Habitat by Honestbee has been voted one of the must-see retail innovations in the world this year.

The concept was listed among the top 16 stores to visit in the world by IGD, and Google reports it among the top 10 trending searches in Singapore last year.

The 60,000sqft flagship store opened last October, offering more than 20,000 essential and unique food and grocery products.

The store is billed as the world’s first tech-enabled food-and-grocery concept which uses technology to provide a seamless shopping experience with human interaction.

According to Honestbee, customers are spending an average of two hours at the store – considerably more time than people spend in a single visit to any other supermarket in Singapore.

Close to 500,000 people spanning all age groups have visited the store, despite its remote location. The two largest demographic groups of customers fall between the ages of 26 – 35 years old (41 per cent) and 36 – 45 (28 per cent). Two in three customers are family groups who visit the store, attracted by the mix of grocery and dining and its friendly neighbourhood feel.

“We are pleased to have had such a resounding success since the launch, not just with customers, but also with the business community in retail, property, grocery and F&B,” said Pauline Png, Habitat by Honestbee MD.

“Strong sales growth pushes us to continue delivering a memorable experience for customers to visit, try new products and return. This tactility that Habitat by Honestbee provides ignites a curiosity for our products, which are also available online.”

Future growth plans

Png says Honestbee will soon be providing an option to combine food carts on the app, enabling orders from multiple F&B concepts at the store on one receipt.

More engaging product information and content will be added in time, along with personalised recommendations.

“The launch of Habitat by Honestbee has allowed us to elevate our business into an omnichannel platform and work with partners like no other online player can,” said Joel Sng, CEO and founder of Honestbee.

“Habitat by Honestbee has built on our brand’s promise and expertise in using data to optimise the customer experience.”

Sng says the company is confident it can expand the concept into other markets.

“In the second quarter of the year, we will be extending our food-retail leadership in Asia by launching a scalable, multi-concept kitchen and convenience store powered by data.”

Honestbee started in early 2015 as an online concierge and food-delivery service.