A truly different store!!

Have always advocated the concept of a truly different store and during a recent trip of mine I came across this interestingly different store. Please note the name of the outlet “Coconut World”. As customers we were driving past this place and after noticing this unique name, we made an U Turn and came back to visit this store.

Of course the expectations that this name evoked were very different from what we actually experienced. The name created an imagery of a store with a whole range of products made from coconut and related materials. We expected to see handicrafts, curios, food stuff, etc. (Hint, Hint – Maybe they should realign the assortment in line with the branding!!)

What we discovered was a small cafe kind of place (Note the rack of tender coconut on a rack outside) which served a lot of coconut related food items. To be fair to the store, they also had several coconut related products including a very innovative one; coconut pickle.

Now, that was one thing I never expected to find anywhere in the world; Coconut pickle. I don’t particularly fancy the stuff but my son says that it is the best thing he has tasted ever!

Which brings me to another point of my basic retail model; differentiated assortment. There is a huge potential to this interesting format. How it pans out is dependent on so many factors.

But, they have managed to attract attention and a share of my mind space by ensuring two elements of my basic retail model;

• A truly different store
• Differentiated and relevant assortment

Hope to see and share many more such stories with all of you, which illustrate how well the basic retail model works in real life!