THE CHALLENGE
Creating an exceptional in-store experience to keep customers coming back
This family owned business has built up 25 stores across Sydney and NSW which are more like markets than supermarkets. They value sustainable, natural and local food. In their words, “we’re for the greater goodness”. Customers love Harris Farms ‘imperfect picks’ range of discounted fruit and veg, and the gourmet ingredients which can’t be found elsewhere.
“The next big opportunity was to make the in-store experience another reason customers choose to shop at Harris Farm.”
Jemma Parsons, Director, The Strategy Group
THE APPROACH
Observing shopper behaviour to design experiences they’ll love
The Strategy Group used Design Thinking to observe the in-store Harris Farm experience from the customers’ perspective, conducting over 50 hours of observations and interviews in 5 stores over 9 days. Seven clear opportunities were identified for redesign: Specials & in-season; Supreme & unusual; Sensory elements; Ready-to-eat; Customer interactions; Signage; Way-finding & traffic. 100+ ideas were cut down to a shortlist of 32 concepts. Four fantastic ideas were then chosen and designed, prototyped and tested in-store to see what worked, what didn’t and what could be tweaked.
“We invited The Strategy Group into our business to help us deliver some new and exciting concepts to our customers. I am so pleased with the ideas that have come out of the process, particularly Single Herd Milk which has been really popular amongst our customers at our Bondi Westfield store”
– Tristan Harris, Co-CEO, Harris Farm Markets
THE OUTCOME
Unique in-store experiences give a competitive edge
Four winning ideas were brought to life:
Gourmet cheese toasties for shoppers to enjoy one-handed as they wander through the storeReady-to-make meals with a gourmet recipe and all the fresh ingredients needed to cook at homeDrop-and-shop – a half-way check-out for shoppers to leave their heavy basket as they shopSingle-herd milk – neatly summed up by the Daily Telegraph:
“For city folk, it’s about as close as you’ll get to milk straight from the cow. […] shoppers are being given the chance to buy “single herd” milk — which is collected, homogenised and pasteurised directly on one farm — on tap. And in a novel old-school twist, the milk bar concept allows you to fill your own retro-style glass bottles.”
– The Daily Telegraph
