Increasing retail revenue by increasing local awareness

ICA Slätta is your small, cozy typical Swedish neighborhood grocery store, part of the nation wide ICA supermarket/superstore network comprised of some 1300 stores of various sizes. Store Manager Mats Andersson sought to increase local awareness and keep his customers in even closer relation to his store.

The challenge

The challenge laid within keeping local, often extremely loyal customers informed about locally produced items, in-store activities and other information of significant regional value while still staying true to the umbrella ICA brand and naturally, also increase revenue and develop the business as a whole. ICA is a household name throughout Sweden and is firmly established as the grocery platform of choice in Sweden. This made it difficult to balance the national information with a local flavor.

Locally produced content made easy

The central ICA organisation already offers local and regional information publication, but the system is somewhat cumbersome and screen real estate gets scarce due to sometimes too much information. Through an already established and well-oiled partnership with its Smartsign reseller, ICA Slätta invested in the Smartsign Quick Publish software solution along with a large screen – a pretty basic setup that suits the needs perfectly.

Easy handling and content management make it easy to compose a perfect mix of tailored information: The screen greets customers as they enter the store, features information about locally produced food items and suppliers alongside various other Swedish foodstuffs and occasionally promotes in-store events and other information of pertinence.

An investment that pays for itself

At the fingertips of Store manager Mats Andersson, the Smartsign system offers a smooth and efficient way of keeping customers well informed, increasing local awareness and customer/brand loyalty. Besides these quick wins, the installment has also proven to increase revenue and allowing the store to evolve even further as a smooth, perfectly balanced local business.

Mats has found that customers find more value in regional information rather than rebates and offers, and the screen prominently placed at the entrance of the facility clearly has a major, positive impact on ICA Slätta’s increasingly loyal customers. A future vision could even be interlinking all ICA stores in the region, making it possible to coordinate all regional information on store level, maximizing the impact of locally produced products driven revenue.