Last week Jumbo opened a Foodmarkt at a cool location in Amsterdam. The supermarket chain looked good at what happened in the market. It copied in a smart way the USP’s of Marks & Spencer, Eataly, Marqt, Landmarkt and Bilder & De Clerq and combined them with its usual relative low pricing. The result is a new kind of supermarket with lots of room to walk around and make your choice from the enormous offer of mostly fresh products. The experience is enhanced by the “live” cooking everywhere in the store. You can take all those sushi’s, wok dishes, pizza’s and daily specials home or eat them on the spot in the cosy restaurant of the supermarket. What a difference with the optical branch where the large chains still do all they can to keep (sun)glasses and contactlenses “commodities” without added value and with only one thing that counts; the price. How old fashioned and outdated is that. Of course I know, only recently Dutch discounter Hans Anders opened a new flagship store but that was already obsolete at the moment the doors opened for the first time. You can’t create experience in the optical business by loading the store with all kind of screens, interactive technology and more of those gadgets. It is time the decision makers in this industry visit &Other Stories, Jumbo Foodmarkets, Warby Parker in New York and many other interesting store concepts and create an optical store 2.0. I guarantee success for the first one who dares to do it or do we have to wait for an outsider to realize this innovation?
