Renault opens 100% electric vehicles store in Berlin

Car manufacturers are betting on alternative energies to sustain their growth. As on our market research revealed, the market for electrical cars is growing at different paces in Europe with Germany being one of the top markets in 2016.
Logically manufacturers are trying to communicate more on the advantages of these vehicles and Renault, as market leader for electrical vehicles with a market share of 23.7% in Europe in 2017, opened a dedicated sales point in Berlin: the Renault Electric Vehicle Experience Center.
Located at Markgrafenstraße 32 the store measures 145-sqm and is located next to the very touristic Gendamenmarkt. It has 3 electrical vehicles on display (Twizy, Zoe and Kangoo), a range that is expected to grow to 8 vehicles as of 2022.

In-store customer experience analysis : the counter

The most noticeable element of the in-store customer experience is the long counter. It resembles a bar and gives an interesting touch to the store but has the disadvantage to separate the sales representative from the client (when I visited the store a client was standing in front of the counter and was discussing with the employee who was sitting on the other side of the counter which is not the best way to establish contact with a potential customer)

Digital customer experience

The store is also equipped with tablets (placed on one side of the counter at the opposite of the sales representative) which make it possible to configure the different cars. Nothing very fancy here except that the result of the configuration is not a price but the driving range of the car. Renault has probably found out that the potential customers were most worried about the driving range factor and therefore designed the interface of the application on the tablet to allow users to see how the driving range is influenced by the wheel diameter, the external temperature, the average speed and how charging time changes depending on the type of charging station used.

Conclusion

All-in-all the experience is quite compelling, yet it lacks a little bit of fanciness. I was expecting something more in line with the innovativeness of the e-car segment.