nickshanagher

Two current articles in Fortune make interesting reading for enterprising independent retailers. First is an interview with Pitt Hyde who sold his family's wholesale food distribution business in 1988 to invest in auto parts retailing. Hyde did not know the auto parts business but he knew there was an opportunity because customer service was poor and standards were low. His plan was to focus on customer service in good looking stores. He started out with four in 1988 and now has 5,000. "We worked on small margins and were very tight operators, so that discipline helped us through as we learned the business," he recalls. "Money is a small part of the equation for success. Sweat equity is what makes things work." Less visceral but just as interesting is an interview with Greg Wasson , CEO of Walgreen, the massive US drug store chain lauded by Jim Collins. The journalist is Geoff Colvin, who is consistently excellent. Here is what Wasson says: ...

Fresh and chilled foods are the categories where there is a huge divide between independent and multiple shops in the convenience market. Fresh and chilled is a big profit opportunity but doing it well requires a different skill set to selling soft drinks, snacks and confectionery. Speaking to trade magazine Retail Newsagent this week, Booker chief executive Charles Wilson advises: "Get the milk, bread and cheese right because most of the volume and value is in that area." There are two parts to his advice which are helpful. Firstly, the need to focus and to set standards and achieve those standards. Second, that to transform your local shop can involve incremental steps. Break down your move into new areas into small, bite-sized chunks and work your way up to a full fresh and chilled offer by increments. Getting shoppers used to buying bread and milk in your shop will get them thinking about picking up a basket, which is when you break through to the next level in conven...

Reading about how Jack Welch says he ran General Electric, the giant US conglomerate, offers a useful test for local retailers thinking about how to invest in their shops. "Our job is capital allocation - intellectual and financial," he said. "Smell, feel, touch, listen, then allocate. And make mistakes - but we're big enough to make mistakes." As a local retailer you need to manage your financial and personal assets. You need to think hard about new ideas. You need to take risks. But not life threatening ones. Swansea retailer Salaman Rasul says he made several attempts to move into fresh food over his 22 years operating a convenience store. Then a year ago he made a big investment in a chiller, spending £12,500, and it has worked. The chiller keeps the food fresher longer and encourages shoppers to buy his products.