Big Retailers Go Small

  Manufacturing   PM Network  

Big-name retailers are trying small-store formats on for size. Launching these microstore projects in urban areas allows large companies to find growth opportunities outside their traditional markets. But it also requires project managers to rethink space planning, the customer experience, logistics and IT requirements.

Retailer Wal-Mart may have started the trend in the U.S., and it planned to add up to 170 additional small-format Neighborhood Markets during 2015 alone. Target was quick to follow with CityTarget and Target-Express stores. Meanwhile, high-end grocery chain Whole Foods Market plans to open five “365 by Whole Foods Market” small grocery stores in urban locales during 2016. And after completing successful smallstore projects in Spain, Norway and Finland, Swedish furniture company Ikea plans to open microstores with a footprint less than one-third the size of its typical locations over the next six years in Australia, the U.K. and Canada.

“This concept is doing very well in Europe and many other countries,” says Hervé Laumonier, CEO of One-2Team, San Francisco, California, USA. The organization provides software-as-a-service project management services to retailers. Mr. Laumonier sees the microstore strategy as a smart way to increase market share. But it's not simple, he cautions. “Those companies have to change the …

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