Swiss Farms, "America’s Drive Thru Grocer," to open 13th location
When Swiss Farms sought to transform its brand from a drive-through dairy to America’s Fresh Express Lane, the Lebanon, PA-based retailer turned to Chute Gerdeman Retail.
Chute Gerdeman worked with Swiss Farms to develop everything from a new store design to new brand identity. The resulting new prototype, Swiss Farms’ 13th location, will open in Ridley Township, PA, in November.
Swiss Farms wanted to reposition its stores as the customer’s in-between shopping trip, broadening the focus from dairy to a wider food offering, including produce and hot dinners such as rotisserie chicken. “We’re a fill-in provisional store,” said Paul Friel, CEO of Swiss Farms, comparing his store to the express lane of a supermarket with a drive-through option.
Regarding one of Swiss Farms’ biggest challenges, Friel posed the question, “How do you tell people what’s inside the store when it’s all drive-through?” Chute Gerdeman designers literally sat in the driver’s seat to answer that question, finding new ways to reach Swiss Farms’ on-the-go customer, while pulling in new customers as well.
Technology provided one answer, as several 42-inch screen displays and an LED sign increased visibility from the street. Color also was put to work, as the brand’s customary colors were reversed, with red walls topped by a white roof. The barn motif has been ramped up a few notches, creating an eye-catching, all-American appeal.
As customers approach the drive-through area, they now can take a peek inside, thanks to more windows and the use of visual merchandising, with strategically placed product displays. And customers will find the display screens suggesting products appropriate for the time of day as well as the weather conditions, thanks to advanced technology that links the stores to a meteorological website and correlates the items featured on screen with up-to-the-minute weather conditions.
Additional service doors are included in the new design, allowing several customers to be assisted simultaneously, and adding to the quick and easy experience Swiss Farms promises its customers.
Chute Gerdeman also worked with Swiss Farms to update its brand identity, creating a “fresh from the farm” feel with an iconic rooster, sunrise imagery, and new color palette, communicating the freshness of the product offering. The curved horizon line gives the feeling of a landscape and speaks to the speed of the shopping process.
“We wanted a design that really told customers what we are and that created a competitive position against grocery stores,” Friel said. “Chute Gerdeman did an excellent job at both.”
Swiss Farms has plans to retrofit all of the 12 Delaware County locations over the next three years.
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