72 nacsonline.com NOVEMBER 2013
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Global Warming
The 2013 Insight NACS Future of Convenience event provided a hothouse for new
ideas and business models in a changing market. BY FIONA BRIGGS
Convenience retailing is go- ing to get a lot more exciting if attendees from the Insight NACS Future of Convenience
event implement any of the ideas they
saw there. The conference, which took
place in London on September 25 and
26, focused on the convergence of convenience retailing across Europe as
well as new opportunities, retailer case
studies and the latest business models.
Evidence of consumers behaving
in similar ways in different markets
came from presenter Marks & Spencer,
which has re-entered the French and
Dutch markets after an absence of 10
years with two stores in Paris and two
in the Netherlands. A trial store with
BP has also opened in Utrecht in Sep-
tember as part of the retailer’s journey
to get closer to its customers.
“There’s a commonality between
making people’s lives easier and giving
consumers what they want, when they
want it,” said Paul Horwell, head of U.K.
franchise at M&S. “There’s a definite un-
derstanding from the consumer that they
can get the same convenience in different
guises in different countries.” Horwell
commented that the British concept of
a sandwich and chips at lunch appeals
equally well with Parisians.
Carrefour has managed its own
convergence program by grouping its
stores under a single banner and has
ambitions to become the leading con-
Clockwise from top left: Dan Munford of Insight Research (at left) and Henry Armour of NACS (at right) flank Convenience Retailer of
the Year winners from Caltex FreshStop; Shell’s Deli2go smoothies; event attendees mingle at a networking reception; Maxol’s MACE
concept was visited on one of many store tours.
