ABOUT COFFEE ISLAND

Coffee Island is a Greek coffee company was established in 1999 in Patras, Greece. With distribution of over 430 stores in Greece, Cyprus, UK and Canada it is one of the largest coffee chains in Europe. The truly excellent coffee experience provided in Coffee Island stores is based on the freshly made quality coffee sourced directly from the coffee growers, promoting ecological, sustainable and socially responsible coffee production.

OUR TASK

With growing competition in the coffee market, Coffee Island required a new retail concept to enhance their customer experience and promote their unique selling points: a wide range of fresh coffee drinks and sales of loose coffee beans.

The key targets for the new concept were modularity, adaptability to various sizes of retail footprints and enhancing customer experience. Coffee Island’s yellow flower logo, which signifies 5 key elements of creating perfect coffee, remained in the heart of the new concept. 

.OUR APPROACH

We created the concept to divide the store in to three distinctive areas so that every zone worked to its best advantage. The new branding and colour concept was created to be different but still providing continuity from the previous brand direction.

The new Coffee Grindery retail area is positioned at the beginning of customer journey before arriving at the Espresso Bar. The customer journey finishes in the Collection Point and Seating Area.

The Coffee Grindery is designed to be distinctively different from the rest of the store. Dark brown colour tones are used as a background to the coffee silos and the buying process is communicated in easy to follow steps. Bright coloured pre-packaged coffee products clearly stand out.

In the Espresso Bar area the focus is given to the customer purchase order and the menus, which were simplified, given customers easy understanding of the ranges and sizes of drinks and the available extras. The Espresso Bar area is bright and light with polished plaster finish, offering a feel of a ‘laboratory’ where experts are creating the ‘drinks of perfection’ and to create a sense of calm where the customer must make decisions.

In the seating areas there are large feature walls in each store with distinctive contrasting graphics and visual images in bright colour tones, connecting with the omnichannel brand presence. The Coffee Island yellow accent colour is used sparingly around the store without compromising the rest of the colour palette.

The new store Facade Concept follows similar principles with a combination of dark natural tones and shapes, creating a strong backdrop to the new bold signage and Coffee Island flower motive.

The shop fixture concept took inspiration from the coffee plantations of South America and Africa. Display fixtures in light colored timber resemble ‘drying tables’ in the coffee growing countries and provide the perfect home for extensive range of pre-packaged products as well as coffee grinders, scales, bags and labels.

Lighting lux levels and colour temperatures are carefully considered in all areas of the store – directional spotlights in areas of product displays, brighter environment in the Espresso Bar area,  feature lighting in the product counters, hanging lamps over larger tables, all offering drama and comfort to the customers.

THE RESULT

The pilot store was opened in Drama, Greece in June 2019 and by November there were around 40 new rebranded stores being opened across Greece. We continue working with Coffee Island to design their most challenging retail locations and new markets. The impact of the new concept has already offered a revenue growth in new stores around 17-20%.

QUOTE

“KVB Design is a group of experienced, retailed and customer experience oriented professionals, all knowledgeable and high skilled in different Retail & Commercial design areas throughout the whole process; branding & communication, merchandising and sales, interior design & construction. All these attributes are balanced and well served achieving being always on time, on budget and on scope.”

Alexandros Zapaniotis, General Manager,

Coffee Island