa where retail is still a few years behind. Ufa customers were very pleasantly surprised that an oil company had finally decided to present its offer up to the standard and beyond of any other major shopping centre retailer. See russian tv story.

Artoil

New to the streets of Moscow is the Artoil Petrol Station which was opened in the smart Rublevka district on the 8th of July this year. According to David Davis of designers Minale Tattersfield, the new design ‘was intended to provide the Russian motorist with the highest level of service within a bright and cheerful environment that clearly put the motorist first’.

Star Mart Star Man

Caltex’s Star Mart was in need of refreshment having warn the same red/turquoise wave identity for at least 14 years. The designers Hulsbosch rightly claim that the new logo shows “Warmth, personality and fun” is which is befitting of an offer which makes no great claim over and above providing speedy refreshment for the motorist. But whether the new ‘Star Man’ identity is truly contemporary as declared by the designers remains a question according to comments posted on the Australian media website mumbrella.

The new world of Marks and Spencer retailing

I bought a pack of canned draught Guinness in a supermarket this week. Not, I grant you, earth-shattering information usually worthy of sharing with the world. Except when I tell you that the supermarket was a Marks and Spencer food store. M&S is one of the most interesting brand case studies around because, almost uniquely amongst retailers, they only ever in the past sold products under their own brand names. So until recently had I bought a Guinness-type beverage in an M&S shop it would have been rebranded something like “M&S Irish Stout” and there would have been no mention of Guinness (or Murphy’s etc.) anywhere on the bottle or can.

Austerity Brands

Owning the premium sector in prosperous times has been good business for Shell whose branded fuel ‘V-power’ is the fuel of choice for drivers who aspire to the F1 Ferrari dream. In times of austerity however real world realities set in and have resulted in the new ‘Fuel Save’ 95 petrol grade.

Just Look for the Star?

The black colour statement at the new Texaco stations that are being rolled out may be confused for red Esso/Exxon petrol stations. Architectural features of the new Texaco design match sister brand Chevron allowing savings in terms of rationalising components and maybe set the stage for Texaco disappearing altogether in favour of Chevron?