The rising popularity of commuting by train, along with growing appetites for ease, speed and convenience among time-pressed shoppers, are driving a flurry of retail activity at railway stations across Europe.

Convenience stores at central railway stations have been mainstays of NACS Convenience Summit Europe (CSE) store tours. Hubiz, part of the Lagardère portfolio, was featured in the CSE tour of the Polish capital of Warsaw last year. On the 2017 store tour in Switzerland, Zurich’s Main Station showcased Valora Group’s k kiosk and avec formats, Coop, and the Migrolino convenience concept from supermarket Migros.

This year’s tour of the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, took in Albert Heijn’s AH to go convenience store at Amsterdam Central Station. The store aims to meet customers’ coffee- and food-to-go needs as quickly as possible. With a focused product range and tech solutions, the store maximizes customers’ in-store time as they pass through the station.

The Right Location and Range

Mark Wohltmann, director NACS Europe, views railway stations as a stronghold for convenience and food-to-go retailing. “Railway stations might be the only ‘bastion’ of c-retail and on-the-go,” he said. “Switzerland sees heavy competition among retailers to grab available sites at railway stations. At the same time, the Royal Town Planning Institute in the U.K. discusses issues related to city planning in times of a shift of commuting as more people work from home, and those who previously drove by car now use the train.”

In the United Kingdom, leading convenience retailer Co-op is joining the likes of Marks & Spencer Simply Food and Little Waitrose with new railway sites. Co-op plans to open 100 food stores this year with a focus on transport hubs, among other locations. About one-third of the new stores will be in London and South East England and will include Co-op’s new On The Go format stores at Baker Street Station and in a railway arch at the Minories in the City of London. The first On The Go opened in Manchester’s Piccadilly railway station in October 2018.

Convenience is most definitely king, with station retail continuing to outperform the High Street.

“Shifts in consumer shopping trends have seen ease, speed and convenience continuing to rise in importance for time-pressed shoppers,” Stuart Hookins, director of portfolio and development, Co-op, said. “The right location and range tailored to fulfill the shopping needs of a community is a cornerstone of our approach, and there has been an evolution in how we choose new locations and innovate our offer.”

Figures released last year by Network Rail, which owns and manages most of Great Britain’s railway network, suggest that Co-op is on the money when it comes to railway station openings. Passenger appetites for convenience drove a 2.3% growth in station retail sales during the Yuletide period, with more than £93.8 million ($118.8 million) in sales during the six weeks leading up to Christmas. Retailers in the health and beauty; food; and news, books and confectionary sectors performed particularly well, with sales up 13%, 10% and 9%, respectively. London Bridge showed the highest total sales growth in London at 74.7%, followed by Paddington, up 10.7%, and Charing Cross, up 7.6%.

“The results show that convenience is most definitely king, with station retail continuing to outperform the High Street,” said David Biggs, managing director of Network Rail Property.

Swiss Convenience

In Switzerland, a number of factors are driving the focus on railway station convenience, as Marco Fuhrer, the NACS regional representative for Switzerland and partner at Fuhrer & Hotz Consulting, explained. “First of all, Switzerland is a country of commuters. Every day, four million Swiss commute to work or school. Of these, around 40% commute by train.

“The trend is rising, as many young Swiss people, especially urban ones, do not obtain a driver’s license for various reasons (convenience, costs, environment),” he adds. Data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office for 2018 show that 97% of 45- to 64-year-old people still hold a driver’s license, but just 58% in the 18- to 24-year-old group do.

Growing commuter numbers are enticing convenience operators to railway sites as is the trend to “little and often” shopping and a growing Swiss population—increasing at a net annual rate of about 60,000 people. “There is a trend toward planning less in advance and shopping more spontaneously and more often, especially for young people,” Fuhrer said. “Since the shops at the stations are ideally located for them, and the prices of most retailers [with the exception of k kiosk] and products are on a par with conventional retailers, it is attractive for them to shop there.”

Discount Competition

The appeal of railway station sites in the Swiss market has not gone unchecked by the discounters, which are now getting in on the act.

Aldi opened its first railway station store at Lausanne in December 2018. The 240-square-meter (787-square-feet) store offers 1,000 SKUs, comparable to a c-store assortment, and is geared toward travelers. While the store’s opening hours—5:30 am to midnight, seven days a week—also are akin to those of a c-store, the offer features many typical Aldi products.

Lidl, meanwhile, plans to launch its first branch at Bern railway station in 2022. Occupying 2,000 square meters, it will be eight times larger than Aldi’s Lausanne store and twice as large as a standard Lidl store.

Alongside Aldi, the key players at Swiss railway stations are Valora (avec, k kiosk and avec box), Coop (Coop Supermarket, Coop Pronto, Coop-to-go and Karma) and Migros (Migros Supermarket, Migrolino and Migros-Daily).

According to Fuhrer, the product offer at these chains flexes depending on the format. Coop, for example, operates Coop Pronto, a convenience store in the traditional sense, and Coop-to-go, featuring food for now, alongside its usual Coop format. The Karma concept, meanwhile, sells exclusively vegetarian and vegan products but from only two locations: one in the city of Zurich and the other at the train station in the small town of Zug, about 30 minutes from Zurich. Both locations are among the most affluent in Switzerland.

Quick Trips

Store layouts are tailored to ease the flow of shoppers and speed their shopping missions. Valora, for instance, recently launched a new concept for its avec stores with an open and inviting store design, which enables shoppers to quickly find what they are looking for. Products are clearly merchandised by product category—fruit juices, dairy-based drinks, meat, confectionery, for example—while the middle of the store features a fresh food area that includes pizza, sandwiches, sushi and prepared dishes.

According to Fuhrer, the transparent store design—and the well-situated cash registers—speeds shopper journeys. “For the customer, it must also be clear from the beginning where he can find the cash registers and where he can expect the fastest checkout time. Fast and uncomplicated payments (for example, in Switzerland you can pay contactless up to 40 Swiss francs [$40 U.S.] with your debit or credit card and without entering a PIN) are a prerequisite because commuters usually have to catch the next train,” he said.

Developments at railway locations show no sign of letting up anytime soon. In China, JD.com has recently opened a 100-square-meter unmanned convenience store at Hohhot East Railway Station in Inner Mongolia, adding travel retail to the company’s existing offline retail portfolio. The store features facial recognition capabilities and can automatically process payments once shoppers select their products. This store plans to use mini-programs in WeChat to allow shoppers to buy on the spot and take their purchases with them, or shop online and have them delivered.

Back in Switzerland, Valora opened its avec box concept at Wetzikon station in Zurich. According to Fuhrer, it will be the first supermarket in Switzerland with no cash registers but manned by employees who will take care of other tasks. To enter the shop, customers must first download the corresponding app to pay for purchases. Valora hopes to keep the shop open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but it is still unclear whether this will be allowed.

Fewer drivers, a growing number of commuters and an increased appetite for convenience suggest that travel hubs will continue to be retail hotspots for some time to come.