All The Coffee in Brazil

While on a recent visit to the Integer Group office in Sao Paulo, I took some time out to visit a bit of Brazilian retail.

Brazil has some interesting things going on, and the retail landscape is far less concentrated than it is in more developed markets. Having said that though, it felt very familiar.

In a high-end mall, I stumbled across this McCafe format.

Somewhat incongruent to my western eyes, there were a couple of interesting observations. First,this is a stand-alone, coffee only McDonald’s format. Second, the context in which it sat surrounded, by high-end fashion stores. I found it interesting that the brand is in a position to be accepted in that context and in a high-end location.

Continuing on the coffee theme, Nespresso has some very cool outlets for their coffee machines and for the cartridges that go within them.

I have to confess, this is not a retailer I have noticed in the U.S. (are they sold through branded stores?), but the environment they created is very cool, selling only their range of machines and the coffee cartridges they take. I particularly love the colour coding of these and how they create a huge wall of colour that you cannot help find appealing, making selecting your favourite coffee style really simple. This is terrific merchandising.

So what to conclude? Apart from the obvious fact that coffee is an important part of Brazilian culture, I think it shows how global brands are tailoring their offerings to the context of the local market and how they are using global strategy implemented with cultural nuance in local markets. Something for every brand to consider is how to use the local retail environment and culture in different ways, in different markets, to achieve overall global brand objectives.