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Bringing traditional values to the big city: Kukkonia’s expansion in Bratislava
Originating from Rye Island, nestled in the Slovakian countryside, Kukkonia is a brand deeply rooted in a rich tradition of gastronomy, gardening, and food production – essential elements of the local culture.
Eager to expand their market presence and introduce their products to urban consumers, Kukkonia invested in a chain of convenience retail stores across Bratislava. With a vision to establish authentic specialist retail outlets, Kukkonia Shop was created to celebrate Slovak heritage through a distinctive farm-to-store concept, bringing local produce and products directly to consumer with guaranteed content.
Shopworks conducted market research to assess the competitive landscape and identify current local market trends. We applied global best-in-class standards as benchmarks, guiding the strategic design and operational plans for the new store format. This approach enabled us to develop a unique value proposition specifically tailored for Slovakian consumers.
The resulting Kukkonia Shop features a selection of fresh, delicious locally-sourced meats, dairy and produce, complemented by bakery items and a new food-to-go counter. The store design was meticulously planned to optimise layout, zoning, and category allocations, enhancing the shopping experience by focusing on key shopper missions. Launched in December 2024, the inaugural store achieved a remarkable 69% increase in retail sales and 91% increase in number of transactions demonstrating that the Kukkonia shopping concept not only resonates with local preferences but also meets international standards.
This successful launch marks a significant milestone in Kukkonia’s expansion, underscoring their commitment to quality and heritage. Kukkonia Shop is currently expanding to new locations in Bratislava.
The first pilot store achieved 69% increase in retail sales and 91% increase in number of transactions
“Working with Shopworks has been a great asset in the development of our new concept. For me personally, one of the most valuable aspects of the collaboration was their assortment analysis, where they demonstrated that we could achieve impressive turnover with a smaller number of SKUs. Following the store redesign, and based on their recommendations, we introduced several new product categories while we decrease number of SKUs. As a result, we reduced the total number of SKUs to just 60% of the previous assortment and still saw our turnover increase by 69%, while the number of transactions rose by 91%.”