Knowledge voucher: what would the ideal shop for Centrum Stadslandbouw Oosterwold look like?
Fresh vegetables from the fields, mushrooms, flour, dairy products and products made from local food surpluses. A great deal of food is produced in and around Oosterwold. Coöperatie Stadslandbouw Oosterwold wants to further develop its small sales point at the Urban Agriculture Centre on Prieelvogelweg into an attractive, fully fledged shop for local and regional products.
The ambition is to create a place where products from the cooperative's seventy members come together, supplemented by other products needed to offer a complete range. A shop where local residents can find not just a single head of lettuce or bag of flour, but all the ingredients for a complete breakfast, lunch or dinner.
With support from a knowledge voucher, Coöperatie Stadslandbouw Oosterwold worked with Wageningen University & Research to investigate which retail concept best matches this ambition.
"A lot of great things are produced in Oosterwold. We want to bring that offering together in one recognisable place. Thanks to this research, we now have a clearer idea of which retail concept suits us, what is needed to make it work and which steps we can take as a cooperative." - Jan-Albert Blaauw
Two examples of shops that make local food accessible, each in a different way. Pantry is compact, flexible and largely unmanned. Oogst offers the feel and range of a fully fledged neighbourhood shop.
What requirements should the shop in Oosterwold meet?
Researcher Arjan Dekking of Wageningen University & Research first worked with those involved to identify the shop's requirements. The cooperative is looking for a hybrid shop. At certain times, it can be staffed by volunteers or students. Outside those hours, customers should be able to enter independently, scan products and pay straight away.
At the same time, the shop must remain accessible to people who do not want to or cannot use an app. During staffed hours, anyone should simply be able to walk in. It should also feel like a real shop, not a room with a few vending machines. The current product range should be visible online, and the shop should offer enough variety for customers to do more of their shopping in one place.
Two retail concepts as inspiration
As part of the research, Pantry and Oogst were visited. Both shops combine local products with self-service shopping, but their emphasis differs.
Pantry: flexible and strongly local
At Pantry, local producers offer their own products and stock the shelves themselves. Customers gain access via an app and pay independently. The flexibility of the system in particular makes this model interesting for a cooperative with different members and suppliers.
From app-based access to self-checkout: Pantry provides a compact technical foundation for selling local products.
Oogst: local products for everyday shopping
Oogst combines contactless access with staffed opening hours and a broader range. Regional products are supplemented where necessary, while the farmers and makers behind the products remain visible.
Oogst shows how local products can become part of an attractive shop for everyday groceries.
The strength lies in the combination
Neither concept fully meets the cooperative's needs. The best fit is therefore a combination: Pantry's flexible technical foundation, supplemented by Oogst's accessibility and broader retail model.
The recommendation is to work towards a Pantry-style system in which products from cooperative members are sold on consignment. To give customers sufficient choice, the range can be supplemented with products from other suppliers.
How do you run a shop like this?
A good technical system and an attractive product range are not enough. A shop also requires stock management, purchasing, communication and contact with producers.
An important next step is therefore to work out the operation and financial model. The initial financial assessment shows that the concept has potential. Thanks to the knowledge voucher, Coöperatie Stadslandbouw Oosterwold now has a clearer idea of which model suits it and what is needed to turn the current sales point into a fully fledged shop.
Local products in a shop that is accessible for much of the time: the research has brought the various elements of the future concept closer together.
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With a knowledge voucher, entrepreneurs and organisations in Flevoland can have a specific question investigated by a knowledge institution.
