Comment: Supermarkets should be striving to feel different

Take the big four UK supermarkets and it is amazing how different they are.

A lot of work goes into making them different, in terms of colour scheme, graphics and, to an extent, layout, but it is remarkable just how dissimilar they are.

As Dalton Philips departs the Morrisons fold and the search for a replacement continues, it is reasonably certain that whoever takes his place will seek to ensure that Morrisons shoppers are aware what a Morrisons looks like and what it stands for.

Yet in spite of the best efforts of many, the thing that does surprise is that UK supermarkets are not more different than they are.

Take a trip to Chaumont en Vexin (it’s about an hour north of central Paris and remarkable for being, seemingly, a small place in the middle of nowhere in particular) and there is a branch of Match.

Match? Well yes. Match is a modest-sized chain of supermarkets that has outposts across northeast France and it does look different.

Lighting up

It does so thanks to the lighting in the store. This consists of gantries above the mid-shop equipment with spots on them – fluorescent tubes providing ambient light are absent.

Then there’s the floor – grey tiles, and the walls are a mix of plain grey mosaic and darkish brown.

The ‘fresh’ area is filled and beautifully merchandised and the display gondolas are low – it positively demands to be shopped and if you’re in the mood, all the chilled products are in those units that don’t have frames around the door and which are internally back lit – you see the stock not the shop.

Bored? If you were in a UK supermarket you might be, but in Match you’re not.

And if you’re thinking that it sounds expensive, think again. A sign near the checkouts informs shoppers that if you can find a like-for-like article cheaper elsewhere, Match will refund five times the difference in price (yes, it’ll price Match).

This is a supermarket for the price-conscious that looks and feels upscale.

And remember, just as much design effort is required to create a discount format as a more aspirational one.

And in truth, this feels better overall than the majority of its equivalents this side of the Channel.

Supermarkets should be striving to put difference between themselves and their rivals and to create interiors that make you pleased to be in them, rather than a mild test of endurance.

Even the discounters who are doing so well in growing their UK market share could learn a thing or two from this one.

Worth a visit if you ever find yourself with a few spare moments and happen to be in Chaumont en Vexin.