Following the Retail Industry Awards, director at srcg Scott Annan calls on big retailers to look at the self-select retail models adopted by discounters.
Hundreds of us enjoyed the 2008 Retail Industry Awards in London last Thursday.
My part of the srcg contingent almost missed them as we chatted away in The Forecourt Trader reception in the same hotel!
We were led through a service door into the Retail Awards in time to take our seats in the ballroom. More than slightly embarrassing.
The Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert did a relevantly funny job of hosting the awards, albeit the tradition of dismissing ‘highly commended’ retailers with a ‘win nothing, get off’ joke was both funny and out of place.
One highly commended retailer, McPolin’s Centra from Banbridge, Northern Ireland sits squarely in my personal top 25 global stores.
Another ‘top 25′ retailer, Trolan’s Supervalu in Ballymoney, was unfortunate to be judged in an excellent stable of independents above 3,000 sq ft.
Both retailers successfully compete with Tesco stores and passionately support the Musgrave brands, community initiatives, products and promotions.
It is a credit to UK food retailing that we have great retailers who do not win awards.
The outstanding Northern Ireland market leader Henderson Retail competes with Musgrave and continued a tradition of excellence by winning a clutch of awards for their Spar stores.
Spar and Musgrave are now world-class retailers retailing in one of the most competitive market in the world. They are central to a NACS International workshop on local sourcing, service and value that I am hosting in Chicago on Sunday.
It is a tribute to the perseverance of Colin Graves and his Costcutter team that they won the symbol retailer of the year in this field.
Aldi won the ‘Outstanding Achievement’ award for their contribution to value shopping in a tough market.
This got me thinking about my last article in which I asked why Manhattan shopping was so much cheaper than London.
My mother-in-law took me to Kingsbury Fruit & Vegetables on Saturday and I left with eight heavy bags for £38.
When we enjoyed the sunshine in west London on Sunday she pointed out that the same fruits and vegetables were three times as expensive.
This comparison held across a market stall, an independent and a major multiple. If anyone knows why, please leave me a comment.
One long-term impact of today’s ‘money crunch’ is that shoppers are now finding out that location, marketing and packaging have a big impact on retail price.
The Aldi model is closer to Kingsbury Fruit & Vegetables, which is 100% self-select with no packaging.
It is crammed 365 days a year: we shoppers like this model.
Where will we shop and what prices will we demand when the ‘money crunch’ eases?
Perhaps our big retailers should adopt the fresh select retailing that we enjoy in Kingsbury, Brixton or Tooting?
They can use self-selection and zero packaging as the marketing magnet, and use their non-food ranges to replace the high margins.
A controversial suggestion, perhaps, but my mother-in-law and Aldi are both winning. Highly commendable!
