With a claim to fame as being the first 7-Eleven store in North Queensland, 7-Eleven Burdell is an incredibly innovative store for the market, offering the community access to fresh foods, 7-Eleven’s extended range and iconic products such as Slurpee, Smoothies, and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in a unique concept store.
In the suburbs of Townsville, over 1,356km from Brisbane, it has several schools in close proximity and provides access to over 4000 weekly customers to fresh food delivered daily, a rarity in North Queensland, which Laurel-lea Tonion, Field Manager for the Townsville area, identified as one of the points that makes it stand apart from local competitors.
“It is not easy to ensure that Townsville receives fresh food every day, including the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts locals love. It takes extensive work and investment from not only the team in-store but also the entire support office team to make this possible. But by making this happen, customers know they can get fresh food and a treat which has been delivered that day, with an extensive range of products to choose from.”
Tonion explained that the range has not been reduced to the bare basics to simplify the supply chain challenges the location presents. The range has been carefully curated and developed based on customer research, insights, and direct feedback from the local community.
Engagement with the community was important to 7-Eleven. Prior to entering the market in June 2022, 7-Eleven conducted a bespoke local area marketing campaign and extensive community engagement run for over a year.
“The team engaged with community leaders, including political leaders, First Nations Elders, and community groups to demonstrate the investment that was being made in Townsville, the jobs and career development we intended to provide, the local suppliers we were supporting, and the iconic products we were bringing to Townsville for the first time.
“These elements combined with our store fit out and design, range, digital transaction solutions, store standard implementation and great service have set up this store to lead from day one in the Townsville community and set a new standard for convenience in the area,” said Tonion.
Community impact
Value and convenience are key for 7-Eleven Burdell with an array of unique offers and services at value price points as customers increasingly look for ways to save money, with Tonion explaining that their $2 coffee offer, meal deals, and the My 7-Eleven App Fuel Price Lock have been critical over the past 12 months.
“The value comes from the product range and everyday pricing we offer, as well as our range of promotions and offers through the My 7-Eleven App. The team make sure they are having conversations with customers about offers or deals that can save them money, such as the My 7-Eleven App rewards and fuel price lock.
“What we are looking to provide to local customers is convenience and value, with friendly efficient service. We’ve built a local team and trained them to provide just this, which complements their friendly, people focused service skills.”
It’s emphasis on supporting the community is evident through 7-Eleven Burdell’s local initiatives, primarily focused on food insecurity, cup recycling, and minimising food waste.
“7-Eleven Burdell has a direct partnership with The Salvation Army Australia’s local corps. Together, they ensure perfectly good food that would otherwise have gone to waste is redirected to those in need. This program also allows the store to seek advice and support from the Salvos in areas of social need.”
In-store experience
Designed to bring its food and drink offer to life, 7-Eleven Burdell is one of 7-Eleven’s test concept stores and has been designed based on customer feedback. It will provide insights that will help transform the future state of design for 7-Eleven store formats.
“The key principles of the design were that food needed to be first. As customers increasingly look to convenience to provide quality food on the go, food location and quality cues needed to heavily influence the design.
“In this store food is the focus of key traffic areas of the store. It is modern, fresh and contemporary to create a café feel. The range is customer mission and occasion based, as well as being flexible and modular to enable the store to adapt and evolve to customer needs and new innovations in an agile and sustainable way,” explained Tonion.
The store layout caters to customer needs and occasions with a consistent look. The coffee zone, near the bakery and Krispy Kreme cabinet, includes co-buy displays of sweet treats to encourage breakfast purchases. The food-to-go section at the back offers lunch and dinner options like sushi, sandwiches, hot pastries, ready meals, and healthy choices, with a nearby microwave for convenience. These zones make it easy for customers to add drinks or snacks to their meals on their way to the counter.
“The 7-Eleven branding is still prominent, but the white background and polished concrete floors make the store light and bright. The labelling, blocked range displays, and shelf heights have been chosen to ensure the customer can easily navigate to the area of the store they need, that is clearly labelled, and then to the counter.”
It includes innovative new offers such as a self-serve Smoothie and Frappe machine and bake-in-store bakery lines. The point-of-sale counter is designed for efficient maintenance of the coffee and bakery displays while providing customer service. The food preparation area is nearby for efficient operations.
“The door placement has been moved away from the counter to improve the customer shopping experience and avoid congestion at the counter. Digital signage is prominent in this store, enabling customer messaging to change quickly as needed, but also adapt to time of day or focus messaging.”
Looking at 7-Eleven Burdell, Tonion says that running a successful store all comes down to the foundation of having a well-presented store that is well-stocked throughout the day.
“Whether it is the tradies coming in at 5am before work wanting a coffee and maybe a hot pastry or sandwich, the parents and kids coming after school for a treat and fuel up, or someone coming home after a long day at work to grab something quick and tasty for dinner, everyone wants to walk into a clean store, with the right products ready for them to choose from.”
This article was originally published in the August/September issue of Convenience and Impulse Retailing magazine.
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