Nestlé’s extends virtual shopping centre

Nestlé has officially opened a £1 million extension to its simulated shopping centre in the UK. The Insight and Learning Centre is one of a worldwide series of centres established to provide retailers with the strategic insight to optimise their sales while growing Nestlé’s range of products in stores.

Combining consumer and shopper research with digital technology, the centres are used to demonstrate how people behave when shopping and when using Nestlé products at home. The York centre, which was originally built in 2008 for confectionery products, has now trebled in size to cover Nestlé UK’s entire product range. The new extension features an Imax cinema, replica living room and working kitchen, full size convenience store, and digital media area.

Paul Bulcke, Nestlé CEO and Laurent Freixe, Nestlé executive vice president and zone director for Europe, attended the opening ceremony in York, along with Paul Grimwood, CEO of Nestlé UK.

Grimwood explains, “We are the only company in the UK to offer our retail customers strategic insight in such a state-of-the art learning environment. In the centre’s first 18 months, we hosted 355 retail customer visits and generated more than £20 million in incremental sales, which is why we have chosen to develop it further. The results from the initial visits we have hosted in the new extension have already covered its cost. For us, the return on investment is clear.”

Nestlé’s other insight and learning centres are based in a variety of countries including the US, France and Spain. More are under development in China, Italy and Mexico.