Spar retailers across England could soon see a major change in the way promotions are organised in-store, according to today’s Independent Retail News.
North of England distributor James Hall & Co has been trialling phased promotions in 500 stores for the past 18 months with encouraging results and other Spar distributors are now looking to follow suit.
Phasing involves changing a single category of promotions every week, rather than changing all the promotions simultaneously every third week.
James Hall & Co broke its promotions down into three categories – off-licence, fresh and frozen, and grocery – and has been changing one of these every week on a rolling cycle.
Rob Davis, sales director for the north at Blakemore Trade Partners, which serves some 1,000 Spar retailers across Wales, the Midlands and south-east England, said his company was also looking to move towards rolling weekly promotional changes.
He said the results from the trial at James Hall & Co suggested phased promotions “have had a significant impact on their stores’ performance”.
A survey of retailers found 55% felt their stores looked better on promotion change-over day, while 47% said phased promotions created more interest for customers and 38% thought they helped lift overall sales.
More than six out of 10 retailers questioned said they preferred phased promotions to the old way of promoting, and in sales terms stores trialling the phased promotions performed better than those sticking to the old system.
Retailers were able to implement the promotions more effectively and overall compliance increased. James Hall & Co also produced a leaflet every week relating to the product group that had changed.
POS packs relevant to each week are colour-coded, with colours matching the ordering paperwork. “Everything has been done to make it as self-explanatory and easy to follow for retailers and staff,” said Spar. “Phased promotions are being discussed on a national basis.”
