“Taking learnings from the mature US discount market, our suppliers are increasingly engineering special pack sizes to offer customers branded product that they would not normally be able to buy through the value retail channel,” she added.
The group plans to open a further 75 stores over the next three years, including 15 by Christmas 2007.
Poundland is investing heavily in a major refurbishment programme, improving the in-store environment and training its employees in visual merchandising.
Earlier this year trading director David Coxon said the refurbishment programme was behind the group’s 12% year-on-year increase in customer numbers.
In non-food, it is adding camping & travel and sports & fitness goods, claiming to be first to market for this type of product in the value sector.
Poundland is Europe’s largest single-price retailer and stocks a range of more than 3,000 products, retailing at £1 each.
It recently appointed its first retained PR agency, Bottle PR, to support its marketing strategy and growth plans.
