For those who do not know it yet, the values of Migros are united under the acronym EPICE: Esprit clients (Customer spirit), Proximité (Proximity), Innovation, Confiance (Trust) and Engagement (Commitment). A vast programme.
Through the renovation/transformation of the Migros branch located Rue de Carouge, in the Plainpalais district of Geneva, our mandate corresponded perfectly to the first of these guidelines. Understanding the customer spirit means promoting the establishment of a pleasant environment to facilitate purchases, but also emphasising the freshness, presentation and availability of the products. It also means favouring a local, human ecosystem, by underlining the importance of Swiss-made, regional and “Elaborés chez nous” items.
To achieve this, we returned to fundamentals in line with the times and current concerns. The idea of welcoming customers has been strengthened, thresholds have been created to symbolise the transition from one department to another. The standards have been optimised in order to allow passages that are efficient, but also conscious, in phase with the products presented. The lighting of the fresh products has been revised to present them in a new, more natural light (less “photoshoped!”), the fruit and vegetable displays are made of oak when the signage has been systematically fixed at 2.40 metres in height for clarity and readability. The idea is to give the impression of walking in a local grocery store, certainly more generously stocked, but in an atmosphere of honesty and sincerity.
The technology has been left apparent, industrial, while large white expanded metal pediments divide and highlight the different departments. Artisans, Bread, Meat, Fish, etc.
Stands have been built to reinforce the idea of proximity – in the spirit of cabins, the promotion of local organic products has been increased, right from the entrance. Preservation products have been placed on shelves, in a Warholian background, so as to offer a better hierarchy of expiry issues. Although the passage is made in a more linear way, it is adorned with new tiling using tiles with more contemporary dimensions (80 x 80 cm) and partitions alternating between wood and light grey colour to create points of view and vanishing points that play on perceptions. By offering a softer and calmer mode of consumption, it is a route that offers shopping in the form of a slow walk.