As of Monday 10 January 2022, a new retail formula entered the Netherlands retail market. Ochama, the new omni-channel retail concept for the European market by Chinese retail giant JD.com.

Claessens Erdmann worked together with Storeage group for the introduction of the Ochama pick-up shops in Europe. After a year of research, design and build, the first Ochama shops officially opened their doors in Leiden and Rotterdam, with more locations to follow soon. The design looks simple at first glance, but these shops are state of the art, with robots, a fully automated warehouse and self-service pick-up machines handling the orders.

Ochama, a new brand under JD.com, prides itself to apply industrial automation to the retail market, resulting in greater efficiency and thus a price benefit to the customer. By opening physical pick-up shops, Ochama aims to make the purchase of everyday quality products as easy as possible. The retail model is designed to meet all needs, ranging from small shops in city centres to peripheral distribution centres with fully equipped showrooms/pick-up centres.

Ochama commissioned us to create an integral formula ranging from small to large format. A concept that, according to good Dutch custom, celebrates the simplicity of everyday products. Ochama embraced the Dutch saying "doe maar gewoon, dan doe je gek genoeg” (just act normal, which is quite crazy already). Based on this, we created a "no nonsense, customer first" formula with high quality for a competitive price.

To illustrate this principle, we designed a simple red three-dimensional plus-element as a connector, which offers a recognisable and ever-changing structure of bamboo furniture in the showroom. A recognisable and friendly element amidst all technology. To emphasize Ochama's distinctive strength of logistic excellence, the technology is visibly integrated. Showing the robots that make this possible just seemed to make sense to us. The core of the concept was therefore that we didn't want to hide technology, but rather make it an entertaining strength of the shopping experience."

We worked with Vanderlande, world leader in automating logistics processes, to create the fully automated warehouse, including the introduction of real robots for order picking. The visible robot arms and the entire logistics process are an attraction. Ordered articles can be picked up in the shop via the red self-service 'pick-up kiosks'. Large items are delivered directly to the home.

A clever application of the 'infinity swirl' from Ochama’s brand identity gives a recognisable identity to the shops, which is also used to navigate the visitor through the various parts of the shop.