Five ways HFSS will revolutionise retail estates
Bricks and mortar retail has faced its fair share of major disruptors in recent years, from the emergence of e-Commerce, to in-store shopping experiences and digital transformation. Here, we shine a spotlight on the latest of those, the Government’s legislation to restrict the promotion of products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS), and explore the potential implications for the store of the future.
Re-positioning of displays
Time to get creative
With footfall in new in-aisle and mid-store areas likely to be lower than on aisle ends or at the store entrance, grocery brands will have to get more creative with their feature space to maximise sales opportunities.
Standard shelf space will become a critical battleground as suppliers jockey for the best position and aim to leverage the maximum linear footage from existing category space on shelf. As a result, making the existing category shelf space work harder is going to be a critical challenge for retailers, meaning a creative outlook will be pivotal to success.
Reduced checkout areas
As of October 2022, HFSS products will not be able to be positioned within 2 metres of checkout tills, at the ends of aisles, in island bins at the end of aisles, or near store entrances.
Retailers, therefore, will have to reconceptualise their commercial spaces to reduce checkout areas, re-locate displays specially designed for close proximity to tills, and make space for more shelving and permitted promotional areas.
Embracing digital
The influx of intuitive technology continues to reshape retail stores, changing the very perception of how consumers purchase products in-store, and remodelling commercial properties throughout the UK. As retail professionals are forced to re-think how they display products from HFSS brand partners, digital transformation could hold the key.
Whether that takes the shape of large-scale, digital screens, holograms projecting three-dimensional imagery into the air to showcase products and provide customer information, or electronic shelf labels, remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure, technology will undoubtedly prevail.
Partnering up
As retailers seek to roll-out extensive estate wide transformation programmes in a constricted timeframe – with new legislation coming into force from October 2022 – we expect to see more brands utilising the expertise and knowledge of outsourced commercial partners.
An experienced single provider of end-to-end services, such as Sigma, can efficiently manage transformational programmes across entire retail estates, delivering exciting and progressive new store concepts within agreed timescales, pre-determined budgets and with minimal disruption to facilities and occupants.
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