X5 Perekrostok

Achieving absolute leadership

X5 Retail Group N.V., the largest retail company in Russia in terms of sales, has three trading formats: soft discount (Pyaterochka), supermarket (Perekrestok) and hypermarket (Karusel). With a total of 2,785 company managed stores and 705 franchisee operated stores, the company’s key strategic objective is to become the absolute leader of Russian retail, able to compete with leading international chains as
an equal.

Following an international consultancy pitch, SCG London was awarded the contract for developing branding and store design concepts for all store formats.

Developing a brand family

Perekrestok, founded in 1995 was one of the first nationwide chains of supermarkets in Russia. Perekrestok Green was launched in 2009 as a premium supermarket format.

The overall brief was to update the Perekrestok brand and achieve a family of brands, including a new convenience format, Perekrestok Express. Each brand needed to appeal to its own target market and, at the same time, have a clear relationship to the other Perekrestok brands.

There was also a need for a new symbol – one that had a clear relationship to the old ‘crossroads’ sign (Perekrestok means crossroads) – but was more flexible for the new strategy. The previous logo was also problematic because its depth meant that signage was costly. The new ‘three stripe’ symbol is a distinctive, identifying mark for the family of brands and can be used in different ways for varying signage and store applications. Together with the evolved typeface, the new identity has a friendly, modern look and appeal.

For the main supermarket chain, we replaced the previous blue with a warmer blue that reflected the strategic focus on customer service. We also introduced green as a secondary colour to bring more fresh food values to the brand. For Perekrestok Express, we chose a lively contrasting orange as the main colour, with blue the as the secondary colour to create continuity within the family of brands. Perekrestok Green, being a relatively new contemporary format required only evolutionary updating to bring the brand in line with the new strategy.

For all three formats, we developed a complete communications package involving all aspects of each brand across all key channels. For each brand, this included a complete graphics concept and hierarchy covering all aspects of exterior and interior signage, point of sale, photographic style, pricing and promotions, loyalty cards, carrier bags and uniforms, together with the brand framework for marketing and corporate communications.

In addition we developed exterior and interior store formats for each brand, including: modular façade treatments; planning and zoning; furniture, fixture, counters and merchandising specifications for all departments; lighting specifications; flooring and wall finishes.

All of this work was detailed in guideline specification documents for each brand. We then audited the test pilot sites and made recommendations to assist the overall roll out implementation programme for the Perekrestok brands.

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