Frozen foods retailer Iceland launched a new store format called ‘Swift’ in the UK. The first store was opened last month in the city of Newcastle and it is an entirely new concept, designed to provide a simple, easy-to-shop food store with the buzzwords “Fast. Fresh. Local.”
The convenience store is located in a former Iceland store in a high-footfall area. The new layout provided for three aisles, where there were two, allowing to double the number of SKUs to 3000. Where in the traditional Iceland stores the focus is on frozen, the new format emphasises fresh. Iceland says the novel layout breaks down the traditional barriers between frozen and chilled food to provide a complete range of meal solutions, with great breakfast, lunch and dinner meal deals.
Iceland’s new convenience format Swift could eventually become a competitor alongside the likes of Tesco Express, Sainsbury’s Local and Aldi Local.