Supermarket giant Coles has revealed how it plans to target rich young professionals in upmarket suburbs with a new line of stores that are radically different to what shoppers are used to.
The supermarket giant recently announced it would open a string of smaller, more convenient stores across the country to meet the growing demand from urban shoppers in high-density areas.
It’s since been revealed the first of the stores will open later this year in Surrey Hills, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Coles’ new smaller convenient stores will stock a full fresh and packaged grocery offer and offer up to 1500 products not available in larger supermarkets
A hand-picked team from Coles has been working on the new small-store format, codenamed Project 535, for the past two years, The Australian reported.
The team have worked on a format to fit a block of land of about 1800 square metres — less than half the size of a standard full-line supermarket.
It will see the rollout of up to 120 stores in affluent major city neighbourhoods where young professionals live.
The new stores will have a full fresh and packaged grocery offer with up to 1500 grocery items not available in larger stores and a focus on health foods, artisan and vegan products.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Coles for further comment.
Coles chief executive John Durkan (pictured) hopes to fill network gaps with smaller formats in inner-city locations
‘We have new formats that we are investing in,’ Coles chief executive John Durkan told The Australian.
‘We can’t get the size of the box we would ideally like in the high-density areas that we want — they are just not there — and what we can do is put a different offer in and we think there is anything between 80 and 100 sites across Australia where we can put these stores in.’
Mr Durkan recently revealed Coles was developing flexible store blueprints to fill network gaps with smaller formats in inner-city locations.
‘These smaller formats tap into emerging customer trends of healthy eating and increased convenience,’ he said.
Queensland University of Technology retail expert Associate Professor Gary Mortimer recently said the move was likely an attempt to catch up to Woolworths, which has already rolled out smaller Metro stores in capital cities.
The news small stores will have a focus on health foods, artisan and vegan products
‘These smaller formats tap into emerging customer trends of healthy eating and increased convenience,’ Coles chief executive John Durkan said in June
The retail expert said Coles’ decision to enter the convenience store market would hit competitors hard and would likely impact IGA the most.
‘IGAs are often situated at the bottom of residential towers where most people expect to pay a premium for convenience,’ Mr Mortimer told News.com.au in June.
‘When Coles and Woolworths venture into this smaller format they can offer the convenience and they can replicate their supermarket prices.’
Coles also recently vowed to make 40 per cent of its products home brand by 2023.
Mr Durkan said the move would improve customer choice, rather than limit it.
A hand-picked team from Coles has been working on the new small-store format codenamed Project 535 for the past two years. The new stores will be different to the Coles Express (pictured) stores