Saturn Connect Cologne chosen “Store of the Year 2016”
Ingolstadt/Berlin, 27.01.2016: Only three months after it opened, the Saturn Connect store in Cologne, Germany, was voted “Store of the Year 2016” by the German retail association Handelsverband Deutschland (HDE) in the category “Out of Line.” The association has thus recognized the electronics dealer’s innovative concept. Saturn Connect presents digital products and services for smartphones and tablets in a unique exciting setting and offers its customers comprehensive advice and service right in the heart of the inner city of Cologne. As “Store of the Year,” Saturn Connect Cologne is one of four winners that were honored by HDE on January 26, 2016, for their outstanding retail concepts in the categories “Food,” “Fashion,” “Living” and “Out of Line” as part of the 12th German Retail Property Congress in Berlin.
“We are delighted to receive this award,” explained Klaus-Guido Jungwirth, COO of Media-Saturn Germany. “As digitalization and the complexity of technical products increase, a new generation of consumers has emerged. We were inspired by their needs and ideas in developing our digital lifestyle stores. Now, we are presenting our customers with everything that has to do with a connected world concentrated in a small area for the first time ever.”
“Saturn breaks new ground on presenting technological innovations with its novel store approach and is thus in a position to be able to attract the customers of the digital age to the pedestrian zones,” said Stefan Genth, the Managing Director of HDE, in reference to the jury’s decision. “The design, products and services are consistently aligned with the main idea of a connected world and form a very coherent presentation.”
Four theme worlds and comprehensive advice
Saturn Connect stores present digital lifestyle products and solutions in four theme worlds in heavily frequented downtown locations and provide comprehensive advice and services – from immediate smartphone repairs to assistance with computer problems and transferring data. With its multi-vendor product range and services in an exciting setting, Saturn Connect wants to become “the” place to go to in the inner city for tech-savvy customers. The salespeople are always close to the customer and can concentrate solely on giving good advice because all organizational and logistical processes are covered by the nearby main store that Saturn Connect stores are affiliated with. The first two Saturn Connect stores opened in Trier and Cologne in October of last year.
The Award
HDE recognizes the best and most interesting stores, whose reopening or complete redesign was completed no longer than a year ago with its “Stores of the Year” awards. The winners are selected by a panel of retail trade experts who assess the store concepts based on their degree of innovation, their benefits to customers, their potential to create value, their experience value, their role model function and their unique selling points.
