The new concept store, 365 by Whole Foods, seeks to provide a grocery store with the Whole Foods quality, at a lower price point, in a smaller package for the simpler, less involved shopper. Sound like someone you know? Maybe a millennial? You’ve got it. 365 by Whole Foods isn’t just cheaper, but there are other overarching components that prove that it embodies the millennial mindset on a larger scale.
- Open Concept: A 365 store is about half the size of a regular Whole Foods and has about a quarter of the products. The result? An open concept that is inviting and accessible. Remember, our target audience could shop online for groceries, so if you’re going to lure them into a store, make it easy. 365 has low shelving and more space to move around. Since these stores are new they are going to be crowded. Make shopping enjoyable, don’t create lines wrapping around the store and out the door.
- Virtual Components: There’s a Teabot. Yes, that is a robot that mixes various types of loose leaf tea into a proprietary blend for each shopper. This is just one example of the ways that virtual, digital, robotic reality invites itself into the “grocery store of the future.” Millenials are used to shopping online, punching information into screens. Keep them in their comfort zone and they will keep coming back.
- Independent Shopping Experience: We live in a world of farm shares, independent retailers, Etsy, and hipsters. The megastores of the 80’s and 90’s are going away and millennials are returning to a local, regional, eco-friendly way of living and shopping. Keeping local farms, local meats and seasonal ingredients involved in the process without necessarily having a butcher or a cheesemonger educates millennials on what they are buying (which they need to develop loyalty) without getting too involved in their shopping experience.
