Introducing Cornershop: The Future of Retail

As non-essential retail stores prepare for reopening, the question remains about what the future will hold for retail in the ‘new normal’.

The global pandemic has accelerated change in consumer behaviour and put ecommerce at the forefront of the retail experience. In fact, in a recent report about how the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to online spending, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that the proportion of non-essential retail sales that took place online during the first wave UK lockdown (March – August 2020) more than doubled versus the same period in 2019. 

With statistics like these, retailers need to work harder than ever to connect the dots between their digital and physical presence – and fast – if bricks and mortar retail is to thrive in the post-pandemic world.

Thanks to a new experimental retail space in London called Cornershop, it is now possible for retailers to quickly test new in-store technologies and experiences on real-life customers before implementing in their own stores. Cornershop has been designed and built to showcase the latest in smart and touchless retail technology, as well as championing the importance of personalised and purposeful in-store experiences.

At Scanomat, we are excited to announce that we are working in partnership with the developers of Cornershop to provide a fully integrated, touchless coffee concept in the sentient store. Dubbed as a future of coffee concept by The Drum and the automated, touchless barista by Forbes, TopBrewer lets customers take control of their own coffee experience with app & voice control and contactless payment. Excitingly for retailers, TopBrewer provides unrivalled integration possibilities (more on that later) which promises not only a seamless experience for the customer, but also access to meaningful real-time data direct from the platform.

Designed by The Drum, SharpEnd and Capgemini, Cornershop is essentially a real-life future retail concept store in Central London. Located in Shoreditch and built through lockdown, CornerShop offers an invaluable testing environment for brands, allowing them to try out latest technologies on real-life shoppers before investing and implementing them into their physical stores.

‘The hyper-personalized concept explores the fundamentals of shopping in a post-pandemic world and is being developed to drive a more meaningful and relevant experience for customers.’ The Drum

From entering the store your mobile is your remote control and experience is the operative word. Through engaging concepts, rich interactions and empowered colleagues, the lines between digital and physical spaces are blurred to enrich the consumer experience.

Rob Hollands, Managing Director at SharpEnd comments:

“As the change in consumer shopping behaviours continues to accelerate, brands must find new ways to connect, deliver relevant and engaging experiences and drive loyalty. From virtual-try-on to connected packaging we’ve created an environment that allows brands and retailers to explore the technologies that provide the most engaging customer experience and the option to shop and interact in the way that best suits individual needs. CornerShop aims to help brands and retailers drive their transformation further and faster, explore the latest technologies and rapidly test and learn with real consumers, in the real world.”

Coffee concept integration

Having an integrated ecosystem for your store’s technologies and processes ensures your business runs smoothly and your customers receive a seamless experience, and it shouldn’t be any different when it comes to your coffee concept.

Frederik Vibe-Petersen, one of the family owners of Scanomat comments:

“At Scanomat we offer an easy, flexible and multi-faceted approach to integrate into our platform for retailers. The first is our cloud service, CoffeeCloud, where it is possible to extract machine data from your fleet of machines through our REST API. The second is through our family of products where we are able to offer multiple integration possibilities from payment systems to app integrations. We pioneered app control and cloud technology in the beginning, but it has never been more relevant than today as retailers navigate the post-Covid landscape.

 “Scanomat is becoming a true platform company, where we both support vertical integration, whereby we deliver the experience to our clients ourselves – but also horizontal integration where we partner with others to integrate into our platform. We want to help the retail space to create a great product experience using their own software integrated with ours. We are very much looking forward to working with retailers to integrate our hard- and software platform into the future.”

Why is coffee such as a valuable experience?

According to pre-Covid statistics from the British Coffee Association, 80% of people who visit coffee shops do so at least once a week, whilst 16% visit on a daily basis. Café culture is likely to continue to boom in the post-Covid world and presents an attractive opportunity to retailers looking to embrace in-store experiences.

Advancements in super-automatic machines means that a barista quality beverage doesn’t necessarily require a barista. Instead, colleagues can play a powerful role in building relationships and offering a personalised and meaningful experience to everyone who comes through the door, rather than mastering the perfect pour!

In a recent blog titled reshaping the retail experience, leading architect firm, Gensler suggests that in-store experiences will be one of the most important ways to foster interaction with products, space and staff in the new normal. Over the years, coffee breaks have become synonymous with the shopping experience.  Now non-coffee retailers can capitalise on this trend to provide their own in-store coffee concept – as highlighted by the Cornershop experience. Due to its unobtrusive design and integration possibilities, TopBrewer provides a memorable, human-centric experience like no other coffee concept on the market.

Simon Bracken, Co-Founder & Managing Director at Scanomat UK & Ireland comments:

“Whilst we cannot predict the long-term impact of Covid-19 on the out of home coffee market, the evident shift in consumer behaviour has accelerated the need for retailers to reimagine the shape of the physical store and to focus on creating seamless, differentiated in-store experiences that consumers value. Coffee integration – both vertical & horizontal – provides a great opportunity to level up the in-store experience in the new normal."

"It is likely consumers will prefer a fast, touchless coffee experience, rather than “traditional” coffee shops. This shift positions retail stores as the perfect place for consumers to grab a coffee on the go whilst providing a memorable and meaningful experience. We are delighted to be one of the founding brands within CornerShop which will no doubt transform the future of retail for years to come in the hybrid age.”