Moscow, 11 July 2024 – X5 Group’s supermarket format, Perekrestok, has opened its first store designed in line with a revamped store concept as part of the retail chain’s major restyling. Located in the south-east of Moscow (1 Volgogradsky Avenue, Bld. 1), the store stands out for its improved technical features and an expanded product assortment. The supermarket also hosts the retail chain’s first premium in-house café, Perekrestok Select.
By year-end, Perekrestok plans to update more than 120 supermarkets in Moscow and 10 supermarkets in Nizhny Novgorod in line with the new concept.
The new concept focuses on creating an even more comfortable shopping environment that will boost customer loyalty and help to build long-term, trust-based customer relationships. The concept was developed on the basis of a detailed analysis carried out by the Company, including through the use of customer feedback. X5’s strategy envisages major changes to the chain’s internal and external processes that include building a new pricing model, launching an updated customer communication system and rethinking the brand promise.
The assortment and zoning of the first updated Perekrestok are even better suited to meet current customer needs, such as the need to buy fresh products and ready-to-eat meals on a frequent basis. The retail chain’s focus product categories – fruits, vegetables, fresh fish, fragrant pastries, ready-to-eat meals and wines – account for about 30% of the assortment. The new supermarket also has an area dedicated to healthy foods that features at least 1,500 SKUs, including about 650 SKUs from Perekrestok’s Green Line private label.
A key distinguishing feature of the new concept is the Perekrestok Select café, which offers ready-to-eat meals under the Perekrestok Select private label. Each new-concept supermarket will feature a café, which will be located directly at the store entrance in new retail facilities or will replace the space occupied by unused checkout counters at existing Perekrestok stores.
The decision to launch the new café was driven by the rapidly developing symbiosis between the HoReCa and retail segments. Perekrestok Select cafés are on par with the “Big Three” domestic fast-food restaurants[1] and other similar chains, and feature cooked-to-order dishes along with other gourmet items that customers can enjoy without leaving the supermarket. In addition, each café features a unit of X5’s “Mnogo Lososya GO” network, offering a wide selection of ready-to-eat pizzas and sushi.
Ready-to-eat meals are produced at X5’s in-house Smart Kitchen in the Moscow Region, which supplies up to 100,000 SKUs to 530 Perekrestok stores per day. The Smart Kitchen’s use of high-quality natural ingredients, carefully crafted recipes and advanced production safety technologies – as well as its diverse product range and flavour combinations – ensure that all meals meet premium-level standards in the HoReCa segment.
In addition to highlighting the chain’s focus categories and the Perekrestok Select premium café, the restyling features an updated visual language in terms of in-store communications and navigation. The arrangement of product areas has also been updated to immediately draw the customer’s attention to ready-made solutions for every occasion. Each product category features a variety of promotional items and new products.
The façade of the revamped Perekrestok contains light boxes showcasing the chain’s focus categories, while the store entrance greets customers with seasonal shelves stocked with themed products as well as information on special offers and events taking place at the store. The new interior design makes extensive use of wooden elements. The updated supermarket also promotes a pet-friendly culture, with many shopping carts equipped with a separate section for pets.
“At the start of the year, we decided to completely reposition the retail chain in line with our ‘Everything for You! Just like for Ourselves’ strategy. Thanks to our comprehensive approach to the update, we succeeded in creating a beautiful supermarket while improving its functionality and introducing features that meet and exceed customer expectations. We effectively process customer feedback, analysing preferences and changes in habits to deliver a consistently excellent customer experience. We believe it is important to not only deliver on our promises and meet basic demand for high-quality products, but also to offer better solutions to our customers and give them new, positive emotions and experiences. That is exactly why the Perekrestok team has focused all of its efforts on restyling our supermarkets, and we are confident that we can make our customers’ shopping experience even better,” said Raisa Polyakova, Managing Director of Perekrestok.
[1] These include Vkusno i Tochka, Burger King and Rostic’s.