Good practice:

The Extended Store

The problems addressed with this initiative are the fall of the number of stores in the Province of Zaragoza in the last years and the availability of the retail sector to attend these events and conferences .

We could say that its principal objective is to improve the adaptation of the retail sector to the new consumer habits. But, what does the Chamber of Commerce? It identifies the main strengths of the leading companies and invite them as speakers to tell their experience to other stores. In that way, the stores learn in an informal and direct way successful good practices that they can transfer and inspire their own business. Furthermore, the Chamber of Commerce of Zaragoza has also developped a website (http://tiendaextendida.camarazaragoza.com) that collects all these experiences.

The Human Resources are:
4 part-time technical advisor & management
4 freelances for graphic and audiovisual tasks
1 journalist
The Monetary Resources come from an agreement between the Government of Aragón (Spain) and the Chambers of Commerce of Aragón.

The results achieved are:
>500 stores members in Retail Club 4.0.
More than 30 stores participants each monthly ‘The Extended Store’ events(and they repeat).
25 Good practices exchanged of the top stores.
The users/ beneficiaries/ stakeholders are the local stores owners, the shop assistants, the technician of commerce, Trade Associations and the entrepreneurs.

The key success factors are:
Different and original activities for stores that share a bond.
Training and learning of retailers through benchmarking technic.
Events Timetable adapted to retail (usually at lunchtime).
The negative aspects are the limited database of shops and few members at the begining.
The main challenge is to be the point of reference for retail sector in the Province of Zaragoza as a forum where the stores can connect woth others shops from different areas and municipalities, learn and training.