nickshanagher

There are two things to learn from this fruit and vegetable display at Paul Cheema's Coventry, UK, local shop. The first is about benchmarking how shoppers use your store. The fruit and vegetable display is at the back of the shop. It looks fantastic. Every time I have visited it has looked fantastic. Paul says this is because fruit and vegetables were at the core of what his father sold when he originally opened the shop, that his father is good at displaying fresh produce and that he is proud of how good it looks. So what happens to the shopper who has strolled past the long aisle of fresh meat and dairy and then they come across the fruit and vegetable display and decide to buy? They can because the Cheemas have left them some baskets to use. They happily shop and go to the tillpoints to pay. However, the trick is that the baskets are unique to this point in the store. They are the only ones of this size. So every week the Cheemas get to work out how many shoppers were tem...

On 20 June Paul Cheema told me how sales were: two good weeks, one OK week and one bad week. On Monday this week, Dalton Philips, chief executive of Morrisons, briefed journalists that this was a national trend, with grocery shopping being pushed towards the beginning of the month. What is Morrisions doing? It is concentrating its marketing on the period between the 27th of the month and the end of the month. What is Morrisons seeing? Big sales in week one and lower sales in weeks two, three and four. Shoppers are fillng their pantries and then trying to last the month. Mr Philips said the trend was evident everywhere outside London. The average household budget is £100 lighter each month due to higher VAT, fuel and other utility costs. Shoppers are looking for value Local shops need to watch for two things. One, the timing of supplier promotions. Two, if shoppers are going once a month to the superstore, can they win them for more top up purchases. Think about your buying patt...

The backdrop to my visit to Paul Cheema and his family at their Costcutter in Coventry last week was a deathly drumbeat from the supermarkets as weak trading conditions continued for another month. "How are you finding things," Paul asked me. I said that during January and February, retailers had been saying sales were very tough. during March and April, independents had been more positive. While the Cheema family is achieving sales growth he advised that the pattern was good week, good week, OK week, very bad week. What he is finding is that shoppers are running out of money, which is why week four is so quiet. While I was at his shop, trading was brisk. What are the supermarkets saying? "I have been doing groceries for 28 years now...and this is the toughest it has ever been for consumers," says Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury. "If you look forward...we see this persisting for the rest of the year." His like-for-like sales in the first qu...

Taking part is the sign of a good retailer, analysis by Menzies Distribution claims and Paul Cheema, who runs a Costcutter in Coventry learned lots from teaming up with Heineken in the ACS's store challenge. He was persuaded to remerchandise his beer, cider and ale range and to promote a big night in deal with pizzas selling alongside lager. Mr Cheema says he delisted lines to bring in new products and changed the flow from cider, ale, lager to ale, cider, lager. This helped him grow ale and cider sales by 8.2 per cent and 31.6 per cent respectively year on year. Selling two pizzas and eight cans of lager for £10 was a big success. He also used in-store tastings to generate theatre. As a result of working with Heineken, Mr Cheema says he has been able to do similar work with other suppliers. For example, working with Cadbury has increased his confectionery sales by 9 per cent. Using supplier insight works. It is simple, low cost and easy to follow.