[Interview] Fay Van Weddingen (AVA): “We want every Belgian to know about AVA”

After seventy years, AVA wants to be more than just the store where Belgians buy school supplies, party decorations, or christening favors. The retailer is rethinking its marketing, refining its customer segmentation, and experimenting with new services and store formats. At Retail Marketing Day, CEO Fay Van Weddingen will explain the plans.

70-year-old with a new look

AVA is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. While they’re right at the heart of the festivities, this Belgian retail institution is primarily focused on broadening its horizons. The chain is undergoing a major marketing overhaul and has set a bold goal: every Belgian should know AVA.

“To mark our 70th anniversary, we want to further increase our visibility,” says CEO Fay Van Weddingen. And you can take that quite literally: AVA is popping up in unexpected locations, such as a summer pop-up in Knokke during the Zoute Beach Flower Festival. “At the coast, you reach people from all over the country. Pop-ups also give us the chance to test new locations and target audiences.”

From superwoman to a magical foursome

“We’re also adjusting our social media strategy and have completely re-evaluated our customer personas,” Van Weddingen continues. AVA used to work primarily with a single, centralized consumer profile. That turned out to be too limiting. “That one person was actually a ‘superwoman’ to the power of two. She had to represent everything and everyone. We realized that, as a result, we weren’t adequately addressing a large portion of the market.”

The retailer therefore divided the profile into four personas, each reflecting different life stages and needs. Van Weddingen doesn’t want to say much more about it for now: she’ll explain the process in detail during her keynote at Retail Marketing Day. “We had narrowed our target audience too much to women with young children. It’s not that static. You have to understand which need is relevant at any given moment.”

Wallonia calls for print

By testing the profiles in focus groups, AVA also learned a great deal about its Walloon customers. “Flanders and Wallonia are sometimes lumped together too easily. That’s why we conducted the same exercise there.” One of the surprises was the spontaneous brand awareness.

Walloon consumers also explicitly asked for physical communication materials during the focus groups. “Customers explicitly indicated that paper brochures, flyers, and direct mail remain relevant to them. So we now want to further refine our marketing plan and, where appropriate, make a clearer distinction between Flanders and Wallonia.”

To get to know customers even better and strengthen their loyalty, AVA will also be testing a digital loyalty program for the first time starting in the second half of the year. At the same time, the segmentation exercise is also being applied to professional customers, for whom Van Weddingen aims to develop a more distinct B2B product range with its own positioning. “For professional customers, we need to think much more consistently in terms of their needs.”

From product seller to service provider

Meanwhile, AVA is increasingly shifting toward service provision. The retailer now has its own styling team that assists customers in-store or on-site. Assignments range from First Communion celebrations and gender reveals to store windows and showrooms. “We have a very diverse clientele. Both consumers and businesses use the service.”

In addition to styling, the chain is also expanding into rentals. “We were already renting out balloon arches and display furniture for christening favors, but for the Christmas season, we’ve now also purchased larger decorative pieces.” That will be an important test, according to Van Weddingen. “Until now, the focus has mainly been on sales. With larger decorations, we’re turning rentals into a separate service. I’m curious to see what the end-of-year period will bring.”

AVA heads into the city

To truly bring AVA to every Belgian, the chain—which you traditionally find in retail parks and along main roads—is even moving into city centers. “In Leuven, we’re working on our first permanent city-center concept, covering about 250 to 300 square meters.”

A smaller store with a more limited product range: it’s truly an experiment, Van Weddingen admits: “We’ll probably have to tweak the product range a few times before everything is just right.” But once we’ve found the right formula, the plan is to open more city stores.

“After seventy years, we continue to reinvent ourselves. Our ambition is clear: we want every Belgian to know AVA. I’d be happy to explain exactly how we plan to achieve that at Retail Marketing Day.” So come find out all about it on September 24 at Trademart in Brussels. Also on stage: Planet B, Vanhalst Retail Group, Albert Heijn, and more.