Which retailers are doing well or losing share; ‘requesting’ price reductions or supporting producers and suppliers; have the lowest priced basket, and are up or down? Is it the big multiples or the ‘fleet of foot’ independent groups such as SPAR? asks Scott Annan of consultants srcg
It is as difficult to pin down the definitive answer as it is to believe that the banks are now working to benefit us! Last week I had the pleasure of visiting SPAR stores in Dublin and Northern Ireland with management from a big UK food retailer. SPAR is owned by the multiple award winning retailers BWG Foods in Ireland and the Henderson Group in Northern Ireland.
We walked in to a bustling Merrion Row, Dublin at 9.00 am and were greeted with fridges, warmers and servers ‘overstuffed’ with fresh food to go, breakfast and lunch offers. The manager Thomas was out with a customer so we walked the sections, debated the learning and sampled the Insomnia coffee and Treehouse smoothies.
The store certainly appeared to be doing well and Thomas confirmed this when he kindly talked us through the last year. A new range of made in store fresh soups and salads at a lower price point was selling well and a ‘free apple or salad’ emphasised value without harming margins. Fresh produce was recently reintroduced.
Three of Thomas’s comments drove the conversation in the bus to Northern Ireland. ‘Head office provides the store sections and macro space templates’; ‘my customers determine the range and space’, and ‘any product off sale is a fireable offence’. He had greeted customers throughout the meeting and was thanked with the comment ‘we would love to sprinkle your retailing DNA across our stores’. A great compliment from a successful multiple retailer to a winning independent.
Next stop was EuroSPAR Barrow Street which was the winner of the Global Award for Convenience Retailing in 2007. Damian the manager enthusiastically walked the store with us and explained the customer and basket differences with Merrion Row. He sprinted off to the checkouts twice at the sound of ‘two buzzes’ which paralleled Thomas’s hand delivery to a regular customer. Damian’s customer mix is business and residential so value was offered in take away food, cheaper cuts in their own in house butcher Russell & Ryan, and on stock up essentials such as half price on the biggest box of Daz I have ever seen! A large South African retailer group had visited earlier in the week and had taken ‘bookfulls’ of notes. So at least two independents are doing well.
Two and half hours later we enjoyed lunch at SPAR Lough View in Lurgan. Henderson Retail won the Convenience Chain of the Year in 2008 and I recommend a day visiting their stores: I am always surprised and learn something new. Lough View is an In Transit store, versus the Urban Lifestyle and Community Supermarket formats we visited in Dublin.
Fresh food is highly visible alongside local bread, cakes and produce. Supermac’s and Subway lease space and deliver the hot and made to order offers, with customers shopping the store for their other missions. Andrew the manager shared some of his ideas for increasing customer satisfaction and sales and these were driven by listening to his customers. This was consistent across the three SPAR stores, albeit Lough View is the only company owned store.
At Belfast Airport there was unanimity that we had seen great stores, built on strong disciplines and managed by hands on managers who knew their customers. The truth is out there; at least three independent retailers are doing well.
