Costcutter has unveiled a comprehensive store rebranding programme backed up by a new toolkit for retailers enabling them to tailor their offer precisely to their local catchment.

The ‘Shopper First’ initiative is the outcome of what is claimed to be the biggest shopper research project in Costcutter’s 30-year history, and will see retailers from all the group’s symbols – Costcutter, Mace, Simply Fresh, Supershop and Kwiksave - being given a bespoke demographic profile of customers in their store’s catchment area, enabling them to refine their range of products and services to maximise their appeal to local shoppers. Costcutter has identified five types of convenience shopper, which make up a store’s target customers in varying proportions according to location.

Customer director Jenny Wilson commented: “We know shoppers are looking for fresh and chilled and food to go, but they are also looking for a tailored experience in-store – something ‘for me’.

“If you get footfall into stores, everything else will follow. But to do that you need to know the shopper, understand the missions, deliver an emotional experience and stand out from the rest. Retail is no longer just about location, it’s about fitting into shoppers’ lives.”

The new Costcutter branding includes a new font and logo, a new strapline: ’Shop the Way You Live’, and a choice of updated exterior and interior store design modules.

Six independent retailers will be the first to have the new store design, with the first store, in Yorkshire, going live on 10 December. The other five will relaunch at a rate of one per month afterwards, with three company-owned stores also adopting the new look next year.

Exteriors include a choice of wood or more modern materials, with added use of galvanised steel, chalkboards and decluttered windows. Interior designs employ updated macro space principles, with fresh and food to go at front of store whenever possible, and are based on a modular format so retailers can select parts of the design, or modernise in stages.

The new logo will start to appear on Costcutter marketing material from next month, along with two new straplines: ‘Offers That Rock’ for the promotions programme and ‘Local Buddy’ for smaller, direct shipment suppliers.

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