Not every dessert belongs in a café. Some live in bookshops.
A new way of working together through pick-up, delivery, and physical presence in one flexible format.
Most purchases today don’t start with a clear intention. They happen in between: on the way somewhere, during a short break, or while meeting friends.
That’s the idea behind our London Dessert Map Campaign and the Shoreditch launch: a dessert pick-up point inside The Common Press Bookshop, combined with delivery from the same location. We’re not changing the product, we’re making it easier to access, in a way that fits naturally into people’s day.
A new format for how people actually buy
Instead of building around a single format, we’re layering a few together. From one location, you can discover desserts while browsing, pick them up on the go, or order them for delivery.
This gives us flexibility: faster launches, a smaller footprint, and the ability to adapt to different locations without the complexity of a full coffee shop, while also testing how products perform in a real, everyday environment.
Retail is no longer about choosing between physical or digital, but combining both to create multiple ways to access the same product, depending on the moment.
Behaviour is driven by convenience and context
This approach reflects a broader shift in customer behaviour. The UK food delivery market has almost doubled in recent years, growing from £7.6 bn in 2019 to a projected £14.3 bn in 2025, driven by demand for convenience and digital ordering. At the same time, click & collect and hybrid models continue to grow, offering speed and flexibility, key factors for urban consumers.
People don’t stick to one way of buying, they choose what’s easiest in the moment. Dessert fits naturally into this behaviour: it’s rarely planned, but easily becomes part of the routine when it’s convenient.
Location as strategy: why a bookshop?
If behaviour is context-driven, location becomes a strategic choice. Instead of asking how to bring people to us, we focus on where they already are.
We are happy to collaborate with The Common Press that offers a specific environment: a creative audience, a slower pace, and a mindset open to discovery. People browse, pause, and spend time, making them more receptive to small, unplanned additions like dessert.
There’s also a natural alignment. Books, long conversations, and something sweet belong to the same kind of moment. By placing our desserts there, we’re not changing behaviour, we’re becoming part of it.
Building a more flexible way to access dessert
The future of retail isn’t about replacing formats, but combining them around how people move through the city. For X° Robusta, that means connecting coffeeshops, pick-up, and delivery into one system.
The Shoreditch bookshop is one example of this approach: building a dessert presence that fits naturally into real routines. And it’s only the beginning. We see this format as scalable, with the potential to expand into other locations where the context, audience, and behaviour align just as naturally.
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