Innovating for People

Innovation is a channel for developing new products and services that make people's lives easier. This concept is closely linked to Consum's values. We strive to improve year after year to meet the needs of all stakeholders, working with them to build together an added value that helps them move forward in a sustainable way. Accordingly, in 2021 the Cooperative invested 20.8 million euros in innovation. Some of the most notable projects started last year include:

Innovation in customer experience:

• Innovative treatment in oven trays

• Mangoes treated against Covid-19

• Integration of the Online Store in the Mundo Consum APP

• Expansion of self-service tills

Innovation for the worker:

•  

• Virtual reality for the training of cashier staff

• Digitisation of employee administration

• Optimisation of training resources

• Adoption of RPA (robotic process automation)

ICT Observatory

With the aim of experimenting and applying new applications in real environments that can then be implemented in supermarkets and platforms with a greater guarantee of success, Consum relies on the ICT Observatory. It is a technological space divided into three zones. A reception area for visits and work on new developments together with suppliers. A second area that has the same equipment, services and conditions as a pilot store to be able to test new technology prior to its introduction in a real store. And a third zone, where ICT staff internally test computer applications and services such as store IP telephony before they are trialled.

Customer relations

To become familiar with customer purchasing and consumption habits, it is necessary to identify their needs and expectations in relation to the various different products in order to be able to improve them. In 2021, 28 group and co-creation meetings, 38 accompanied shops and 52 interviews and ethnographic studies took place, along with 70 conceptual and image-based product tests. In total, more than 146,800 customer surveys were conducted.

Thanks to the involvement and collaboration of partner-customers in the launch and reformulation of products, and the constant prioritising of health, sustainability and quality, in 2021 the following innovative own-brand products were put on sale:

• Latest technology nappies

• New range of proteins

• Reformulation of Vitality products range

• New format for dried fruits

• New Line Kyrey Hyaluronic Acid

Continuous improvement

Consum has a Continuous Improvement Program that aims to enable supermarket and platform workers to make proposals for improvement, actively participating in internal innovation processes.

In addition, the logistics platforms have consolidated the implementation of the Lea Management System that eliminates processes that do not add value to the final customer experience, such as ineffective movements, overproduction or wait times.